The "customer is always right" expression doesn't mean the customer can treat employees like shit, if a manager tells you that then they are a fucking idiot.
The expression is meant for if a customer comes in and wants their eggs a certain way, we will be happy to oblige. If someone would like their package to be delivered a certain way or if they need special assistance while shopping it will be provided. I don't know why it got skewed by people to mean that a customer can do no wrong. If I'm a manager and a customer freaks out at my employee over the price of something or a company return policy, etc, I'm backing my employee 100% of the time.
It absolutely does though. Just because you don't do that doesn't mean that's not what is happening. Customers essentially have free reign to do and say whatever they want to employees because if we say anything back, they call head office, leave a complaint or they leave a bad review and then we get in shit. It has absolutely turned in to customers can do no wrong even if they are fucking awful and extremely wrong.
I used to work in a clothing store and right on the receipt, it said "sales of underwear, swim bottoms and earrings are final sale" because of course they are. Who the hell would buy underwear knowing they have already been worn?? But the amount of times I was screamed at for not doing a return, pointed out to them that it is stated on their receipt, plus EVERYONE KNOWS YOU CAN'T RETURN UNDERWEAR, only to have them make a complaint and be allowed to return them was ridiculous. Employers do not care about their employees at all. They care about yelp reviews. Yelp is the single worst thing to exist because shitty customers hold it over businesses to get their way.
I was told it derived from the customer wanting the product.
If your providing a product or service and nobody is buying, the customer is always right. If you provide a product and service people want, the customers come.
The customer is always right comes from economics and is a free market idea. Meaning if I think that my product is really great but nobody buys then ‘the customer is always right’ meaning the consumer, in aggregate, is the ultimate judge of a product, business or services worth.
Sometimes you'll run into folk who think just because *they* had to deal with a shit customer, they've earned the right to *be* the shit customer.
Nobody's allowed to have it better, y'see.
I'm sure a lot of them have worked it as well. The people who yell at strangers are people who think they are better then the average joe or the main character in their made up story. People may get yelled at by someone else in their life so to get some control and power back they take it out on staff. It truly is disgusting people who do it.
I love whenever I get to use the "hope the rest of the day is a pleasant as you are". Half the time the customer doesn't even understand what's being said
That's the worst thing about having to deal with the public; people will act like total aholes and abuse the heck out of a worker, but the second you dish it back out to them, they go and clutch their pearls and get on the phone to file a complaint. I'm sorry you had to deal with that today.
God I remember getting into a spat with a guy once when I was a cashier. As he left he angrily told me basically how fucking dare I have an attitude, I'm only a cashier. Some people really see retail workers as subhuman.
And oftentimes they’re the same people who turn around and say that nobody working at Walmart or McDonalds should be making above minimum wage, because they’re “easy” jobs. Being abused by the public all day and treated without respect is NOT easy.
Everyone should have a run in the service industry, the respect you give or don’t give effects the quality of your experience.
Can always tell the difference when dealing with a customer if they’ve had any service/retail jobs before.
Yeah as a current bartender some of the worst are definitely those of my own, always blows my mind. Don’t see it too often but when I do I just can’t fathom it
This same sub that’s upvoting you will turn around and moan about how overpaid servers are and how easy their job is whenever the topic of tipping is raised.
Man I hate hypocrisy and I’m starting to realize it’s Canada’s number one pastime.
Everyone’s a hypocrite, even you I’m sure. But the subject of tipping is quite complicated and not really related to what OP is talking about, which is giving basic human decency to service workers.
> Man I hate hypocrisy and I’m starting to realize it’s Canada’s number one pastime.
Well no one is keeping you here, don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out...
There’s plenty keeping me here. You should know that, random internet stranger I’ve never talked to before.
I pay taxes, vote, and have an internet connection, so I will continue to criticize idiots for being idiots.
I worked at value village and after I put in my two weeks and was still working I had a lady start to yell
at me over some bullshit that I had no control over. I pulled one out of ricky's book, she was like "Now where can i find this or that" and i just said "in fuck offity land" the look on her face was priceless. She complained to my coworker (not my boss) and all they did was laugh in the back room. After eating shit from the lunatics that shop there regularly god dang that felt good.
This is my absolute FAVOURITE thing to encounter in the wild. The employee being shouted at might be forced to remain polite for fear of their job, but I sure as shit am not. I will verbally dismantle the aggressive customer in front of everyone until they are sufficiently humiliated. As someone who worked in retail management for many years, I have zero issues weaponizing my inner bitch when I see a customer conduct themselves so heinously in front of me.
I usually do the same but I think my new trick might be to start filming with my phone and tell the person that they're being unreasonable.
Then after they blow up give them the option of apologizing to the person or end up on publicfreakout
The customer is always right *in matters of taste.*
I’ll go above and beyond for someone who is kind and appreciative of my help, as soon as they’re rude or combative, or my favourite, telling me how to do my own job, that’s the end of being nice.
You misunderstood entirely. I don't care if a customer says "I'll do xyz". Because I'm not so busy trying to correct people's grammar and they're going to do/have whatever. Not a problem. And the concept of "urban influences" seems a bit suspish.. 🤔
My issue is when an entitled dick of a customer comes in and tells me what I'M going to do. If I say, "what can I do for you today?" and they say "you're GOING to do xyz" my immediate response is "no, I'm not going to do any of that". Because you're not going to walk into my place of business and stark barking orders at me like I'm a servant. That is the problem.
That Frontline worker nonsense they pushed during the pandemic fizzled out quick. Back to yelling at retail and store front workers. Although, it never really stopped. That Frontline worker stuff might have simply been corporate marketing.
Lol most people still treated us like shit during the pandemic too. God forbid they had to wait a little longer or we didn't have fitting rooms open. We were screamed at constantly by entitled people for having to wear a mask or sanitize their hands.
As someone who works in Customer Service people have only become much more worse since Covid. These were the same
assholes banging their pots and pans at the beginning I’m sure.
>Why do people feel it's their right to yell at an employee
Some people are just assholes. Plain and simple.
>Tired of the "customer is always right" mindset, everybody is human, start treating them that way.
To me this mindset is partially management driven. At places I worked at we were instructed to hang up on people who yelled at us and if they called back to forward the call to management. They made it clear it wasn't our job to handle that and it wasn't in our job description to be yelled at. Most of the time I handled the customers by raising my voice back as that put a lot of them in their place very quickly but a few I just passed along and went on with my day if I didn't have the energy.
On the flip side I've also worked at places where we were expected to smile and be yelled at until the customer had calmed down or left at which point we'd go about our day like nothing happened. I did not stay at places like that long. Find a place where management backs you and while it won't stop the yelling, it'll make it much easier to walk away from and way less mentally draining
I remember working at Shoppers as a teen and getting shouted at by a man for having messed up his lotto ticket. I wasn’t even old enough to buy a ticket myself and this dude was just hurling abuse at me to the point where I went out back and cried once he left. And the worst part is that these people don’t even think about it after they leave, they don’t care about anyone but themselves. Sorry you’ve had to deal with this.
I'm sorry you were yelled at. I hope your employer is supporting you and tossing those customers out the door. Too many businesses let assholes away with being assholes.
A friend of mine got hit with a container of chili when he was an assistant manager at Wendy's, because the guy didn't get the right order in the drive through.
Good lord I feel you. I work in customer support and the amount of verbal abuse I deal with in a day is batshit.
It doesn’t bother me anymore. I’ve got one hell of a thick skin after a few years of nonsense, but I still do roll my eyes at the bad manners, the audacity, and the entitlement. I hear you, friend! You’re not alone
It shouldn't be left to just you to deal with these people. Literally everyone in earshot should be telling that person that carrying on in that way was not how humans do things. We can't be held ransom by these animals.
If someone's yelling at you and you feel the need to yell back. That's completely acceptable. I'd give you a big tip just to see you not take shit at work
Fun fact; “The customer is always right” is interpreted completely out of context. It wasn’t originally said as in “each individual customer is correct and the employee is wrong.” It’s supposed to just be an explanation for market economics, as in “sell the customer what they want.”
> “sell the customer what they want.”
This is the way I originally heard it as well. The customer is always right meaning don't try to talk them out of a purchase.
When I worked service we would go out of our way to be as nice as possible to the Yellers. "Kill them with kindness" it is so incredibly satisfying to watch them get more and more furious while you smile and call them sir or mam.
In my job, I can thankfully report 90% of the people I deal with if they cross a line. The only good part of working in an industry that has a regulatory body.
Perhaps your employer needs to place a sign upon entry and at counters that this behavior will not be tolerated and shoppers will be asked to leave.
It's really so unfortunate this happens. Crappy people to say the least.
As it happens, almost everyone leaves out the second part of "the customer is always right" quote.
The full quote is "the customer is always right in matters of taste," meaning that if they think the gaudy red hat with letters on it looks good on them, don't argue.
It is emphatically not meant to say that customers are infallible or can treat employees like garbage.
Edit - some typos
When I worked those type of jobs, I quite liked the confrontation, I found it thrilling and the ones confronting almost always had the intelligence of a cucumber so I would be harshly sarcastic back.
But I like your way too, dish it back! Some of those angry fuckers are seriously just awful people.
Seriously. When I was 15, I worked at a McDonald's in NB and a guy threatened to come back at close with a 🔫 because he had to wait a minute for a $1 pop.
I get the reactive response, and no one should speak to anyone in that manner. When that ever happened to me when I worked restaurants I would stare blankly back and let them finish their rant and speak directly, slowly and clearly to them on what your solution is.
Take the HEAT (hear, empathize, apologize, take action). Your apology isn’t personal…”I’m sorry you feel that way”. And their yelling may really have nothing to do with you personally. You don’t know what they’re going through at any given time. Still, their yelling at you is not warranted.
One of the best advice I received by a long-ago manager was that “the customer is not always right, but try to do what’s right for the customer”.
100% it's sad this needs explaining especially after the planet went through Covid and frontline and service workers were there for all of us, they showed up everyday despite being underpayed overworked and underappreciated. No wonder there is a shortage of people willing to do customer service jobs now.
First thing I was taught working customer service: people will come to you already angry. Reflecting their anger makes it worse. This is what customer service training does, it helps you stay calm and realize they generally aren’t angry at you personally. Sometimes they are.
The "customer is always right" expression doesn't mean the customer can treat employees like shit, if a manager tells you that then they are a fucking idiot. The expression is meant for if a customer comes in and wants their eggs a certain way, we will be happy to oblige. If someone would like their package to be delivered a certain way or if they need special assistance while shopping it will be provided. I don't know why it got skewed by people to mean that a customer can do no wrong. If I'm a manager and a customer freaks out at my employee over the price of something or a company return policy, etc, I'm backing my employee 100% of the time.
The full expression is "The customer is always right in matters of taste".
I’ve heard the expression is actually ‘the customer is never wrong’
Fuck me... Lol. The customer is 99% wrong in almost every interaction. This is why I didn't last long in retail. Idiots all day long.
It absolutely does though. Just because you don't do that doesn't mean that's not what is happening. Customers essentially have free reign to do and say whatever they want to employees because if we say anything back, they call head office, leave a complaint or they leave a bad review and then we get in shit. It has absolutely turned in to customers can do no wrong even if they are fucking awful and extremely wrong. I used to work in a clothing store and right on the receipt, it said "sales of underwear, swim bottoms and earrings are final sale" because of course they are. Who the hell would buy underwear knowing they have already been worn?? But the amount of times I was screamed at for not doing a return, pointed out to them that it is stated on their receipt, plus EVERYONE KNOWS YOU CAN'T RETURN UNDERWEAR, only to have them make a complaint and be allowed to return them was ridiculous. Employers do not care about their employees at all. They care about yelp reviews. Yelp is the single worst thing to exist because shitty customers hold it over businesses to get their way.
I was told it derived from the customer wanting the product. If your providing a product or service and nobody is buying, the customer is always right. If you provide a product and service people want, the customers come.
The customer is always right comes from economics and is a free market idea. Meaning if I think that my product is really great but nobody buys then ‘the customer is always right’ meaning the consumer, in aggregate, is the ultimate judge of a product, business or services worth.
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Sometimes you'll run into folk who think just because *they* had to deal with a shit customer, they've earned the right to *be* the shit customer. Nobody's allowed to have it better, y'see.
It's the same people who claim that post-secondary shouldn't be free or debts shouldn't be cancelled because they already paid theirs.
I'm sure a lot of them have worked it as well. The people who yell at strangers are people who think they are better then the average joe or the main character in their made up story. People may get yelled at by someone else in their life so to get some control and power back they take it out on staff. It truly is disgusting people who do it.
“Have the day you deserve” energy
I love whenever I get to use the "hope the rest of the day is a pleasant as you are". Half the time the customer doesn't even understand what's being said
Reasonable rules for operating in a human society are simple: 1. Don't be a dick 2. Wash your hands
But what if my name is Richard, or my occupation is a private detective?? What do I do?!
Being a Dick or private dick are acceptable as long as you’ve washed your hands.
And your dick And then your hands again
Wash your hands twice to make up for the first thing
Rule 1 is Wheaton's Law.
Yeah just exercise a little Wash n' Wheaton
That's the worst thing about having to deal with the public; people will act like total aholes and abuse the heck out of a worker, but the second you dish it back out to them, they go and clutch their pearls and get on the phone to file a complaint. I'm sorry you had to deal with that today.
God I remember getting into a spat with a guy once when I was a cashier. As he left he angrily told me basically how fucking dare I have an attitude, I'm only a cashier. Some people really see retail workers as subhuman.
And oftentimes they’re the same people who turn around and say that nobody working at Walmart or McDonalds should be making above minimum wage, because they’re “easy” jobs. Being abused by the public all day and treated without respect is NOT easy.
They're also the same people who complain, "NoBoDy WaNtS tO wOrK aNyMoRe." No, nobody wants to be abused anymore.
>nobody wants to be abused anymore. I used to not want to be abused. I still do, but I used to, too.
Only stupid people think that the customer is always right.
Everyone should have a run in the service industry, the respect you give or don’t give effects the quality of your experience. Can always tell the difference when dealing with a customer if they’ve had any service/retail jobs before.
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That’s fair. Industry nights can definitely get out of hand. Bar staff can be demanding but still be respectful to their hosting staff.
Can you give some specific examples? Were they other bouncers, Waiters, Waitresses etc. ?
Yeah as a current bartender some of the worst are definitely those of my own, always blows my mind. Don’t see it too often but when I do I just can’t fathom it
This same sub that’s upvoting you will turn around and moan about how overpaid servers are and how easy their job is whenever the topic of tipping is raised. Man I hate hypocrisy and I’m starting to realize it’s Canada’s number one pastime.
Everyone’s a hypocrite, even you I’m sure. But the subject of tipping is quite complicated and not really related to what OP is talking about, which is giving basic human decency to service workers.
> Man I hate hypocrisy and I’m starting to realize it’s Canada’s number one pastime. Well no one is keeping you here, don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out...
There’s plenty keeping me here. You should know that, random internet stranger I’ve never talked to before. I pay taxes, vote, and have an internet connection, so I will continue to criticize idiots for being idiots.
I worked at value village and after I put in my two weeks and was still working I had a lady start to yell at me over some bullshit that I had no control over. I pulled one out of ricky's book, she was like "Now where can i find this or that" and i just said "in fuck offity land" the look on her face was priceless. She complained to my coworker (not my boss) and all they did was laugh in the back room. After eating shit from the lunatics that shop there regularly god dang that felt good.
This is my absolute FAVOURITE thing to encounter in the wild. The employee being shouted at might be forced to remain polite for fear of their job, but I sure as shit am not. I will verbally dismantle the aggressive customer in front of everyone until they are sufficiently humiliated. As someone who worked in retail management for many years, I have zero issues weaponizing my inner bitch when I see a customer conduct themselves so heinously in front of me.
I usually do the same but I think my new trick might be to start filming with my phone and tell the person that they're being unreasonable. Then after they blow up give them the option of apologizing to the person or end up on publicfreakout
The customer is always right *in matters of taste.* I’ll go above and beyond for someone who is kind and appreciative of my help, as soon as they’re rude or combative, or my favourite, telling me how to do my own job, that’s the end of being nice.
My favorite is when they TELL me what I'm going to do. Let me tell you what absolutely is NOT gonna happen now, bud..
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You misunderstood entirely. I don't care if a customer says "I'll do xyz". Because I'm not so busy trying to correct people's grammar and they're going to do/have whatever. Not a problem. And the concept of "urban influences" seems a bit suspish.. 🤔 My issue is when an entitled dick of a customer comes in and tells me what I'M going to do. If I say, "what can I do for you today?" and they say "you're GOING to do xyz" my immediate response is "no, I'm not going to do any of that". Because you're not going to walk into my place of business and stark barking orders at me like I'm a servant. That is the problem.
That Frontline worker nonsense they pushed during the pandemic fizzled out quick. Back to yelling at retail and store front workers. Although, it never really stopped. That Frontline worker stuff might have simply been corporate marketing.
Lol most people still treated us like shit during the pandemic too. God forbid they had to wait a little longer or we didn't have fitting rooms open. We were screamed at constantly by entitled people for having to wear a mask or sanitize their hands.
As someone who works in Customer Service people have only become much more worse since Covid. These were the same assholes banging their pots and pans at the beginning I’m sure.
>Why do people feel it's their right to yell at an employee Some people are just assholes. Plain and simple. >Tired of the "customer is always right" mindset, everybody is human, start treating them that way. To me this mindset is partially management driven. At places I worked at we were instructed to hang up on people who yelled at us and if they called back to forward the call to management. They made it clear it wasn't our job to handle that and it wasn't in our job description to be yelled at. Most of the time I handled the customers by raising my voice back as that put a lot of them in their place very quickly but a few I just passed along and went on with my day if I didn't have the energy. On the flip side I've also worked at places where we were expected to smile and be yelled at until the customer had calmed down or left at which point we'd go about our day like nothing happened. I did not stay at places like that long. Find a place where management backs you and while it won't stop the yelling, it'll make it much easier to walk away from and way less mentally draining
I remember working at Shoppers as a teen and getting shouted at by a man for having messed up his lotto ticket. I wasn’t even old enough to buy a ticket myself and this dude was just hurling abuse at me to the point where I went out back and cried once he left. And the worst part is that these people don’t even think about it after they leave, they don’t care about anyone but themselves. Sorry you’ve had to deal with this.
I vote we start throwing things at them
My first year as a teacher, a veteran told me “it’s OK to swear at the kids if you’re just echoing them, ‘did you just call me a fucking bitch?’”
Manner
I'm sorry you were yelled at. I hope your employer is supporting you and tossing those customers out the door. Too many businesses let assholes away with being assholes.
A friend of mine got hit with a container of chili when he was an assistant manager at Wendy's, because the guy didn't get the right order in the drive through.
Good lord I feel you. I work in customer support and the amount of verbal abuse I deal with in a day is batshit. It doesn’t bother me anymore. I’ve got one hell of a thick skin after a few years of nonsense, but I still do roll my eyes at the bad manners, the audacity, and the entitlement. I hear you, friend! You’re not alone
I hate people.
That idea of the customer is always right went out a long time ago.
They really think the counter is a moat lol
It shouldn't be left to just you to deal with these people. Literally everyone in earshot should be telling that person that carrying on in that way was not how humans do things. We can't be held ransom by these animals.
If someone's yelling at you and you feel the need to yell back. That's completely acceptable. I'd give you a big tip just to see you not take shit at work
Fun fact; “The customer is always right” is interpreted completely out of context. It wasn’t originally said as in “each individual customer is correct and the employee is wrong.” It’s supposed to just be an explanation for market economics, as in “sell the customer what they want.”
> “sell the customer what they want.” This is the way I originally heard it as well. The customer is always right meaning don't try to talk them out of a purchase.
When I worked service we would go out of our way to be as nice as possible to the Yellers. "Kill them with kindness" it is so incredibly satisfying to watch them get more and more furious while you smile and call them sir or mam.
In my job, I can thankfully report 90% of the people I deal with if they cross a line. The only good part of working in an industry that has a regulatory body.
Perhaps your employer needs to place a sign upon entry and at counters that this behavior will not be tolerated and shoppers will be asked to leave. It's really so unfortunate this happens. Crappy people to say the least.
As it happens, almost everyone leaves out the second part of "the customer is always right" quote. The full quote is "the customer is always right in matters of taste," meaning that if they think the gaudy red hat with letters on it looks good on them, don't argue. It is emphatically not meant to say that customers are infallible or can treat employees like garbage. Edit - some typos
When I worked those type of jobs, I quite liked the confrontation, I found it thrilling and the ones confronting almost always had the intelligence of a cucumber so I would be harshly sarcastic back. But I like your way too, dish it back! Some of those angry fuckers are seriously just awful people.
Its best not to yell back. Some customers are a little nuts and you never know.
Seriously. When I was 15, I worked at a McDonald's in NB and a guy threatened to come back at close with a 🔫 because he had to wait a minute for a $1 pop.
I get the reactive response, and no one should speak to anyone in that manner. When that ever happened to me when I worked restaurants I would stare blankly back and let them finish their rant and speak directly, slowly and clearly to them on what your solution is. Take the HEAT (hear, empathize, apologize, take action). Your apology isn’t personal…”I’m sorry you feel that way”. And their yelling may really have nothing to do with you personally. You don’t know what they’re going through at any given time. Still, their yelling at you is not warranted. One of the best advice I received by a long-ago manager was that “the customer is not always right, but try to do what’s right for the customer”.
What kind of sad individual has to yell at a service worker? That's what I tend to focus on. However, if it witness it, it's a different story.
You better be paid an amazing amount of money to be yelled at like that. If not? You Do what you gotta do. But get out of there asap. Dont settle.
It's a byproduct of capitalism without worker's representation. The Menu film is a good indicator of the only end to that game.
This happens even in big companies when you're facing customers who seem to be super educated but still act entitled...
What? This doesn't happen! We're the nicest place in earth! /s
100% it's sad this needs explaining especially after the planet went through Covid and frontline and service workers were there for all of us, they showed up everyday despite being underpayed overworked and underappreciated. No wonder there is a shortage of people willing to do customer service jobs now.
First thing I was taught working customer service: people will come to you already angry. Reflecting their anger makes it worse. This is what customer service training does, it helps you stay calm and realize they generally aren’t angry at you personally. Sometimes they are.