The customer is always right? I don't think so!

[AFpheonix]

The customer is occasionally right, but needs to stay reasonable.

Good lord, there's some managers out there that need to be roped down and made to repeat, "No soup for you!" for 3 day straight.

[danegrous_21]

these stories are completely unbelieveable, i cant believe the managers just gave in. like somebody said earlier, this just encourages them, i should shop there and get that phone company. seems like i dont have to pay a thing, just complain about how inept your people are and get my way. wow, the confirms my loss of faith in humanity.

[greensinestro]

Uh oh! I see I've created a monster here. LOL. I'm so glad other people out there feel the same way I do. This is the 21st century and much has changed in the customer service industry, mainly with customers.

I failed to mention at one time, some of the local Publix stores had signs that said "Century Village residents are not welcome here." This is a small retirement community for 55 and over, and many of them would do nothing except come in on the bus and cause trouble. In 1971, my father was in a Publix and a busload of thirty or more came in. Each and every one of these people took a shopping cart, filled it up overflowing with groceries, then demanded a senior citizen discount. When the manager politely refused to do it, they all got back on the bus and went home. Imagine one cartload of groceries to put back, but thirty is a hellish amount of go-backs.

Later on, I heard this stuff went on quite often at Publix and other grocery stores. Publix had the worst attendance record of these people and decided to put those signs up in their windows. Of course, after a lawsuit, they were forced to take them down, stating discrimination. Well, to me and others alike, it is not discrimination. If you have people like this not buying anything but coming to cause trouble, thereby giving managers and other employees unnecessary work to do other than service the loyal customers, then something like this should be done. A message should be put out to troublemaking customers that their kind is not welcome in a business. Take it elsewhere.

Call is discrimination if you want. To me, I call is protection. Protection for the loyal customers and the business end. We should not have to deal with or tolerate nasty, ugly, rude, and troublemaking behavior from assholish and shitty customers like this.

[Jack T. Chance]

The Golden Rule of Customer Service

I can't stand the way customers abuse that "the customer is always right" philosophy! Every one of these idiot managers needs to be flogged to within an inch of their life, and then retrained! They need to be taught the TRUE Golden Rule of Customer Service:

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE!

These companies need to make THAT their customer service philosophy, post it prominently in their stores, as in plastered ALL OVER THE STORE, and most importantly, they need to EXERCISE THAT RIGHT! Managers in some of these companies need to be made to refuse service to a bad customer at least once or twice a day, so they can get accustomed to it. That would solve a lot of the problems caused by bad customers! It's amazing what a good manager that actually has a big brass pair can do for a company! By refusing to play the customer's games, he can protect the company's bottom line and make his store more profitable!

[dragonflygrrl]

What's frustrating to me about the whole "customer is always right," fallacy is that it's a total Catch-22 for the actual frontline employee. If I give the customer what they want, I get yelled at for giving away merchandise at a discount, breaking policy, what have you. If I refuse, I get yelled at first by the customer and then by my manager for being inflexible and rude. There's just no way to win. True, there are managers out there that will back you up 100%, and I am lucky to have had a few of them, but we have all dealt with that other kind, that caves immediately and then looks for a scapegoat.

If I could be given a hard and fast policy that would never waver, and then the ability to enforce it, this would all be a lot easier. The fact that the strength of the policy is inversely proportionate to the a$$holery of the customer means that we reinforce bad behaviour, making customers more likely to behave badly to get their way.

[greensinestro]

We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To Anyone!

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE!

So, does that mean this will be the next sign companies will be forced to remove due to nasty, troublemaking customers? "They're discriminating against my personality and behavior, so I'm going to sue!"

[Jack T. Chance]

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE!

So, does that mean this will be the next sign companies will be forced to remove due to nasty, troublemaking customers? "They're discriminating against my personality and behavior, so I'm going to sue!"

While there most likely ARE localities that have been stupid enough to pass a law like you suggest, I would never open a business in a town that utterly stupid! I would very much like to own & operate my own business some day. I am sick & tired of workin' for The Man! I want to BE The Man!

But since I WILL follow the true Golden Rule of Customer Service as best exemplified by Gord, I will research the matter beforehand and make absolutely SURE that the locale I plan to do business in is one that protects MY rights as a businessman.

And I'd love to see a customer sue because a store discriminated against them based on their "personality & behavior"! Which is to say that I'd love to see a customer like that be stupid enough to sue the WRONG company, a huge company that would NOT stand for that crap, and would instead file a vicious counter-suit against the customer, using the best lawyers money can buy to grind the SC under their heel!

But then again, I firmly believe that the stupidity of SCs should be costly and/or painful to the sucky customer!

[ditchdj]

Someone I know once said and I think THIS proves it is that management can't have EVERYTHING THEIR WAY. They want the unions kept out, treat workers like expendable "resources" and pay them as little as possible and do literally anything and everything, including sleazy and crooked, whatever it takes, to make as much money as possible. Eventually something will give and the company will take a big hit.

[Jester]

Those of you who think this phrase is overused by people and managers will enjoy this story, one I think I have told before.

Busy day at the hotel bar. Well-Dressed Twentysomething Dude Full of Himself orders a top shelf vodka drink. Being a consummate bartender, I make Dude an excellent top shelf vodka drink.

A few moments later, while the bar is still very busy, Dude gets my attention and tells me that his top shelf vodka drink is not to his liking. Being a consummate bartender, I tell him no problem, dump his lovely top shelf vodka drink down the drain, and ask him what he would like instead. He orders a top shelf Long Island Iced Tea. Being a consummate bartender, I make him an excellent top shelf Long Island Iced Tea.

A few moments later, while the bar is still very busy, Dudge gets my attention again and tell me that his top shelf Long Island Iced Tea is not to his liking. Being a consummate bartender, I stare at him like he has just grown flippers out of his ears. Frankly, I am at a loss for one of the few times in my working life. I am about to resignedly pour his top shelf Long Island Iced Tea down the drain and make him yet a third drink, when my Manager jumps in.

Manager had been standing there the whole time, and had witnessed all the exchanges between Dude and myself. When Manager sees Dude trying for yet a third excellent top shelf drink, Manager decides he is fed up with Dude and that enough is enough. He promptly tells Dude that Dude is done there, and that Dude can leave, as I have made him two excellent drinks, while busy, and this is not a cocktail sampling service, but a bar. To both my surprise and that of Dude, Manager escorts Dude to the door and unceremoniously tells him to get out and not come back.

While I am not always thrilled with my Manager, and there are times I frankly want to kill him (don’t we all), that night Manager rocked and was my hero. Needless to say, Manager not only doesn’t belive that The Customer Is Always Right, but believes that sometimes The Customer Is Wrong And Should Stop Being an Ass, Shut Up, And Get The Hell Out.

[starglitter]

Whoever invented that phrase...I hope he was shot.

All it's done is show adults that throwing fits like 3-year olds gets them whatever they want. There are lots of them in my store. People who management lets do whatever they want just to get rid of them. One lady gets half her order for free most the time because she says "this was under the wrong sign, so I get it for free" and they make us honor it. They let her use any coupon she wishes. Then there's the lady who continuously writes checks for 50 dollars over when the store check policy clearly states that the limit is $20. My personal favorite though happened at my register one day. Some lady gives me some mints, I ring them up, they're $1.79. She says that that's not right. So I go around and look at the label. Yup. $1.79. She then points to another sign for .60 Rolaids. I tell her that that's not the right sign, they're $1.79. Then she launches into "I'd like to talk to your manager." As I send someone to get him she says "You never argue with a customer. I used to do this job and you never argue with a customer. They are always right." I was really hoping my manager would back me up but of course he didn't. At least he didn't yell at me or anything.

[PorkChop]

When my Mom worked at KMart, she constantly had customers wanting to return items without a receipt. Of course, being KMart's policy, no returns/refunds without a receipt. These idiotic customers would yell, scream, and whine just to get their way. So Mom called over a manager. The jellyfish manager would let them have their way! The customer would yell at Mom for wasting their time. You just can't win. If you let them have a refund, you'll get yelled at by the manager. Call up a manager, you'll get more abuse from the customer.

Since Mom worked in retail for more than 20 years, she taught me how to behave in public. She taught me please and thank you. Always keep receipts when buying big prices items like electronics and clothing. How to be friendly to the store's employees. For instance, I am regular shopper at SafeWay. I know most of their cashiers. They have a special for milk: buy one get one free. That day I didn't need 2 milks. So I was willing to pay full price for that one milk. An SC's mind says, I should get this one half off. I wasn't even considering of asking half off. So the nice cashier asked if I wanted another milk. I said I didn't need it right now. So she gave me the milk half off! I thought that it was sweet of her and she didn't have to do it.
Places of business should not reward bad behavior. I mean, why should good, law abidding citizens should pay for these idiots. Businesses loose money because somebody whines. Too make up for that loss, they make us pay for it in higher prices. So businesses are just better off not serving SC's since they don't make any money from them and the good customers go some place else.
I am afraid that is one of the reasons why KMart isn't doing so well because of jellyfish managers.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

People who say this are so powerless and impotent in their petty, squalid little lives that it's their only hope of feeling important. They can go into a store, secure in the knowledge that they can act like a complete jackass and still have their butt kissed. It makes them feel big and in control, if only for that moment.

Pathetic.

I worked for guy who was the biggest pushover on sweet planet Earth. He gave away so much free crap you'd think the stockroom was on fire.

He declared bankruptcy shortly after laying me and a couple other guys off. Two million dollars in debt.

[greensinestro]

When my Mom worked at KMart, she constantly had customers wanting to return items without a receipt. Of course, being KMart's policy, no returns/refunds without a receipt. These idiotic customers would yell, scream, and whine just to get their way. So Mom called over a manager. The jellyfish manager would let them have their way! The customer would yell at Mom for wasting their time. You just can't win. If you let them have a refund, you'll get yelled at by the manager. Call up a manager, you'll get more abuse from the customer.

You know what? I can certainly relate to this. Lately, as an employee of technical support for the internet, I have dealt with my share of this. In the company I work for, if a customer disconnects phone and/or internet, it is explained to the customer they are still responsible for the bill being my company does not prorate its bills. In other words, if your bill is charging through the 20th of the month, and you call on the 3rd, you still owe for the additional 17 days. This is explained to the customers when they sign up as well as when they cancel. Yet, lately, it's like a phenomenon is coming because I this week alone have dealt with the onslaught of customers claiming they were told a credit was coming. Yet, when you hold your ground and explain the policy (yet again, for the 27th time!), it turns into a supervisor call, and the customer gets their credit, plus more than what they're entitled to. Then afterward, you get berated for wasting the customer's time instead of just giving in! You just can't win!

[Arachne]

I'm a manager where I work, and I've been called in to deal with screaming, ranting SCs more than once. I have yet to actually throw someone out of the store, but only because I don't want to give them the satisfaction of being dignified with that kind of responce. Instead, I let them scream themselves out and just keep telling them no.

The nice customers, on the other hand, I break the rules for all the freaking time.

That's what amuses me the most. I think that even in situations where management caves to the SCs, they're still always going to get worse service, because the employees will all hate them and not want to deal with them. I know that I often go home worrying that I didn't give good enough service to my favorite, good customers, but I'm patting myself on the back when I gave an SC a bad day. It gets to the point where SCs have to yell and scream to get -anything-.

[Noelegy]

I've only had a customer try to get me fired once, but it was a doozy. The book/music/video store closed at 11 pm every night, and I think we had actually started playing the "Happy Trails" (5 minutes until closing announcement) tape. A woman with two small children who had been in the store for some time waited until we were closing to ask to be let into the bathroom.

A word about the public restroom in this store: It really wasn't public, per se. Once upon a time, there had been two unisex restrooms. One was in the backroom and was for employee use only, and the other was the customer restroom, which had to be opened by means of a pushbutton punch code by an employee. Then a ditzy regional manager demanded that the employee restroom be converted into an office for her use when she was in the store all of once a month (plumbing taken out, desk put in, but her office had a mirror that remained in it), and lo: the one remaining bathroom had to be shared with customers. You can all imagine what sort of nasties we found in that bathroom each night at closing.

Back to my story. Each department (Books, Music, Video, Customer Service) had a huge plastic sign to be suspended from the ceiling over the information podiums. Books was the first department to put theirs up. Everyone else lagged behind. So the sales associates' lazy way out of letting people into the restroom, instead of going back there themselves with the customer to let them in, was to point them toward the giant green "Books" sign and then page a book department employee to the podium. So we'd come up all helpful and unknowing, and be asked to let someone in the restroom, because the restroom was closest to our department. To say it got tedious would be an understatement.

Anyway, she asked to be let in the restroom. I was paged to my podium (I was the only book dept. employee there that night), having to drop my closing duties and go see what was up. She asked to be let in the restroom. I must have given her a mild "look" of some kind, surprise, maybe, because she explained that she'd been told to go to the sign and wait to be let in the restroom. Also, please remember that this woman had already been browsing around for some time, been asked numerous times if she needed assistance, and had declined. So maybe I was a bit confused, I don't know. I said something to the effect of how sometimes I forgot that sign was there until someone got sent back there to be let in the restroom, and I went right away and let her in the restroom.

No problem, right? WRONG. She went to the store manager and said that I gave her attitude and was VERY rude and said that I wished that sign wasn't there. I don't know what my manager ended up doing to kiss her butt and make her happy, but he confronted me after the store was closed in a very accusatory fashion. This woman had actually demanded that I be fired. I was the book department manager and had NEVER had a complaint lodged against me. When I finally got in a word edgewise, I asked my manager, "Does that sound at all like something I would say to a customer?" He admitted that it didn't.

It was a total moment. She didn't indicate to me that she'd been in any way displeased by my behavior or attitude. She even thanked me for letting her in the restroom. Some people just want to ruin someone's day, I guess.