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The old adage: 'The customer is always right' which means a business should always have the best interests of customers at heart and always assume good faith, h

The old adage: 'The customer is always right' which means a business should always have the best interests of customers at heart and always assume good faith, has turned on its head. Now customers have weaponized that old adage and presume an air of ugly hubris and are mean spirited because hey, 'The customer is always right'. Eh no, sometimes the customer is an asshole.

Bjartr 4y ago
> which means a business should always have the best interests of customers at heart and always assume good faith I thought it meant, at least originally, that a customer's choice to shop, or not, at your store needs to be treated as your failure to attract the customer, not the customer's failure for making the "wrong" choice.
- WallyFunk 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_customer_is_always_right https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_customer_is_always_right https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_customer_is_not_a_moron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_customer_is_not_a_moron
  - Bjartr 4y ago
    Looking further into it, there's more nuance to it. Of the several people who popularized the phrase in the early 1900s, one of them was Harry Gordon Selfridge. While he is lumped in with the others, the phrase he used was actually "The customer is always right, in matters of taste." With the idea being that a salesperson shouldn't judge the wants of the customer. If they want an ugly sweater, sell them an ugly sweater, don't try to convince them to get a good looking sweater. Others said slightly different things. Like Cesar Ritz who said "The customer is never wrong", where the idea is that the moment the customer complains, you take action to solve the problem the customer has stated, even if they are incorrect.
stocknoob 4y ago
I’ve always took it as “the customer is always right in matters of taste”. If customers keep asking for green shirts with red polka dots, you sell green shirts with red polka dots, even if you don’t like them.
swader999 4y ago
If you are tight on staff or other inputs, you are wise to 'fire' your worst customers.

Bjartr 4y ago

> which means a business should always have the best interests of customers at heart and always assume good faith I thought it meant, at least originally, that a customer's choice to shop, or not, at your store needs to be treated as your failure to attract the customer, not the customer's failure for making the "wrong" choice.

WallyFunk 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_customer_is_always_right https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_customer_is_always_right https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_customer_is_not_a_moron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_customer_is_not_a_moron
- Bjartr 4y ago
  Looking further into it, there's more nuance to it. Of the several people who popularized the phrase in the early 1900s, one of them was Harry Gordon Selfridge. While he is lumped in with the others, the phrase he used was actually "The customer is always right, in matters of taste." With the idea being that a salesperson shouldn't judge the wants of the customer. If they want an ugly sweater, sell them an ugly sweater, don't try to convince them to get a good looking sweater. Others said slightly different things. Like Cesar Ritz who said "The customer is never wrong", where the idea is that the moment the customer complains, you take action to solve the problem the customer has stated, even if they are incorrect.

stocknoob 4y ago

I’ve always took it as “the customer is always right in matters of taste”. If customers keep asking for green shirts with red polka dots, you sell green shirts with red polka dots, even if you don’t like them.

swader999 4y ago

If you are tight on staff or other inputs, you are wise to 'fire' your worst customers.