Guess What? The Customer Is, In Fact, NOT Always Right | The Odyssey Online
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Lifestyle

Guess What? The Customer Is, In Fact, NOT Always Right

You actually don't know any better.

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Guess What? The Customer Is, In Fact, NOT Always Right
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"The customer is always right."

We grew up hearing this phrase, first as children, and then after getting our first jobs in retail or customer service. And while it sounds nice, the actual truth of the matter is, quite frankly, that whoever came up with that line must not have actually dealt with a customer in their life.

I hate to say it, but customers as a whole suck. I've worked in customer service for many years, and the entitlement they seem to feel really makes me grit my teeth in anger.

The truth is, things like the law and store policy upstage a customer's demand.

Many a time I have had customers scream at me because it was my fault we didn't have an item, a coupon had expired or some other demand that could have gotten me into trouble.

I personally believe that managers or supervisors should stop telling their employees to work by that policy. It likely will automatically pit the workers against the customers.

There have been times when I've seen certain regular customers and winced because I knew there would likely be drama starting.

Store rules and policy are stores rules and policy, just as the law is the law.

I'm sorry, but my job is more important to me than you getting an extra $3.00 off that one item.

Once, a woman was screaming at me for "stealing" from her when all I was trying to do was cash out her bottle deposits.

They have the option to either pay with them or cash them out, but she kept saying that I was "stealing" because I had taken the rest of them from her to turn them into cash.

During all this, she actually yelled, "The customer is always right!"

As if she knew my mind and my intentions.

Then, she went and reported me to my supervisors. I didn't get into trouble at all because they knew what I had been doing, but this is just an example of how customers think they know everything.

The retail workers are not the ones who make the store rules or write the laws dictating these rules. In fact, we likely know them better than you.

And believe me, we are not paid enough to fight with you or give you what you want and possibly get into trouble.

The waiter rule is the belief that you can tell one's true character by the way they treat waiters and service workers, and I think this applies to retail workers as well.

Don't be an asshole. Listen to us, because we have reasons for why we sometimes say no.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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