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

[Anakah]

I'm sick of hearing that line. It has to go both ways. Make them happy to a certain extent that doesn't interfere with the store's policy or make the cashier feel like crap and look stupid. I HATE it when the supervisor sides with the clearly wrong customer.

Yes, I understand that we must make the customer happy but there are limitations that need to be set and NOT ignored! There are rules for a reason. I love one of my supervisors, he's awesome and will tell the customer off (nicely and professionally) and back me up. I'm sad he's leaving next week for a new job.

It's not right that they make you sound like crap "I'll deal with her accordingly." I know what they're doing, they think they'll make the customer happy about giving you some sort of write up or get you into trouble. I guess it's some sort of sick satisfaction due to their inability to pay their bills on time and make it okay to resort back to five years old and blame someone else.

I am also sick of the bastards who throw a HUGE fit and get what they want. I hate rewarding the jerks!

You know if your supervisor is that much of a dumbass, I'd look for a new job. But I know that is easiler said than done. I hope karma bites all those jerks in the ass.

[Pinkie]

I work in a call center and I'd say 10% of our calls each day are recorded. It's very random as to which calls are recorded. We do have a record feature on our phones for recording customers who are threatening violence to the company or our field workers. The recorded calls are used by our supervisors when they do monthly "monitoring" with us. We sit with the supervisor and listen to our own calls and get feedback about what we could have done differently, or should have done. I've never had a "difficult" customer show up on one of those "monitored" calls. The only ones that seem to get recorded are those where I've forgotten to mention our "value added services"...ie web site, online bill payment, products and services that we sell. Maybe they "preview" the calls they use when we are "monitored". I don't know.

[greensinestro]

Usually, when I call any kind of call center, I hear a recording that says something to the effect of : "This call may be monitored for Quality Assurance".
Weren't any of these calls recorded? Couldn't any of them prove how sucky the customer was?

Geeze...I feel for you, I really do. No one should have to put up with such abuse.
And a customer who never pays is NOT A CUSTOMER! That person is a THIEF!

When Valerie called in, it was the year 1995, long before they really started observing and recording calls. They would observe the calls, but your ass saver mostly came when a supervisor (in the office, not 500 miles away like today) was observing and could back you up. As for the other guy, the one who pays his bill when he feels like it and gets free things out of it.....well, it just happened that nobody was monitoring the call, nor was it recorded. However, because I treat each call as if I am being monitored, I could not simply connect him to collections, which is where he needed to go in the first place. This call lasted twenty minutes or so, and had that bastard allowed me to connect him, I could have handled more calls.

[Enjis]

Usually, when I call any kind of call center, I hear a recording that says something to the effect of : "This call may be monitored for Quality Assurance".
Weren't any of these calls recorded? Couldn't any of them prove how sucky the customer was?

Geeze...I feel for you, I really do. No one should have to put up with such abuse.
And a customer who never pays is NOT A CUSTOMER! That person is a THIEF!

[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.

[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-.

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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!"

[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.