# Customer is always right. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 6, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044 "2011-07-06T15:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/1 "2011-07-06T15:52:16Z")
Is this true, in your opinion? Feel free to elaborate. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/2 "2011-07-06T15:54:35Z")
no. Too many customers think that phrase is license to be an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/3 "2011-07-06T16:03:11Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/4 "2011-07-06T16:03:42Z")
No. And some of these “wrong” customers are better off let go. Some customers think that businesses will do anything to keep them as customers by giving them deals and bending over backwards for them. We learned early on how to cut loose these abusers of the system (only bought the cheapest low margin stuff, wanted a ‘better’ deal all the time, took up a lot of the employees time, returned and exchanged a lot of stuff, etc.) We were told to avoid and cut these people off and focus on keeping the profitable customers happy. When the “wrong” customers threatened to never shop with us again we really wished they would keep their promises. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/5 "2011-07-06T16:06:38Z")
Hell no. And you should fire your worst customers – relatively few aggravating, never-happy customers sap your ability to better serve your reasonable, loyal ones. > [@](#): > > When the “wrong” customers threatened to never shop with us again we really wished they would keep their promises. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Foxy40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/6 "2011-07-06T16:10:36Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Hell no. And you should fire your worst customers – relatively few aggravating, never-happy customers sap your ability to better serve your reasonable, loyal ones. > > Exactly. Agreed. I once had a customer tell me that I had to do what she said because the “customer is always right”. I informed her she can take her nastiness to another office that agrees with her philosophy. Seems like only the most unreasonable people throw that line out when they aren’t getting their way. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/7 "2011-07-06T16:10:43Z")
I’ve noticed that 1% of customers cause 99% of the headaches. I fire them. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/8 "2011-07-06T16:20:01Z")
This phrase was part of some kind of cute marketing campaign in the 80s and nobody says it seriously any more. Why are people still so hung up on it? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/9 "2011-07-06T16:26:38Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > no. Too many customers think that phrase is license to be an asshole. This. Too many scammers and asshats in the world try to and frequently manage to force money goods and services by scamming or pitching a shit fit and demanding stuff they are not actually entitled to and management gives in for diverse reasons. Try heading over to customerssuck dot com and browsing the threads sometime. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/10 "2011-07-06T16:34:04Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > This phrase was part of some kind of cute marketing campaign in the 80s and nobody says it seriously any more. Why are people still so hung up on it? [Harry Gordon Selfridge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Gordon_Selfridge) is credited with coming up with it in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Considering he went bankrupt and died broke, it’s probably not the best business sense to stick with it! ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/11 "2011-07-06T16:34:27Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > no. Too many customers think that phrase is license to be an asshole. > [@Hampshire](#): > > No. And some of these “wrong” customers are better off let go. Some customers think that businesses will do anything to keep them as customers by giving them deals and bending over backwards for them. > We learned early on how to cut loose these abusers of the system (only bought the cheapest low margin stuff, wanted a ‘better’ deal all the time, took up a lot of the employees time, returned and exchanged a lot of stuff, etc.) > We were told to avoid and cut these people off and focus on keeping the profitable customers happy. > When the “wrong” customers threatened to never shop with us again we really wished they would keep their promises. Generally, when a customer would come out with the phrase “The customer is always right”, I found that this meant that the customer in question wanted me to do something that would cost the store or company money, rather than earn money. It also meant that the customer knew damned good and well that s/he was being an asshole, and expected me to take the abuse. In the dress shop, we had to tell a couple of women that for them, all sales would be final from then on. These women were in the habit of taking clothes home, wearing them, and then wanting to return the clothes for full credit. They particularly liked to do this during holiday season, with some of our best cocktail/formalwear. Notice that I said that they took clothes home. Technically, yes, they were purchasing and then returning the clothes, but in reality, they were just borrowing the clothes for a while. It’s customers like this that drive stores to make very strict policies. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/12 "2011-07-06T16:38:42Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > When the “wrong” customers threatened to never shop with us again we really wished they would keep their promises. I never understood this. When I worked retail jobs as a kid, occasionally irate customers would loudly say “I’m shopping at [competitor] from now on!” as if I, retail grunt, was going to be heartbroken that someone who barges in making unreasonable demands was never coming back. You want to hurt me, tell me you’re coming back tomorrow! ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/13 "2011-07-06T16:38:52Z")
Yes, but only if you think that ‘customer’ does not refer to one specific customer. It refers to all of them. For example, suppose you made a change to your sales process and sales dropped off 50% the next month. It doesn’t matter how good you think the new process is or how much you can justify that it is ‘right’. The customer is right. They are telling you what they think about the new process and you better listen to them and change things. The sales people love the new process. Marketing loves the new process. Management loves the new process. Who is right? The customer or all those people? ‘The customer is always right’ is a reminder who you should be listening to. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/14 "2011-07-06T16:41:27Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > [Harry Gordon Selfridge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Gordon_Selfridge) is credited with coming up with it in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Considering he went bankrupt and died broke, it’s probably not the best business sense to stick with it! However, the store he founded in Oxford Street, London, is still in business. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/15 "2011-07-06T16:57:42Z")
Of course not. And anyone who would actually say that is exactly the kind of customer you _do not want_. And for those that answered “Yes,” I don’t think you understand what “always” means. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/16 "2011-07-06T16:58:34Z")
> [@LionelHutz405](#): > > Yes, but only if you think that ‘customer’ does not refer to one specific customer. It refers to all of them. > > For example, suppose you made a change to your sales process and sales dropped off 50% the next month. It doesn’t matter how good you think the new process is or how much you can justify that it is ‘right’. The customer is right. They are telling you what they think about the new process and you better listen to them and change things. > > The sales people love the new process. Marketing loves the new process. Management loves the new process. Who is right? The customer or all those people? > > ‘The customer is always right’ is a reminder who you should be listening to. That’s a great way of thinking of it. Customers, as a class, are always right; individual customers are not. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/17 "2011-07-06T17:05:58Z")
> [@LionelHutz405](#): > > Yes, but only if you think that ‘customer’ does not refer to one specific customer. It refers to all of them. That seems exactly right to me. No rational businessperson wants to please everyone. Yes, you may try to prompt your staff to try to do so as best as possible, because you don’t need the 16 year old who bags the groceries deciding for you which customers are worth keeping. However, there’s always a point that the business is going to say no. A certain small subset of customers will keep demanding everything. ’ I want to return an item a day past its 60 day guarantee’ eventually becomes ‘I want to return anything forever no matter how old, worn, or damaged, without a receipt, at the price I say that I paid’. ‘I want you to pay return shipping because the item is defective’ can slowly migrate to ‘I want you to to take back my item because I don’t like it, pay return shipping, send me a new box to put it in, refund me for the full product price including shipping AND send me a new one, plus send me $25 to cover the cost of packing tape and my personal time’. Even world-class customer service businesses tell people no all the time. It may be no with a smile and a helpful demeanor, but it’s still a no. On the flip side, companies can sometimes hide behind “but sometimes customers are unreasonable!” to become equally unreasonable. If you make it too hard or unpleasant to deal with you, customers will leave. Now, maybe it’s still profitable – I doubt Wal-Mart is crying too hard that I don’t shop there much. And fine. But ultimately customers will tell you through a lack of business if you’re not doing things right. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/18 "2011-07-06T17:26:22Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > That’s a great way of thinking of it. Customers, as a class, are always right; individual customers are not. Completely agreed. Put another way, customers’ wallets are always right. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/19 "2011-07-06T18:14:45Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > That’s a great way of thinking of it. Customers, as a class, are always right; individual customers are not. Word. At my last job, I knew intellectually that a store without customers is not a store, but there were plenty of individual customers that I wished would get sucked into the escalators and never be seen again. It didn’t help that upper management at the store I worked at were a bunch of pussies who’d give the whiny customers the moon rather than deal with any conflict. They had no qualms about contradicting and belittling the salesbeings right to our faces, either. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/20 "2011-07-06T18:15:30Z")
Unless we’re talking about banking, insurance, or the car rental industries, in which case… the customer is automatically assumed to be a thieving, lying sack of shit until he or she proves him or herself otherwise innocent. And even then, the customer will never be right. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044.md?page=2)