Why friendly

You read a lot about how it was during Sowjet times etc but one would think that in the year 2008 these clichees are no more applicable. Well, unfortunately not! To be correct, this is not about Russians in general but about people in public jobs (selling train tickets, working in shops etc). These are typically older ladies. It's amazing how unfriendly they can be. Before understanding what you ask for they typically respond with an arrogant "niet" (no) and turn away to check whether the make up is still ok (hoping you walk away). If you insist they have some other tricks like speaking even faster in Russian that you definitely don't understand them anymore or, the favorite trick of the train station employees, send you to another sales window. A typical large Russian train station has about 50 windows - you can imagine how much fun it is to send people to Nr 49 where they tell you that your ticket can only be sold at Nr 16 etc etc. After moving around you typically return to the first window...