# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**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, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/21 "2003-01-18T01:59:01Z")
Quintas: IMHO the folks are clients until the contract is fulfilled. Buying an extra opener would be a customer. Also, Scarlett67’s estimation of the situation is one that I agree with - even though she does not have a contract with every client. (The company I worked for would have to have had a contract with every client, however - one of the upsides to working freelance I guess 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/22 "2003-01-18T02:09:25Z")
I’ve sold between $10 and a couple thousand dollars worth of stuff to accounts\* that have been purchasing from the company I work for sometimes 10 years or more (sometimes only a couple of weeks, or even days though)…they’re all customers to me (except when I want to sound important). \*“Accounts” because I didn’t want to use “customer” or “client” at that point, and hell, they’ve all got account numbers. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/23 "2003-01-18T05:52:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bluetrust \* > \*\*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. \*\* What if you sell mobile homes? ---
**Author:** ![Triss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Triss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triss)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/24 "2003-01-18T06:12:07Z")
Never paid much attention to it before, but it’s true that we call our large, long-term accounts “clients” and the rest do tend to be “customers”. Thankfully our “clients” don’t seem to think we’re assholes, or we likely wouldn’t be calling them anything. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/25 "2003-01-18T07:33:04Z")
“Have you noticed that people who refer to their customers as ‘clients’ tend to be assholes?” Some people just happen to be assholes. Some have clients, some have customers. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/26 "2003-01-19T00:39:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scarlett67 \* > \*\*And what, exactly, is assholish about using the word _client_? \*\* Um, yeah! My whole industry refers to our clients as… well…CLIENTS! Not very many people (that I know of) in our industry (environmental consultants) are assholes. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347/27 "2003-01-19T00:42:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Quintas \* > \*\*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. \*\* I’m going to make a wild stab in the dark here and guess that what you meant to “get at” was that people who are pompous, fakey and self-important are assholes and that using the word client, when it’s not really applicable is just one ASPECT of that assholishness??? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-the-word-client/149347.md?page=1)