# Using the word 'Client' **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 18, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347 "2003-01-18T00:38:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/1 "2003-01-18T00:38:01Z")
Have you noticed that people who refer to their customers as ‘clients’ tend to be assholes? ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/2 "2003-01-18T00:40:20Z")
And what, exactly, is assholish about using the word _client_? ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/3 "2003-01-18T00:41:01Z")
no, I hadn’t. I’d noticed that folks who insisted that their clients were customers were pretty clueless, though. Does that help? ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/4 "2003-01-18T00:41:47Z")
Have you ever notice how people who are vague in their OPs tend to be pricks? ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/5 "2003-01-18T00:42:46Z")
You guys must have clients. lol ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/6 "2003-01-18T00:46:31Z")
odds are better that we have clients than you have customers. “lol” ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/7 "2003-01-18T00:48:38Z")
Generally, a customer receives goods and a client receives services, although there are plenty of exceptions. Just what sort of service are you receiving in which you do not like the provider? ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/8 "2003-01-18T00:53:23Z")
In addition to **tom** s explanation, I’d add in that I would have a ‘file’ on a ‘client’, which would include data that allows me to provide that service, and several forms requiring the client’s signature. For a customer, there _might_ be a record of items ordered, payment history etc, but not likely to have things like ‘release of information’ , “treatment plan” etc. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/9 "2003-01-18T00:56:30Z")
I guess I should have phrased it as: People who have customers and pretentiously refer to them as clients like they’re a lawyer or something tend to be assholes. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/10 "2003-01-18T00:58:11Z")
and who would these be??? Home decorators? Psychologists? ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/11 "2003-01-18T01:04:15Z")
Imagine I were an auto mechanic, and some guy comes in wanting to get his car fixed. The guy perhaps sells garage doors. When I am unable to repair his car in say 10 minutes, he gets all huffy and starts going on about his “important meeting with a client” that he will be late for if I dont fix his car right away. To me, ‘client’ brings to mind an attorney or accountant. I guess the point of this post is I hate pricks. I guess we all do and it makes for a pretty lame pit post. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/12 "2003-01-18T01:07:37Z")
Well I had a particularly demanding client on my hands the other day. It seemed like nothing made him happy. I was proactive in my business plan vis-a-vis my clients value-added needs. Going forward, I initiated an action plan designed to optimize the client paradigm as it were. But, I tell you … if he’d just asked for no pickles to begin with, we would have saved a lot of time. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/13 "2003-01-18T01:08:50Z")
But if he got huffy and started going on about his “important meeting with a customer,” that makes him a non-prick? Well, that’s clear as mud. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/14 "2003-01-18T01:08:54Z")
Jack nailed it. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/15 "2003-01-18T01:15:48Z")
Scarlett, it’s just sort of an attitude i guess. I dont know how to describe it. Just like this overly impatient me first type ass–like that SNL routine where they had the people wearing the Im number one hat. He’s too good just to simply say “can we put a rush on it, I told some customers of mine we’d meet in a half hour”. NO, he’s got to go on about his ‘clients’. God this is a lame thread. Im ashamed of it. ---
**Author:** ![Venoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Venoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Venoma)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/16 "2003-01-18T01:16:57Z")
Quintas: if there is a contract involved, I think it’s pretty correct to call them clients. If a possible contract is being discussed, they are possible clients. If they want fries with that or need to know where the 3/4" socket wrenches are, they are probably customers. ---
**Author:** ![bluetrust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@bluetrust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluetrust)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/17 "2003-01-18T01:22:04Z")
I always assumed the difference was something like this: **Clients** pay your company a few thousand dollars for your products or services. **Customers** pay less. So if you sold homes, you would have clients, but if you sold TVs you would have customers. Of course if you sold cars then I bet you’d have customers. I’m confused. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/18 "2003-01-18T01:28:32Z")
So, if the garage door guy finds someone to buy his doors, and they sign a contract saying ‘work to be done on this date for this price etc’ they are his clients. A month later, they need an extra garage door opener so they go to the Garage Door Guy’s store and ask the kid behind the counter for one. He cant find it, so he goes to ask his manager. Would it be correct for him to say “One of my clients needs a door opener,where are they?”-after all, they DID sign a contract with the company and he is an employee. Or should he say “I got a customer that needs a new door opener”. Is it just the salesman who gets to have clients, or is it a benefit enjoyed by all employees of a company who’s customers have signed a contract? ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/19 "2003-01-18T01:29:36Z")
In a short story by Dashiell Hammett written in the 1920’s, the Continental Op calls a customer drinking with a B-girl as “her client.” I believe Hammett was intending to be humorous. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/20 "2003-01-18T01:41:40Z")
I am a freelance copyeditor, and I have clients, not customers. I believe the distinction is that you have an ongoing relationship with clients. You deal with them over a period of time. Money has nothing to do with it. I have submitted invoices to clients for a few hundred dollars as well as a few thousand. Contracts have nothing to do with it; I sometimes have a contract, but not always. On the other hand, on summer weekends I sell jewelry at music festivals – to my customers. They choose a pair of earrings, hand over ten bucks, and we’re done. I do have some “fans” who buy from me every year, but they’re still customers. That said, I can’t say that I would presume to tell someone else what to call the people they do business with, or decide they’re jerks just because of the terminology they use. Now if you want to be pissed with them for being huffy and pompous and demanding, be my guest. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347.md?page=2)