I'd say the OP is spot-on, certainly from my not-infrequent experience.
The average flight may contain a crew from 15 countries who can speak 20 languages but if they all lack motivation it doesn't make for a great effect! And there really is no excuse for the scant regard to consistent cabin safety checks I've observed.
It's also a mystery why they choose to serve breakfast 2.5 hours before a 08:30 Europe arrival or why it takes 2 hours for the meal service on a 22:00 departure to Dubai (both of which are basically 6.5 hour flights).
Imho, KLM delivers consistently better economy class service from Europe to Asia, albeit clearly with far fewer destinations on offer.