interesting question...

[Sarlon]

So I was filling out a job application today, and ran across a question I never thought I'd see EVER!

The question you ask?

Do you believe in the addage : "the Customer is ALWAYS right?"

[karath]

Cheating to get first post here, but...

HELL no! Part of my job training was that the customer isn't always right! People lie, cheat, and generally suck...especially if they think they're entitled to being right despite being COMPLETELY wrong.

[Becks]

Would that be like "innocent until proven guilty"?

[SG15Z]

Um hell no! I just have to point to the Vinegar Boy saga to make my point. And there are many more stories where that came from. If the job doesn't hire me for saying that, then I don't want to work for them anyway.

[Kiwi]

Do you believe in the addage : "the Customer is ALWAYS right?"

No the customer is not always right, but they are always the customer and ultimately I am employed to make their experience as pleasant as I can without it being detrimental to the business.

That's the answer I always give (all but one manager liked it)

[katie kaboom]

No, and quite frankly i wouldn't work for any company that expected my answer to that question to be yes.

[fireheart]

My response tends to border on the smartass in that case.

"OK then, if the customer is ALWAYS right, if I came in, shopped and walked up to the checkout with $150 of stuff that I wanted for $1 because it was all damaged (or something similar) then you'd have to give it to me right? Because the customer is ALWAYS right"

That's not what I exactly say, my response basically is "As long as I can verify it, then yes, I do believe that the customer is always right. If I cannot prove that the customer is right, then no, I do not believe them."

[Racket_Man]

my responce wouldbe along the lines of

I have experienced too many instances where my employer has LOST a great deal of money dealing with people (ie scammers, EW's, the selectively Illiterate) who thought they were always right. If you want to lose money that is your business, but if you bend and break your own rules, DO NOT take it out on me by way of making me look bad in front of customers, cutting my hours because you HAVE lost money/sales/deals/etc., giving me some lame excuse for NOT giving me a good review because YOU broke your own well established rules, procedures or policies. if you can not tell a scammer from a legit complaint or just fall back on that tired old outdated phrase just to placate a roudy SC then I believe you need to seriously rethink your business model because you will not be in business much longer

[sms001]

Absolutely. The customer is always right.

It's really too bad that this phrase has deviated so far from what was its original intent. It is meant to mean that the marketplace should be demand driven, not supply driven. If you want to be successful, you should try to discern what people want and give it to them. So in that sense, that 'customer' means ALL customers, it is perfectly correct.

Sadly, with our entitlement oriented, self centered society, the phrase has taken on the meaning that makes us all cringe. If we apply real logic to it, it is incorrect on the face of it - just imagine two customers who want different, mutually incompatible things. Which one is right?

I once called an SC on this - I was busy doing an order for one person and the SC came up and started rattling off his order. I told him (quite nicely) "Hang on just a sec - I'm finishing up here." I got the CBF and a snide "Well! I guess the customer's not always right HERE." I handed the first customer his bag and turned to SC and said "Nope, but he was right first, NOW you get to be right...."

While it is too bad that an economic truism has been mangled, the sad cynical truth is that if the phrase wasn't there to be abused, some SC would have made it or something similar up at some point anyway.

[Camry178]

I would answer "NO" to that question. If they didn't hire me because of my answer I would be fine with that. I wouldn't want to work anywhere where they thought "the customer is always right".

[Soulstealer]

No the customer is not always right, but they are always the customer and ultimately I am employed to make their experience as pleasant as I can without it being detrimental to the business.

That's the answer I always give (all but one manager liked it)

I'm stealing that answer next time I have a job interview.

[DesignFox]

No the customer is not always right, but they are always the customer and ultimately I am employed to make their experience as pleasant as I can without it being detrimental to the business.

I think that's the best possible answer. I'm gonna file that in the back of my mind, too.

[taxguykarl]

Here at the tax office the answer is definately NO. I have seen interpretations (serious or at least with a straight face) of the tax code by SC's that would not be out of place in the Three Stooges Income Tax Sappy.
Too many seem to forget that Moe, Larry and Shemp were arrested by the IRS at the end of that short.

[One-Fang]

Makes you wonder what they wanted - a bland EW-pleasing yes, or a thoughtful explanation of why no? I would probably be tempted to answer the question then ask - why did you ask that?

I agree with sms001 and was going to post it, too. The customer *base* is always right. Individual customers? Not so much.