The Customer is Always Right and other Rubbish

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“The customer is always right.” Is a phrase spoken usually with some exasperation by a manager or owner of a business when an employee voices a complaint about the ridiculous demand of a customer, or perhaps after a customer has behaved poorly.

It has become synonymous with “good service” in the retail, service and catering industries that a customer has right of way and can choose what they want regardless of your input. The customer also seems to be allowed to get rude, mean, sarcastic and any number of other negative behaviours without reprisal or expectation to apologise.

This is a deplorable mutilation of a proverb that has a completely different meaning!

“The customer is always right in matters of taste.” Is the correct proverb.

It means that even if the dress/car/paint colour/design is ugly, they may choose that colour.

It does NOT mean that the customer gets to choose to behave however they want.
It does NOT mean that the customer can demand that you work longer, for free or receive anything because they are offended.
It does NOT mean that the customer can demand things be done that are impossible!

This has become nearly a standard practice for some people on both ends of the exchange. One side assumes that the customer can do, say and behave how they want – as long as they are paying. The other side believes that it is their right to behave how they might feel like, regardless of whether they have any grounds to behave that way or not!

I can see a reason WHY it slid in there. The original proverb was possibly used by industries where “taste” was a factor and over time, the saying got cut in half and then adopted by other industries where it is less applicable.

Right now the “The customer is always right” saying might be used to help one company force another to work longer in a construction environment as if to imply “because I am the customer, I may be unreasonable and you have to accept that.”

Meanwhile if we were working in the construction industry and someone said: “The customer is always right in matters of taste.” Then the above attitude would make a lot less sense!

So this is something to keep in mind for ourselves as someone who is serving a customer – you need to redress this socially acceptable bullying. Understand that you cannot be spoken to poorly just because you are the one that is serving the other.

Also keep this in mind when you are the one who is the customer! Entitlement and arrogance wins us no friends. Learning to be kind, gentle and graceful means that even when we are the people who hold the money, that we show respect and therefore earn the respect of others.

It does you no goo behaving in a way you would not want someone else to behave to you. So keep humble and focus instead on treating others the best way that you can.

This is food for thought! Thank you for reading!

Cheers!
@zakludick