3. 2 in 5 respondents said
their unruly customer got
some sort of deal after
making a scene
4. SHOULD THE CUSTOMER HAVE
BEEN COMPENSATED?
strongly agree
agree
neutral
disagree
strongly disagree
5. WHY IS THIS WRONG?
1. It makes employees unhappy
2. It gives abrasive customers an unfair advantage
3. Some customers are bad for business
4. It results in worse customer service
5. Some customers are just plain wrong
7. REFERENCES
• Kjerulf, Alexander. "Top 5 Reasons Why The Customer Is Always Right Is
Wrong." Positivesharing.com, 12 July 2006. Web. 30 Mar. 2012.
<http://positivesharing.com/2006/07/why-the-customer-is-always-right-
results-in-bad-customer-service/>.
• Brodsky, Elaine, and Pamela Mitchell. "Subscribe to Inc.com's Free
Newsletters." Inc.com. 1 July 2007. Web. 30 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.inc.com/resources/women/articles/20070701/mitchell_bro
dsky.html>.
• "The Customer Is Always Right." The Phrase Finder. Web. 30 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/106700.html>.
• “Customers” Survey. 14 February 2012
Editor's Notes
Everyone has heard the saying “the customer is always right” at least one time in their life. This saying was created in the early 20th century by Harry Gordon Selfridge. When Selfridge came up with this phrase while working for Macy’s (which was then known as Marshall Field), he simply wanted the employees to always treat the customers as though they were right, even if they weren’t. As everyone knows, this is the policy that most businesses have regarding their customers.
By show of hands, how many of you have had to deal with a customer who demanded some sort of special treatment or deal and then got it after being completely rude? After analyzing my survey, I found that 2 in 5 of my respondents said that their unruly customer got some sort of deal after making a scene. In my eyes, this is exactly like a child throwing a temper tantrum in a store because they want a toy and their parent giving in and buying it for them so they will keep quiet. This is common behavior for most types of businesses today. When a customer throws a fit about something, the business doesn’t want the customer to attract attention of others who may think it’s the employees’ fault so they give the customer what they want in order to hush them up. I work at an outdoor center that has cabins, water activities, and a zip line. One day a customer came in around 11:00 on a busy day and wanted to check into her cabin however, check in is not until 5:00. When a customer calls to make a reservation they are told at that time when check in is. They are also e-mailed a document about the cabins that has the check in time included. Since it was a busy day and someone had stayed in her cabin the night before, her cabin was unprepared to be checked into. Upon hearing this, the customer immediately flew into a rant about how she has been a loyal customer for years and has referred many friends here etc. Well, as you can imagine, she began attracting a lot of attention while hindering the needs of other customers that were behind her in line. The problem was furthered when the housekeeping staff was forced to halt their tasks in order to ready this customer’s cabin. Personally, I would not have allowed her to check in that early at all. So basically this particular customer got special treatment for acting childish about a situation. Can you see now how treatment such as this can result in unruly behavior from customers?
Another question on the survey was should the unrulycustomer should have been compensated. No one strongly agreed. Only 9.5% agreed that the customer should have been compensated, another 21.4% held no opinion and a combined 69.1% either disagreed or strongly disagreed that the customer should be compensated. So if the employees think that these rowdy customers should not be compensated, then why were they? It is this constant obsession within the business world that the customer is right under any circumstance.
As I was researching this topic, I came across an article that put into words exactly what I wanted to know. This article was written by Alexander Kjerulf who is a leading expert on happiness in the workplace. In his article, he describes 5 reasons why the customer is not always right. The first reason Kjerulf gives is that it makes the employees unhappy. Gordon Bethune was the CEO of Continental Airlines from 1994-2004 and did not support the phrase “the customer is always right” yet still he made Continental Airline one of the top airlines in the world. He said, “When we run into customers that we can’t reel back in, our loyalty is with our employees. They have to put up with this stuff every day. Just because you buy a ticket does not give you the right to abuse our employees . . .We run more than 3 million people through our books every month. One or two of those people are going to be unreasonable, demanding jerks. When it’s a choice between supporting your employees, who work with you every day and make your product what it is, or some irate jerk who demands a free ticket to Paris because you ran out of peanuts, whose side are you going to be on? You can’t treat your employees like serfs. You have to value them . . . If they think that you won’t support them when a customer is out of line, even the smallest problem can cause resentment.” When a customer comes into a business after being misinformed of prices, policies, or something else, usually the employees feel obligated to go with what the customer believes and sometimes that can be more difficult for the employee. Next, it gives abrasive customers an unfair advantage. This reason I definitely agree with the most. One of the questions in the survey I conducted asked the respondent to describe an account they have had with a rude customer. This is the story that stuck out the most to me. “When I was a manager at a bank, a customer called repeatedly because they were angry that 7 overdraft fees had been charged on their account (because they made mistakes and did 7 transactions with their debit card that they didn't have the money for!). I tried to talk to the customer about keeping a checkbook register and the fairness of our fee policy. They demanded to talk with the bank president, who then waived all but one fee, even though they legitimately should have been charged all 7.” This is not fair for the other customers that would have kept quiet and paid the fees. Why should that one customer get out of paying for their own mistake when everyone else is willing to? Kjerulf says “Using the slogan “The customer is always right” means abusive customers can demand just about anything – they’re right by definition, aren’t they?” The third reason Kjerulf says the customer is not always right is that some customers are bad for business. Let’s go back to the bank example. That one customer cost the bank however much 7 overdraft fees would have been. And letting the customer get away with something like that once means they will probably continue to try to get away with it. According to inc.com, an advice website for businesses, the customers that believe they are the only one that matters because they think the customer is always right need to be “fired.” These customers can hold businesses back from growing and have no place continuing to buy there. A business can afford to turn away the few customers that think they can get away with anything, especially if they are costing the company money instead of bring in a profit. Reason number 4 is that it can result in worse customer service when a company lives by “the customer is always right.” CEO Hal Rosenbluth of the corporate travel agency Rosenbluth International says “when you put the employees first, they put the customers first. Put employees first and they will be happy at work. Employees who are happy at work give better customer service because: they care more about other people, including customers; they have more energy; they are happy, meaning they are more fun to talk to and interact with; they are more motivated. On the other hand, when the company and management consistently side with customers instead of with employees, it sends a clear message that: employees are not valued; that treating employees fairly is not important; that employees have no right to respect from customers; that employees have to put up with everything from customers. When this attitude prevails, employees stop caring about service. At that point, real good service is almost impossible – the best customers can hope for is fake good service.” And the last reason why the customer is not always right is because some customers are just plain wrong. This is a story from Bethune’s book “Worst to First.” “A Continental flight attendant once was offended by a passenger’s child wearing a hat with Nazi and KKK emblems on it. It was pretty offensive stuff, so the attendant went to the kid’s father and asked him to put away the hat. “No,” the guy said. “My kid can wear what he wants, and I don’t care who likes it.” The flight attendant went into the cockpit and got the first officer, who explained to the passenger the FAA regulation that makes it a crime to interfere with the duties of a crew member. The hat was causing other passengers and the crew discomfort, and that interfered with the flight attendant’s duties. The guy better put away the hat. He did, but he didn’t like it. He wrote many nasty letters. We made every effort to explain our policy and the federal air regulations, but he wasn’t hearing it. He even showed up in our executive suite to discuss the matter with me. I let him sit out there. I didn’t want to see him and I didn’t want to listen to him. He bought a ticket on our airplane, and that means we’ll take him where he wants to go. But if he’s going to be rude and offensive, he’s welcome to fly another airline.” In this situation the customer was clearly in the wrong. He could not have seriously expected to be allowed to display such offensive symbols.
So in closing, after conducting my survey and doing some research, I found that even though a lot of businesses follow this policy, the customer is not always right. However, it is ok for the business to treat the customer this way, but they just have to know when to put their foot down and say “no.”
