I don't know if it's that much a sign of the times or that "Americans" behave this way. Some do, not most, and not all the time or in all circumstances. I was a server at a luxury resort in the 1970s and saw bad behavior toward "the help" from time to time. I worked customer service at a cable TV company in the 1980s and had people say so many horrible things to me I had PTSD over it. I worked a theater box office in the early 2000s and had a few run-ins as a receptionist at a law office, too. It's never about entitlement. Not really. It's about stress and loss of control. At it's heart, it's about fear. When people realize they're in danger of losing their place in society or their control over their environment, they lash out at others. It's the same with masking. Where there's hysteria, there's history. The guy who sends his fast food order back for the third time with a few choice words is struggling. Maybe he just found out his job is being out sourced or his wife is leaving him. People go ballistic when you cancel their internet for non-payment because they suddenly realize they can't even afford to watch TV. Their lives are off balance , they're losing power, so they seek rebalance by dumping on someone else. It's not the pandemic or the end times. It's human nature.