It reminds me of the old Soviet Union, where the staff behind store counters would sit and read magazines while customers waited patiently in long lines. The staff were paid whether they waited on people or not, so why bother? It's the same here, isn't it? Profit says hire the cheapest staff. So long as the staff don't a) annoy the boss, b) do badly enough to cause lawsuits, c) cost money in the form of taking time to--what ARE you thinking!--learn stuff, so long as they don't do any of that, no problem. They get paid, they don't care. Given the atrocious work environment, only someone who doesn't care can work there. Interesting comment earlier about the difference between theory and practice. When there's a difference, theory is supposed to be adjusted to fit facts. Any economists listening?