Is The Customer Really Always Right?

    When working in customer service, you are always taught one simple thing—that the customer is always right—but I beg to differ. 

    For those who have worked in customer service, I’m sure you know why you are taught such an egregious lie, but for those who don’t know why, here is a simple explanation: When in a situation when the customer is told that they are wrong, they are highly likely to leave a negative review or speak badly about the company. This leads employers to tell their employees that the “customers are always right” because these bad reviews are hits to their reputation that affect the long-term prosperity of their company. 

    This has been a rule for many years now, but this needs to change in order to improve employee mental health, to stop people from taking advantage of this rule, and to make people more considerate of their actions.

    Poor employee mental health is a common occurrence in the customer service industry, and this isn’t without reason. By telling workers that the customer is always right, companies effectively force them to put on a facade and falsely admit they were in the wrong the entire time. This on its own undermines who the employee is as a person. 

    Now imagine you were in this scenario. Someone comes up to you for the thirtieth time today demanding that they saw an advertisement on TikTok for some discount that you’ve never even heard of, so you politely tell them “Sorry, that’s not a thing here.” Immediately they start asking you to double check, telling you you’re wrong and shoving their phone in your face. All of this happens to you, and what are you forced to do? Apologize, repeat what you’ve already said, and maybe even call over a manager. Now I think it’s clear to all of us that in this scenario, the customer isn’t right. But this policy just causes them to think they are and to continue badgering the poor employee who probably makes less than they should. All of this, according to Michele Late, is why 18.4 percent of customer service employees are reported to be depressed, so this obviously needs to change.

    On a daily basis, there are thousands of people who make a commotion over the smallest things just to get their way; in fact, I’m sure you’ve seen it firsthand. Whether it’s an extra three percent off of their milk because it’s on the “sell by” date or someone complaining because their coupon didn’t work, people are always quick to take advantage of the fact that they are seen as always correct. 

    Now, many people don’t see the problem with this, because often it isn’t one. But when it comes to small businesses, people take advantage of this rule. It’s not uncommon for greedy customers to threaten small businesses with bad reviews because they refuse to do something that other big multibillion-dollar corporations can afford to do. These shoppers are ignorant of the fact that they can’t always get what they want, and they go to extreme lengths for their own benefit because they are already conditioned by societal norms of being correct and getting what they want in a customer service environment.

    Finally, people need to be more considerate of their actions. Companies always justify the customers’ actions regardless of what they do, which leads to customers believing two things: First, they can do anything they want; second, they are never in the wrong. 

    One study, published by Ilona Jerabek, states that roughly two in three people “hate” admitting when they are wrong. This can be applied to a shopping setting where someone may continue arguing while knowing they are wrong simply because they don’t like admitting it. As examples of customers being ignorant, some rip things off the shelves and put them where they are not meant to be, while others go to the extremes of throwing things across the store because they think it’s funny, which is something in which many readers may see in themselves. 

    To put it simply, the idea that customers are always right is simply incorrect and leads to a number of problems that could be avoided if people, especially customers, abandoned this idea and became less ignorant of their actions towards customer service workers.