Sometimes, "The Customer" can go Fuck Himself

My child has a job at a pizza place taking phone orders.  Tonight a call came in from an extremely rude customer, who was angry and swearing from the get-go. At one point, he was asked to hold on a moment because B had to put in his credit card number a second time because one number was wrong. The customer was politely asked to ‘hold on a moment; I made a mistake with your card number and have to put in in again.‘ His response was to yell, “Oh, yeah, that’s the problem; maybe you should go home and study next time!”

If you’ve ever spoken to my child and heard her voice – especially over the phone – you KNOW you are speaking to a child and not an adult – and this jackass thinks he has the right to speak to a minor like that?

I asked B if she told her manager about this customer, and she said no. When I asked why, she said, “Because I made a mistake.”

This bothers me. First of all, I think my child needs to stand up for herself a little more in general; I have always been concerned with this one not speaking up enough, as if her worth is less than others’. Yes, she made a mistake, but it fucking happens and to think crucifixion is acceptable punishment for an honest mistake is wrong.

I am NOT saying she should have yelled back at the customer, either, but I do believe she should have mentioned this customer’s behavior to the boss.

I’ve worked in retail, I’ve worked in the service industry, I’ve tended bar, I’ve been a driver … I know what it’s like to work with the public, but I am getting more and more appalled by how far we have taken and are taking the attitude that ‘the customer is always right’. 

This attitude is wrong and needs to be changed, because the more an entitled attitude is taken, the worse it will get – and it IS getting worse. The toleration of bad behavior under the umbrella ‘the customer is always right’ has bitten us in the asses – we have not created better business relationships with it; instead, we have opened the door to allowing people to think they’ve won a means of possibly getting something for nothing and encouraged their bad behavior, simply by calling them a ‘customer’.

I had a similar situation happen to me recently. Unfortunately, I’m a girl. ‘Customers’ seem to think they can take certain liberties with me, even if it’s just ‘flirting’. Now, these are not people I would flirt with in a social setting, nor would I want them to be flirting with me – but because they are CUSTOMERS, I have to allow it? So, say that I do. How far are they allowed to go before they cross a line? How much do I have to put up with before I can get ‘justifiably’ offended? I am not easily offended, but I’ve had to learn many deflection tactics to be able to stand up for myself without it looking like I’m ‘offending’ an offensive client. That could be my next book: How to PRETEND to Kiss Ass. If this business ‘trend’ continues, I could make a fortune.

Telling the customer he is always right simply because he is a customer is not the way to achieve good business relationships. The key word is RELATIONSHIP – because that is what it is. Both sides have an investment in keeping the relationship fair and working; one side wants to sell, and the other wants to buy.

Kissing someone’s ass is not the way to build a healthy relationship. Would any of you tell your sons or daughters that that is how to maintain a healthy relationship of any kind? Would you want to see your kids kissing anyone’s ass just to keep them around?

Yes, business is business, but it is still a relationship. The buyer is not doing the seller a favor by buying their product. They are not just ‘giving’ anyone their hard-earned money: they are trading their money for something they want or need. Yes, they may want to do it in a nice environment with polite people and business owners should provide that, but to roll out themselves and their employees as doormats has nothing to do with being polite.

We need to learn to respect each other, in whatever relationships we are in. To tell an employee that he or she should take abuse from someone just because that person is a customer is WRONG. This twisted ‘tolerance’ is part of what is ripping at the seams of our unity at the basest level. Bad customers beget bad employees/bad service beget bad customers. This vicious cycle carries across all forms of business, and as soon as each side presumes to expect negative behavior from the other, the relationship starts off on the wrong foot.

We are not just selling ourselves short, we are selling ourselves outright, and in more detrimental a fashion than any prostitute is.  

We should be investing in each other instead. Women can’t be women who ‘build each other up’ if they believe they can be ‘Customers’, too. Employers will not have good employees if they expect them to take abuse from ‘Customers’.

Respect and respectful service begins with respect for people. Honest work for honest pay, right? It’s all relationship and it’s all give and take. One-sided relationships will always be doomed.

Abusive customers are not ‘right’ and should never be tolerated for any reason – especially for money.

The customer isn’t always right. Sometimes, ‘the Customer’ can go fuck himself.