The customer is always right.

[Tama]

I've been working at Malmart for a year and some change now, and yesterday I heard this phrase for the first time from an irate customer, believe it or not.

Something rang up at $1.50, and she says "That was supposed to be $1! I don't want to complain but the customer is always right!"

Yet after all that she still bought the items at $1.50.

[Sapphire Silk]

Guess she couldn't just ask for a price check . . . .

[Tama]

I even offered, but...it just confused me.

[tropicsgoddess]

Gah...I hate that phrase. Whoever coined it should be

[Saphire089]

Gah...I hate that phrase. Whoever coined it should be

You are so right. I hate that phrase.

[Food Lady]

"I don't want to complain..." And yet, you are.

[Peppergirl]

Something rang up at $1.50, and she says "That was supposed to be $1! I don't want to complain but the customer is always right!"

Yet after all that she still bought the items at $1.50.

So I guess by that 'logic', customers should just be able to name their own price for their items. Nice.

[jjc927]

Whoever came up with that phrase was... wrong! And with that person's logic, she could have said a $100 item was supposed to be a dollar.

[Eisa]

Hey, if I get to name my own prices for things...

No, the customer is not always right. And if you're saying you don't mean to complain, it means you ARE complaining.

[Jester]

Gah...I hate that phrase. Whoever coined it should be

Well, the good news for them is that they are dead, so not subject to your salmon-beatings. And to be fair to them, the way SC's use that phrase is most definitely not how it was intended.

Me, I did a little research into this very thing.

"Several retail concern used this as a slogan from the early 20th century onward. In the USA it is particularly associated with Marshall Field's department store, Chicago (established in the late 19th century). The store is an icon of the city, although it is set to lose its name in 2006 when, following a takeover, it becomes renamed as Macy's. In the UK, Harry Gordon Selfridge (1857-1947) the founder of London's Selfridges store (opened in 1909), is credited with championing its use. The Wisconsin born Selfridge worked for Field from 1879 to 1901. Both men were dynamic and creative businessmen and it's highly likely that one of them coined the phrase, although we don't know which.
Of course, these entrepreneurs didn't intend to be taken literally. What they were attempting to do was to make the customer feel special by inculcating into their staff the disposition to behave as if the customer was right, even when they weren't."

This makes sense, and to me is the way a good company should be run. Having dealt with companies that most definitely did not seem to care too much about the customer, I get it. The problem, of course, is the idiots that make it an absolute and all-encompassing "rule," which of course it isn't.

So I guess by that 'logic', customers should just be able to name their own price for their items. Nice.

If they are dealing with priceline.com, sure. Otherwise, they need to piss off.

[Peppergirl]

If they are dealing with priceline.com, sure. Otherwise, they need to piss off.

In my line of work, I get threatened with that alot. It really breaks my heart when an SC gets mad at me and says they are going to priceline. I weep and beg them not to go.

[solidmetalgear19]

To quote Mallrats:

T.S.: Haven't you ever heard the phrase "The customer is always right?"

Shannon: Let me tell you something. Let me give you a little secret, okay? [shouts in T.S.'s ear] The customer is always an asshole!

Even if the character was a tool, he has a point.

[ShootMePlease]

The customer is NOT always right.

The customer will NEVER be always right.

That is all.

[MoonCat]

The sad thing is that people apparently believe this is some kind of cosmic law, as unquestionable as gravity. For certain they think it is an actual U.S. law, which explains why idiots dial 9-1-1 when they don't get their mcnuggets or something.

[Willis]

The customer is NOT always right.

The customer will NEVER be always right.

That is all.

So with that logic, when you go to the store to buy something and get shitty customer service, you won't be right in speaking up or doing something about it.