The Customer is Not Always Right

[SaikoDragon]

The customer is always right. Why? They are the ones giving the company money. Without their business, the company doesnt make money. You make the customer happy so that the customer comes back and spends more.

You work in retail, be prepared to put on a smile and test your patience. The golden rule in business is the customer is always right and it's the golden truth.

 

[Vash the Stampede]

You work in retail, be prepared to put on a smile and test your patience. The golden rule in business is the customer is always right and it's the golden truth.

Not really. My supervisor almost cursed this one kid out for being a rude twat and harassing one of my co-workers. Yes, we should please the customer, but that doesn't mean we have to put up with bullshit.

 

[The 2nd Evil]

Here's a delightful little tale of a customer from hell by a friend of mine who works at Burger King and has given me permission to repost the story here (The names of those involved have been changed to protect the innocent):

[HIDE]Anyways, tonight for closing staff, people left constantly for various reasons, so it was "Rachael" and her good manager, "Sarah". Rachael modeled her work ethic and hustle after Sarah, because she is just amazing at her job and Rachael's idol.

So Rachael and Sarah were going through the beginnings of our closing chores, and a car comes up. And another. And another and another. Tons of food in every order. At least a dozen and a half cars ALL AT ONCE. Sarah and Rachael have lost their minds, Rachael's shaking, Sarah's shouting obscenities, and then...THE CAR.

"Hi, can I get a Steakhouse Loaded meal?"

Sarah shouts from the kitchen, "We don't have the potatoes for that anymore!"

"Sorry sir, we don't have the potatoes for that anymore. Would you like a regular Steakhouse meal instead, or even a Mushroom Swiss Steakhouse meal?"

...the incoming cruise control capslock is *not* exaggerated.

"WHAT THE **** DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE THE POTATOES FOR IT? IT'S A NEW FUCKING BURGER! [Side note: not, it's not.] I JUST DROVE HERE FROM CAMPBELL AVE. BECAUSE THEY SAID THEY DIDN'T HAVE THE STEAKS AND NOW YOU DON'T HAVE THE LOADED BURGER? WHAT THE **** IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS? LEARN HOW TO DO YOUR FUCKING JOB!"

Sarah from the kitchen: "Tell him that nobody orders it anymore!"

"Sir, we don't have the supplies because it's not ordered anymore. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but I'd be more than happy to give you just a regular Steakhouse burger in lieu of a Loaded."

A car pulls up to the window, letting them know that they missed an order of king sized fries. Rachael tells him to wait while the guy's still cruise controlling in her right ear. She's turned the volume down, but cruise control is not a force to be controlled.

"I DON'T WANT A FUCKING REGULAR STEAKHOUSE, DIPSHIT! YOU PEOPLE BETTER FUCKING LEARN TO DO YOUR JOB AND GET YOUR FUCKING FOOD IN ORDER! I WANT THE NUMBER OF THIS BUILDING!"

Sarah shouts the phone number of the building to Rachael, and she dutifully repeats it, then goes back to asking the guy at the window what size fries he's missing. It's a king size, so she walks over to the fry station and begin getting a king order of fries for the guy while the cruise control guy chews up both drive-thru timer time and her eardrum.

"NO DIPSHIT, I WANT YOUR BUILDING'S NUMBER, NOT THE FUCKING PHONE NUMBER!"

"Sarah, he wants our vendor num-"

Sarah's already stomping over towards her as she set the fries down at the expediting station. She begins taking Rachael's headset off, and she gives her a serious look. "Tell [the guy at the window] to wait, and close the window."

OH HELL. She quickly and timidly complies. She's terrified because Sarah's gonna kill this guy with words.

She straps herself up in the drive thru gear and turns away from Rachael and the window.

"Listen, the burger is discontinued here because people don't buy it anymore! You need to stop harassing my employee because you're mad about the fact that we don't have your burger; she's just trying to help you out! Now, I have about a half dozen orders to fill, and there's two more cars behind you that my employee's gotta get to, so either make an order or leave!"

He left.

And now Sarah is like, even more of Rachael's idol.[/HIDE]

 

[Undrave]

The customer is always right. Why? They are the ones giving the company money. Without their business, the company doesnt make money. You make the customer happy so that the customer comes back and spends more.

You work in retail, be prepared to put on a smile and test your patience. The golden rule in business is the customer is always right and it's the golden truth.

You ever actually worked in retail? Because thats the kind of reply we get from people who never spent half an hour behind a convenience store counter.

 

[KingRanger]

IMO anyone that treats a customer like **** should be fired no question. If a customer is being a complete ass you just ask them to leave. You do not make fun of them or berate them. If a customer asks what you think is a stupid question just reply to them in a respectful manor. If you can not do that quit or allow yourself to be fired.

 

[HaiTien78]

IMO anyone that treats a customer like **** should be fired no question. If a customer is being a complete ass you just ask them to leave. You do not make fun of them or berate them. If a customer asks what you think is a stupid question just reply to them in a respectful manor. If you can not do that quit or allow yourself to be fired.

Those rules do not apply for retail, they only apply for a more professional line of work. Simpler line of work, simpler standards. And sometimes a customer is just asking for it. Also don't take this the wrong way but your post did feel a little like you were trying to lay a law down, like you were some kind of gospel truth rule book. I know you did not mean it but do try to tone it down if its not any trouble please.

The customer is not always right. Why? They usually pay the company with money. Obviously without customer business the company does not make any money. HOWEVER a handful of truly douchebag customers having a sissy fit and never returning does not harm the business at all. Dumb customers probably only have dumb friends so there is no need to worry about said dumb customer telling their dumb friends. You don't need more douchebags having sissy fits in your store.

You work in retail, your patience will be put to its limits, be prepared to reach new breaking points. The golden rule in retail is the customer is not always right, the manager is always right.

And SaikoDragon you are so very very very wrong. So I took the liberty of fixing your post. Do educate yourself by taking a job at a McDonalds or a Target.

 

[KingRanger]

Those rules do not apply for retail, they only apply for a more professional line of work. Simpler line of work, simpler standards. And sometimes a customer is just asking for it. Also don't take this the wrong way but your post did feel a little like you were trying to lay a law down, like you were some kind of gospel truth rule book. I know you did not mean it but do try to tone it down if its not any trouble please.



And SaikoDragon you are so very very very wrong. So I took the liberty of fixing your post. Do educate yourself by taking a job at a McDonalds or a Target.

No I won't tone it down any. That is exactly how I feel about retail or any job. I'm sorry if that upsets you. I guess we just have different standards on work behavior. How about I turn this around on you... Why did you feel the need to talk down to Saiko and question is personal feelings on this matter? I could ask you to "tone it down", but I am not going to. If Saiko wants to do that it's his call.

No he isn't wrong. You see these are our personal feelings and opinions. Do you understand what that means? It means neither of us, nor you, are wrong about how we feel.

 

[HaiTien78]

No I won't tone it down any. That is exactly how I feel about retail or any job. I'm sorry if that upsets you. I guess we just have different standards on work behavior. How about I turn this around on you... Why did you feel the need to talk down to Saiko and question is personal feelings on this matter? I could ask you to "tone it down", but I am not going to. If Saiko wants to do that it's his call.

No he isn't wrong. You see these are our personal feelings and opinions. Do you understand what that means? It means neither of us, nor you, are wrong about how we feel.

Yes I do believe we have different views on the matter at hand.

Ah playing the old opinion card, figured you'd do that. Well now Saiko was also expressing his opinion/argument which apparently failed under the fallacy of association of the customer side.

 

[MattComix]

As someone working at a Barnes and Noble as well as having done customer service stuff for years I know this all to well.

It's not even that customer is always wrong or an asshole, it's that the customer once they walk through the door think the entire world revolves around them and there is not even the slightest obligation to be prepared or considerate. That's where it starts and that's when things get dumb.

I would say that in reality it is a two part equation. If you want good customer service, be a good customer and I don't mean just buying lots of ****. Just as an example I run into, if you want someone to find a book for you then have a few more details ready besides "It's got a blue cover" or "I saw it on Oprah."

 

[Tanuki]

That is EXACTLY the fuckwad sense of entitlement I speak of. No one is so special that their refusal to come to my store will crush my business. There are six billion in this world and if you don't know how to shape the **** up, be prepared to get kicked out of a lot of places.

I'm going to break this down more and you can tell me if you agree or not:

No matter what you think or what our ads tell you. YOU ARE A NUMBER. If we choose to treat you better, it's out of the kindness of our or our bosses' hearts.

I hate customer service