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

[AnqeiicDemise]

I wish I could say I found greener pastures in the Receptionist field but I got more shit there than I ever could have as its a Receptionists job to diffuse arguments that occur in the lobby.

My manager, however, didn't take shit.

I remember getting told off by a female breeder because her new litter of puppies had been mislabeled as "poodles" instead of "MINIATURE poodles." and how the vet clinic had gone to 'hell' once VCA took over. I tried to rationalize that for one: I didn't know how things were run prior to the company taking over and that I was not the one who implemented such changes -- however, I'd make sure that all the pets files were changed to the correct breed. This seemed to make her happy until I asked her to verify her address with me.

"but I was here just last month!"

"We just changed our computer system and I just want to verify all your information is correct -- I wouldn't want to cause you any more hindrances due to missinformation."

---

Oh man, she went off on another raving tangent the MOMENT my manager came into the office. I could tell he was already very displeased as he was already two shades of red.

He walked straight up to her, pulled her into a small room off the side and proceeded to chew her a new one. Ten minutes later, he pulls me aside and says:

M: Demise, do me a favor and pull up this old hags files-- I am sick and tired of her crap. All she ever does is come in here and 'bitch,bitch,bitch.' Make photocopies of everything, stick it in a manilla folder and make sure she doesn't spend more than five minutes outside in that lobby.
Me: Is she finally leaving?
M: Oh hell yes, I am FIRING HER ASS.

After that, she wasn't allowed through our doors, even when the old clinic's doctor retired.

[GayleShy]

A manager at Safeway told me once that her idea was that the customer is always right, but they were not always correct. I never saw her take crap from anyone, though, which is why she's still my favorite managers to this day.

[Jack7957]

OT: K-Mart went bankrupt? I remember the local K being replaced with a Sears, but... I gotta get out more! ^_^

Yep, back in 2002. Then there was Ames, which went through two bankruptcys, both after buying out competiors, Zayres (1990) and Hills (2001).

[greensinestro]

Here is another example of a call I dealt with a few years back:

Me: Thank you for calling...........

SC: (In a loud, obnoxious voice) I need to discuss an account. The number is...

Me: OK, and would you mind verifying the name and address?

SC: I can't. It's my friend's account and I just need to know what services she has.

Me: I'm sorry, maam, but I cannot discuss another account that you are not an account holder on.

SC: Yes, you can! I've done it before (ugh! I hate that line!)

Me: I'm sorry, but if someone did that before, then it was an employee not following the policy.

SC: I did this before and was told what my friend has. Her line is busy and I need to know if she took her call waiting off.

Me: Again, maam, it is not your account, and I cannot discuss it with you.

SC: I want a supervisor!

Me: OK, maam, but we cannot.......

SC: I want a supervisor! I want a supervisor! I want a supervisor!

Me: All right maam, you will need.........

SC: I want a supervisor! I want a supervisor! I want a supervisor!

Me: I will need to place you on hold..........

SC: I want a supervisor! I want a supervisor! I want a supervisor!

At this point, I simply just shut up and put her on hold. Then, I was off to get a supervisor. As I stated in this thread, we were required to come back to the phone every two minutes to let the customer know we were still waiting for a supervisor.

Me: Thank you for holding.......

SC: I want a supervisor! I want a supervisor! I want a supervisor! I want......

I had to put her on hold again, because it was evident she was not going to even allow me the courtesy of speaking to her any more about a supervisor. However, it did not end there. It took five minutes to get a supervisor to the phone, and this supervisor could not just allow me to transfer the call. I again had to listen in to this drastic call.

SUP: This is the supervisor, how can I help you?

To sum it up, this SC changed her tune and gave my supervisor a totally different phone number where she wanted to make sure her own account had call waiting on it! Thankfully, I had already provided the phone number to my supervisor, and noted how hostile and bitchy this lady was. My supervisor did ask her why she wanted to know about someone else's account when she wasn't authorized on it, and this lady up and down swore she never requested something like that. Thankfully, my supervisor sided with me on this one being I was not one to just pull up an account for no reason with a customer on the line. What also saved me was on the account this lady wanted to stick her nose into, she was listed as a personal friend, but that was it. Nowhere on the account did it show she was allowed to be provided with private information on this person. I to this day am not sure why she called at all.

[Dips]

SC: I want a supervisor! I want a supervisor! I want a supervisor!

Is this an adult? Was she going to start screaming for mommy next?

I think I know why her friend doesn't want to talk to her.

[greensinestro]

Another wonderful call I took today, regarding this bastard's inability to pay his bill on time:


Me: Thank you for calling.....

SC: Before I begin, I need your e-mail address for technical support.

Me: Certainly, sir.

SC: You need to speak up and articulate your words. I cannot hear you clearly.

Me: (Speaking a little louder) OK, sir. I can provide you with that. It is.....

SC: Hold on! I told you to speak up and do it articulating your words and with intelligence.

Me: Sir, I am speaking as loud as I can. Any louder and I would be screaming.

SC: Then go ahead and scream. You are being rude and not providing good service.

Me: Sir, not providing good service and being rude would be there if I was yelling at you. I am not going to do that, sir.

SC: (after I finally provided our e-mail address) I need to know why my e-mail addresses are not working. I have three of them and only the main one works.

Me: Well, it appears the bill is unpaid and therefore your account is suspended.

SC: Well, if you had told me that from the beginning, in an intelligent and articulate way, I would not have had to hound you.

Me: Thank you, sir. Is there anything else I can help you with before transferring you to our collections department?

SC: No, except you need to speak loudly, clearly, and intelligently and appreciate your customers. (He then hung up before I could transfer him).

Thankfully, my supervisor monitored the call, and he suspended the one e-mail that was still working at the time due to his rudeness, plus the fact he still owed money on it. The e-mail address should not have been working at all.

About ten minutes later, I received a personal e-mail from him (right before my supervisor suspended him) stating that I must not appreciate customers for not speaking up and talking intelligently, plus I do not have any care on doing a good job. It irked me some, but I simply forwarded it to my supervisor, then sent a professional reply that I would refer this to a higher up, and that I was in no way interested in making a personal matter out of this. Of course, it will be a while before he reads it being he is still suspended! HA! HA! Had he not called, he would still have access to the one e-mail that was working before calling me.

[protege]

Damn...and I thought Hechinger's return policies were bad. Those idiots would take anything...even things that the customers had destroyed or bought from other chains. This included dead plants, lawnmowers (even the crappy grey MTK ones) with blown engines, scrap (or destroyed) lumber, and other crap they probably shouldn't have. They were so concerned with trying to keep customers, it was no wonder that they went bankrupt in 1999. At the time, there was a Builder's Square just down the street, and a Busy Beaver next door. Everyone thought that BB was going to get squeezed. In reality, the other two were both gone after '99.

[aurelemsrealm]

What is with some of these jerks? I deal with plenty of people like that in the convenience store where I work. We get some real trashy sleazes walking through the doors.

However, my manager is good about backing us if an issue arises, and the company's attitude is that we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.

[greensinestro]

Is this an adult? Was she going to start screaming for mommy next?

I think I know why her friend doesn't want to talk to her.

Yes, she was definitely an adult, and every time I came back, the "I want a supervisor!" voice would get louder and louder, almost like a volcano getting ready to explode. With the change in story she did after speaking to my supervisor, it made me look at the days of when I and other kids I knew played on the telephone. Was this lady just calling to screw around with a rep, then tell their supervisor how uncooperative they were? Must have a lot of time on her hands.

[greensinestro]

How could the phrase "the customer is always right" make any sense if you have store managers bend over backwards to please these customers when in actuality what's really happening is theft of services by deception?

You really should rephrase this one. As I and many others have said, a customer is not defined as this scumbag individual when the company is being ripped off and scammed each and every time he/she visits the place of business. If you're eating their food, then always finding a way not to pay for it, or pay for the one item and scheme your way into getting extra freebies the rest of us have to pay for, or if you are receiving a utility bill each month and literally intimidating the employee on the other end of the phone to wipe away the charges......THAT IS NOT A CUSTOMER! THAT IS THE ULTIMATE PETTY THIEF WHO SHOULD BE BANISHED FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH! But what makes these stories even more incredible is when you have spineless managers who actually allow this to happen all the time, especially when they know these people do it over and over again.

[greensinestro]

The manager shouldn't have caved to this scammer. I believe that the conversation should've gone something like this.

Customer: I want my free pizza. I didn't like the one I got.
Manager(to Employee): Did you see him eat the pizza?
Employee: I saw him eat most of it.
Manager(to Customer): Sorry, you don't get a free pizza since you ate most of yours.
Customer: But it was horrible. I want my pizzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Manager: You're making a scene. I request that you leave now.
Customer: Not until I get my free pizza which I demand you make for me right now!
Manager: You're not getting a free pizza and you need to leave right now!
Customer: I'm the customer and I say that I'm getting my pizza.
Manager: I'm the manager and I say that you need to leave.
Customer: Forget it! (stomps feet)
Manager: GET OUT AND DON'T EVER COME BACK!
Customer: I HOPE YOU'RE SATISFIED WITH LOSING ME AS A CUSTOMER! (storms off)

And with this last quote, I would have reminded him that he is more of a thief than a customer. As I keep saying, a customer is the person that pays for whatever they buy and not a person who constantly looks for ways to get double their money back, free food, more crap than what the amount of their purchase was, etc. People like this are lowlife scum of the Earth and should be vaporized from the Earth's surface. But, it dawns on me that people like this know they're this way and do not care what impression it makes on other people.

[allniter]

I dunno. I like giving free things out to customers when I know the management is just going to cave anyways.
I may make their day at my own expense, but really, because I got to end the call earlier than I otherwise could have, I'm the one who really gets the last laugh while the company gets to eat their shame in the form of lost dollars.

Win Win for me

[hotelnpa]

What I don't understand is that we are told to maximize profits. But nothing gets me more upset than a manager caving in to a SC who is clearly wrong. Now if I gave them a refund or something free, I would get chewed out.

[greensinestro]

Quote the messenger

Y: my manager
C: me
M: Store Manager, Head Honcho, The Godfather (guy whose word goes above all elses)
SC: sucky customer.



Y: oh he's a big pain in the ass. He's a regular guy-- always comes in, orders the same thing, goes away with pizza, then bitches about it.

Y: Whatever happens DO NOT give in to him. DO NOT give him a free pizza. He abuses our policies. Right there! There's the warning, but hard to believe what Y says later on!
C: -mock salute- yes'm. I shall not let him get away with the free pizza if he complains.
Y: atta girl. You certainly did your job there!


(This guy was so anal he had me repeat the order seven times.)Already a red flag for what was to come!

For all that's holy, I even go through the trouble of PRESENTING the pizza to him before he walks away and ask if all is okay.Must have been OK being we went to sit down with it.

He goes, sits down with the large pizza and proceeds to inhale it all.


SC: the pizza was burnt. I demand a new one.Read the previous sentence. Burnt, but not so much to where once slice was not enough to convince him of that.

SC: I ate it.Why? It was burnt already!

C: But you still deemed it good enough to eat, then demand a new one.As your Y said, "atta girl!"

SC: but I wasn't satisfied and I want a new one.

SC: This is RIDICULOUS! I always eat here! Where's your manager? She ALWAYS gives me a free pizza whenever I'm not satisfied. The same old line bastards like this use every day!




The look on Y's face is one of sheer anger, M is calm and SC looks smug. Smug, because this asshole already knew what was going to happen, but needed to gloat in front of you!


Y: you should have given him his pizza.Read the previous conversation C had with Y and you'll find why this is enough to anger any innocent bystander out there.

SC: I want Crazy bread too. And I want the large ones.Free food anyone? Or, free food to those who pitch a fit when they get caught scheming to steal from the company!

SC: and marinara sauce.Pig! You already ate one pizza, are getting free Crazy Bread you're not entitled to, and now you need to make sure you have stolen sauce to go with it!
M: You know what? WE'll give you two bins of sauces. How's that?I hope you choke on it!
SC: Can I have a second pizza?WTF? Well, we already knew he would get that, right?
M: Sure, we'll give you a SECOND pizza... and because I understand how troublesome this was, we'll also give you a $25 gift certificate for the store.Troublesome? Oh, you mean the trouble you caused C and Little Caesar's, not to mention the honest paying customers who don't get more than they pay for because of their shitty behavior.

And as I'm standing there, baffled, at the verge of tears as I hear what the store manager is conceding to this bastard, Y turns to me and says "Customer's always right!"Excuse me? But didn't Y already tell you about this asshole's constant ability to abuse policies, scheme for more and so on? Didn't he already advise you of how wrong he is and will be again?

I didn't even get so much as an apology.... then got in trouble for giving him another free pizza when he came in a month later even though he ate the whole damned thing too!Doesn't seem like you can win with bastards like this. You got in trouble for giving him a free pizza, but you would have had a repeat of the previous encounter had you challenged him again. And, why would anyone apologize to you? I mean, this bastard was not going to apologize to you after you fought him on what he was wrongfully doing, and certainly your managers weren't going to have marinara sauce on their faces after you did your job correctly.

All right. I admit I simply cannot get over this post to my thread. It has to be one of the most memorable ones on here. I only wish I could find out where this place is and see if we can petition to keep that man out of this and other businesses he probably does things like this with.

[Shabo]

Ok, from what I have learned in my business classes, there is a pretty simple explanation as to how this stupid saying came about. During the Industrial Revolution, the customers were faced with one product that they could buy or not buy. There were no choices really, and no focus. Then, in the 20s or so, competition for products began and companies' focus was on the products. Customers would choose based on either what they knew or what they could afford. Still not really given much for choices, but it's a step in the right direction.

Next, we have an introduction of advertising in the 50's. The focus is on Ads. Now companies are beginning to market their products, and consumers respond really well to the ads, so everyone starts using them. Ads were simple, not always truthful, but people listened to them. People's choices were buy our product, or buy someone else's, but our product is better. There was a huge increase in brand loyalty, especially since people were experiencing an economic boom and weren't as bothered by budgets, so they could afford to stick to a specific brand if they wanted to. In that time, I believe retailers came up with the phrase we have all grown to hate because their towns were still small, they knew a lot of their customers, and people were generally nicer then. Plus, if any competition sprang up in the town, the store owners wanted their customers to be treated better at the store they knew and loved than at the new store. People really took on this idea since they knew that they weren't going to be getting screwed over, and it worked really well because people were less likely to milk a friend for all they were worth.

Fast forward to today: Focus is on the consumer. We have advertising everywhere, and marketers are constantly looking for new ways to reach us. Companies have realized that because of the extreme cost of marketing, it costs far less to give free stuff to a consumer to keep them than to attract a new one. Most large companies have to pay several thousand dollars to attract a new customer, while keeping a current one only costs a few thousand. I don't remember what the exact numbers were, but it was a pretty big difference. It goes along the same lines of it being more cost effective to retain good employees than hire new ones all the time, for different reasons, of course.

Now, most customers will not milk the system for all its worth, and that's why it costs less to retain them then get new ones. However, sometimes you get the really obnoxious freeloaders that know how the system works, and use it to their advantage. These, ladies and gents, are our sucky customers. And now you know why companies will bend over backwards for them.

Oh, and half the time that you get a manager without a spine, it's because they know how futile it is to fight with the sucky customers since corporate won't be backing them up, and then they get complaints and get reprimanded, the same as any of you would. I think companies should instate a policy that sucky customers get shot on spot. I think it would solve a lot of our problems.