Customer is Not Always Right

The customer is always right. That is the first thing they tell new employees in the service industry and customers also know it. That is why some abuse waiters (servers), hotel and industrial cleaners, petrol attendants and cashiers.

One day we saw a young woman running after a woman in a motorized wheel chair. Did she catch her? We shall never know but either way, she must have lost her job at the care home.

The customer is always right is strictly enforced for obvious reasons. They don’t want to lose business because some complaints are not in person or e-mail, but through word of mouth, which is more damaging.

How about social media, it is more lethal? That brings me to the bare bones of this blog. The customer is not always right because we are human beings. Customers have potholes in their souls, just plain nasty and this shows up in online complaints.

Most of them are vindictive, like women who wrongly accuse men of abuse, when they refuse to marry them or when he wants a divorce. The customer is always right when he/she states what went wrong, so that the business can take corrective measures.

I once bought a set of pots at The Bay, after lids of the old ones said enough is enough. I went in-store, paid and they said they’ll deliver. The order arrived a few days later.  I happily signed the courier’s delivery slip only to find a white bone china dinner set inside the box. The Bay admitted the mistake and delivered the pots, but said I should keep the dinner set.

Therefore, the customer is always right is not absolute. Is it because customers have a legitimate complaint about the product or service?  Or, are they angry at the world or have personal issues they want to off load on workers so that they lose their jobs?

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.