# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/21 "2011-07-06T18:27:50Z")
[Not Always Right](http://notalwaysright.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/22 "2011-07-06T18:38:16Z")
Lionel does have a good way of looking at it. Individual customers - not always. And agree that when individual customers go on about “being right” or “being the customer” its pretty much a sign that they are WRONG. Customer as market - yep. Betamax may have been a way better product, but its dead. The customers made themselves right - not the technical superiority of the product. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/23 "2011-07-06T19:43:19Z")
> [@ugly ripe tomato](#): > > 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. Come to think of it, I seem to have seen this a lot in school systems where the loudest, most obstreperous parents could make a principal bend to their will. Hell, sometimes they didn’t even have to be parents. For instance, the local American Cancer Society wanted to do their annual Walk for Life (a 24 hour event) at the local high school, as was their custom. A biddy who lived nearby thought the stadium lights at night disturbed her sleep, called the superintendent in the middle of the night to complain, who in turn called the principle to complain. Next year, no Walk fo Life, even when the Cancer Society offered to put her up in a hotel for the night. I know school administrations put up with a lot of crap, but, hell. ---
**Author:** ![AntiCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a587f6/32.png) [@AntiCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntiCoyote)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/24 "2011-07-06T19:55:19Z")
To a degree yes, they are always right. Stores and service providers should always go out of their way to serve their customers. But stores now have come to realize they don’t really need all customers. They need good customers. Like where I live the drug store always has one or two good items on sale. I go in each week and buy them. I am not a good customer, 'cause I only by the really good sale items. They make minimal money off me. If they lost me they could care less. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/25 "2011-07-06T20:15:42Z")
One of the best responses I’ve heard to this from a store manager: “Yes, the customer is always right, but I get to decide who is a customer.” ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/26 "2011-07-06T21:34:54Z")
A manager several jobs ago said “We all know the customer is not always right, but the customer is always the customer” I wish I could type in a way that indicated his inflection. The point was, yes, as retail grunts we would occasionally have to basically shut up and take it from the problem customers, but management knew that for the most part the problems weren’t our fault. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/27 "2011-07-06T21:48:19Z")
_Nobody_ is always right, and it’s absurd to pretend it is otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/28 "2011-07-06T22:18:12Z")
Fuck no. That asinine phrase has caused me many, many bad days and headaches. Look, I’ll do everything I can to do what’s best for the customer, keep them satisfied, etc., but the absoluteness of that idea has given rise to an overwrought sense of entitlement. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/29 "2011-07-06T22:28:06Z")
It’s good business to let the _customer_ be right as much as you can. But the _client_ is not always right. If you can see that the client’s demands are not in his own best interest, or if they would require you to violate the standards of your profession, then the client is wrong. That’s the difference between a client and a customer. The clients of doctors are patients, the clients of teachers are students, etc. A doctor won’t give you Percocet unless it’s medically indicated, no matter how you grovel. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/30 "2011-07-06T23:01:20Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > no. Too many customers think that phrase is license to be an asshole. Bingo. Got it on the first response. The ONLY people who every quote this to me are in the act of being an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/31 "2011-07-06T23:08:20Z")
The customer is not always right. I’m always right. So it applies when I am the customer. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/32 "2011-07-06T23:23:00Z")
Not only no, but hell no. The whole idea that the customer is always right has taken a good thing (realizing that customers are your livelihood, and making them want to give you their money is a good business practice) and pushed it way too far (with customers thinking that because they’re giving you some of their money, they have the right to pull any stunt). ---
**Author:** ![YaraMateo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/58f4c7/32.png) [@YaraMateo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaraMateo)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/33 "2011-07-06T23:45:40Z")
If you don’t at least pretend I’m always right, I’ll spend my money else where. People who work retail need to learn to kiss ass. Seriously, if you pretended the customers were always right and pretend you were ever so grateful for their five dollar bill you wouldn’t have most of this nonsense. I know this because I’ve always noticed (from my job) that the people who spend the least usually have the HARDEST time giving up their money. So, I put on a big show about how much their saving in the long run and how much we enjoy (;)) working with them. On the other hand, if you’re always nice to hard customers and get them to spend their money you’ll end up being the one who has to deal with them. On the first hand, if you don’t play nice enough you could end up with no job… ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/34 "2011-07-06T23:51:01Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > …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 all my years of retail & customer service I never once heard a customer pull that line unless they were; an idiot, an asshole, trying to scam us, or a combination of the 3. > [@ugly ripe tomato](#): > > …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. Even worse are managers & corporate types who’ve \*never \*even \*worked \*on a \*salesfloor \* or directly with the public (or at least in the type of store they oversee). Like the regional VP of the convience store chain I used to work who’d bring up her _Nordstrom_ experiance from college when anyone complained she didn’t know what running a 24 hr gas station (often in not so nice areas) was like. Among other things she insisted on removing all the counter partitions because they looked “unfriendly” while insisting, over the objections of the SM & DM, that nobody would really be able to reach in from the cashier’s side while they had a sale and steal from the register (I proved her wrong much to their amusement). Or that nobody would really curse a clerk out for demanding to see ID. Or that other customers often got really pissed off if another customer was allowed to cut in line “because they were in a hurry”. Or that I was making stuff up when I related a tale of a customer wanting to take merchandise (like gasoline) home and come back with the money later because “nobody really does that”. She didn’t exactly belittle associates, but she had a habit of smiling and acting as sweet as pie while talking to people like they were children. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/35 "2011-07-07T00:33:48Z")
I find the phrase to be one of false entitlement. “We don’t carry these sheets in mustard yellow.” “No! You had the sheets in mustard yellow last week!” “We’re you here last week?” “No! But I KNOW you HAD them last week! You’re not doing your job by ordering me some!” This is what I overheard at BB&B a few weeks ago. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/36 "2011-07-07T00:37:42Z")
> [@YaraMateo](#): > > If you don’t at least pretend I’m always right, I’ll spend my money else where. > > People who work retail need to learn to kiss ass. Seriously, if you pretended the customers were always right and pretend you were ever so grateful for their five dollar bill you wouldn’t have most of this nonsense… Kissing ass is a part of working retail, but there’s only so much as you can kiss before end up enabling theft, costing your employer money, or even breaking the law. How grateful should one be of a customer demanding free merchandise, insisting that we take their word they’ll be back later with money, or that they should have to show ID to be cigs, or pour gasoline in whatever container they feel like? And that’s ingnoring the regular who insists he’s “just being friendly” when he playfully comes up from behind and slaps somebody (male or female) on their ass. Or that it’s a compliment when he stands 3 feet away from the clerk who just sold him his coffee staring at her breasts or making lewd comments if she drops something. Or the drunken bachelorettle parties who can’t tell the difference between a male stripper and the (gay) 3rd shift clerk at c-store they stopped to use the potty (& floor since we only had one toilet). Does kissing their asses have to involve letting them try to cop a feel of mine or letting them grab my crotch? ---
**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 7, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/37 "2011-07-07T01:03:33Z")
> [@YaraMateo](#): > > If you don’t at least pretend I’m always right, I’ll spend my money else where. > > People who work retail need to learn to kiss ass. this is that sense of entitlement that has already been mentioned. Why, exactly, should retail workers kiss your ass? Is it so you can assert your dominance over the lowly sales drone? > [@](#): > > Seriously, if you pretended the customers were always right and pretend you were ever so grateful for their five dollar bill you wouldn’t have most of this nonsense. this is borderline disgusting. you honestly think retail workers should be expected to _grovel_ for whatever pittance you might be generous enough to spend? _Seriously?_ ---
**Author:** ![YaraMateo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/58f4c7/32.png) [@YaraMateo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaraMateo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/38 "2011-07-07T01:31:13Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > this is that sense of entitlement that has already been mentioned. Why, exactly, should retail workers kiss your ass? Is it so you can assert your dominance over the lowly sales drone? > > this is borderline disgusting. you honestly think retail workers should be expected to _grovel_ for whatever pittance you might be generous enough to spend? > > _Seriously?_ Seriously, I have the right to shop where ever I want. If you’re not grateful for customers, others will be and treat them nicer. Are some customers jerk? Yes. Can I be a jerk in stores? Sometimes. When you go into retail, you go into it knowing that. The customer has the dominance in this scenairo. If you don’t like it, work some where else. I don’t all the people I work with/for, but I don’t go around whining about it. If it bothered me that much, I’d do something else. No job is perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/39 "2011-07-07T01:43:53Z")
I’d like to see a study done about the profitability of self-entitled “I am the customer and I am always right” customers vs. normal customers. I bet they’re not profitable customers for just about any line of business. And since companies exist for the purpose of making a profit, there is little to be gained by attempting to assuage the demands of these people. If they threaten to go to your competitors, then you’re better off letting them go. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044/40 "2011-07-07T01:48:35Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > That’s a great way of thinking of it. Customers, as a class, are always right; individual customers are not. Agree. Customers as a class rule and inform intelligent response. Some specific customers, though, are dicks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-is-always-right/588044.md?page=3)