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"How should I know?" she blasts. "I don't know," I answer, "maybe because you WORK HERE?!"

Just like in the example in this article --- very likely she didn't know --- was there any job training or was she just thrown into the job completely untrained, unknowledgeable about the company and it's policies. Was there any time spent on orientation so she might be familiar ahead of time and prepared to answer the customers' questions? A few minutes of a good interviewer's time can usually tell you if an prospective employee has the right attitude and is worth making an investment in.

...thrown into the job completely untrained, unknowledgeable about the company and it's policies.

Perhaps, you are jumping to the assumption that the company cares about its customers. Too many companies like to treat customers like so many cows at a slaughter house. Just get the employees to cram them through the process, extract as much from their wallets as you can, and forget about the niceties. Customers have fewer choices these days and good customer service is just so much sunk cost.

Once upon a time we use to be able to call a local number to have an attentive knowledgeable person pick up the phone. Today we have been conditioned to just sit there and listen to an often pathetic automated answering machine. Despite the rethoric most companies couldn't care less about their customers. The whole customer service thing is on a fast race to the bottom.