The other day we were in a book store, when an employee announced over the loud speaker that they had an area in the store with .25 carts. We browsed some more, and then headed over to the carts. There were six of them. Some time passed, and we picked out what we wanted, and then headed to check out. My husband mentioned to one of the cashiers that he had picked up a few things from the .25 carts, and if they do not ring up .25, just void it out, because he didn't want to hold anyone up. She decides to yell to a manager "Hey, Manager, we have .25 carts?" Manager replies, "Nope." My husband proceeds to tell the manager that they do. The manager proceeds to say they don't. "Sir, one of your employees just announced the .25 section on the loud speaker. There is an area dedicated to these carts. There is a HUGE sign on each cart marked all items .25." Manager goes over to another employee. "Employee, do we have .25 carts?" Employee replies, "Yep!" All this is said within ear shot, so instead of the manager coming over to let us know, he knows we hear, and he marches away. Without a single word. For no reason, a professional creates an argument with a customer, and when proved wrong, he offers no apology and storms off. How many of you have had this happen? Within reason, I believe the customer is always right, but it seems that there are more and more customer service associates that treat their customers with disrespect, and little to nothing is done about it. What do you do when faced with a rude customer service situation? Do you report it? Do you ignore it? How often does this happen when you're out and about shopping? I work in customer service, and have my fair share of mean people, but I always conduct myself in a professional and polite manner. I would like to be treated the same way. Wishful thinking I suppose!
I use to think that the customer was always right. Then at my one job, the owner had said that the customer is not always right. It made me reflect. I thought of times when I the customer had misread a sign or a coupon. I think we are all people and we are make mistakes. I think it should be handled respectful on both sides of the story. To some extent it makes sense to report the rude behavior. If anything it will help the rude person reflect on their behavior possibly.
The customer isn't necessarily always right but every employee should always treat every customer with respect and never confront a customer even if the customer is being a total assh*le. Just smile, say I'm sorry, and try to accommodate the customer. The manager in your story was wrong in how he acted in the situation. He should have apologized to you and your husband and that would have been the end of things. A simple apology is the best cure to all things and sometimes we people have too much pride to even say "sorry" even though we're the one's at fault. Looking at the bright side, at least you got .25 carts right? Good for you
The customer is not always right; but he is always the customer, and should be treated with respect. Sometimes, it seems like they put people into customer service jobs that should never have been allowed there, because they actually make customer relations even worse. Sometimes , I have misread a sign in the store and thought I was getting the item on sale when I wasn't, and sometimes, I am getting the right one; but it gets rang up wrong. So this can go either way; but in any cae, right or wrong there is not excuse for not treating the customer politely. It was certainly not your fault that the manager and cashier did not know about the 25 cent table, and probably the manager was angry because he was not told, or someone had put up signs when the books were not supposed to be on sale for 25 cents. Maybe they were supposed to be marked 25% off, or something similar, and it was jsut a mistake all the way around. But the manager certainly should have apologized to you , and not just walked off in a huff.
I worked in retail ages ago and what I learned is that the customer always wants to be right but never always is right. While one is expected to be polite most of the time, when a customer oversteps it's OK to give them a taste of their own medicine lest those standing by think they can bully you and get their way too. But in the OP's case, the manager ought to have apologized instead of strutting away. Why do people find it so hard to admit they've made a mistake? The way to keep customers is to offer your apologies whether you mean it or not.
The customer isn't always right, but some abuse that phrase and expect to get away with things. Unfortunately retail as a profession has declined since stores open longer hours and staff have long shifts or are made up of people who are available rather than suitable. While the manager was unprofessional, I kind of look past this behavior because it's more common. That doesn't mean it's right, but I am not shocked by it either. I used to work in a top end store and customer service is important, but in these places, sometimes the customer is not right and you have to tell them in nice way.
I have worked in customer service and loved my job, however, some customers are impossible to deal with. The customer is only right when they are, in actuality, right. In your particular case however, you--the customer--were right. There was a lack of communication going on between staff, and a manager who was embarrassed because he was wrong. Instead of admitting he was wrong, he left, putting no closure to a situation that could have been wrapped up nicely with a simple, "Oh, I was wrong, I apologize. Have a great day."
In your case, you were obviously right. But no.. the customer is not always right. Not even close. In fact, I'm often left wondering what kind of place would allow their employees to be abused on a daily basis by grumpy customers. If I owned a store, employees would be allowed to (calmly and maturely) stand up for themselves or ask a customer to leave without worry of losing their jobs.
You know I was just thinking about this the other day and in your course I would definitely say you were in the right but I think there are times a customer can be wrong, of course, but it all depends on whether or not the store is going to abide by the rules that the customer is creating, because sometimes they choose not to.
There are frequently times when the customer is wrong because there are many ignorant, selfish and stupid people in the world ,as well as people who refuse to read signs or prices. But in OPs case, OP was clearly in the right and the manager should have just said "My bad, I'm sorry." I don't get why some people are ashamed of being wrong and can't own up to it. Being wrong happens, it's how you handle being wrong that shows your character.
I agree! I work in customer service, and to this day, I come across many mean people, being mean, just because they can. While the customer is not always right, as someone stated in one of the above posts, the customer is always the customer. Which means whomever is working, should ALWAYS be the professional. There are times, where it takes everything in me to remain polite and professional, but I value my job, and being professional is part of it. I think there are many times where customer service associates just show up to work. They make a pay check, and they leave. I understand that some jobs just don't cut it for some people, but no matter if this is your life time career, or your part-time college job, you should always conduct yourself in a polite and professional way.
I think the days of the customer always being right and staff being happy to help are a thing of the past. The big chains are probably the worst for it because to the staff its just a job. Some local and independant stores I still think you can get excellent service because your custom is still valued but on the whole I'd say the customer these days is more of a pain to most stores.
I think that when the customer IS wrong, more than not its a simple mistake. Explaining things calmly and politely is the only right way to handle it. Unfortunately, though, a few bad apples who are just trying to get one over on people have disgruntled employees so much that being polite can often be as painful as pulling teeth.
No the customer isn't always right but the customer is King and must be treated as such. It is they who pay the wages of the staff and provide the profits for the shareholders. I do not agree however that shop staff are there to be abused by customers, the staff are members of the public also and deserve to be treated with respect. Good customer service is more important than ever these days with so much competition from online retailers but the service seems to be sadly lacking. In my experience most shop staff these days are unhelpful, have no customer service skills, act in an unprofessional manner and are not well presented. This is largely down to the employer who in the main will only pay the minimum wage and therefore fail too attract good quality staff, also wage budgets are so tight that most retailers try to run their stores on a shoestring with too few staff. This means customers face long delays to be served and the staff are under too much pressure so are unable to devote adequate time or interest to their customers.
Of course the customer is not always right lol. I say it when I am joking around, and when I think it is funny to try to say it in order to get what I want - jokingly, might I add. But as for what I really think, no the customer is not always right. It is that mentality that makes people think that they can treat people in the service business like absolute crap and get away with it.
One of the issues I have with the attitude that the customer is always right, especially in small town places where they expect staff to do everything is that they have power over the staff to get them fired. I used to work in a department store and bored ladies would come in and chat, browse and not buy. But we were on commission so we couldn't ignore paying customers. One colleague got fired for ignoring a customer and I was warned because I served someone and I didn't smile. There is too much power for some people and they have too much time and had delusions of entitlement.
I don't think the customer is always right, however I do believe no matter what the employee has to act polite and professional. The customers make the business and the business gives you a job, so if I'm forking over some of my money, I'd expect some quality customer service. The fact the MANAGER did not come towards you to offer an apology, or at least come to confirm that your husband was indeed right was bothered me. Big chains have ruined all sort of professionalism or even politeness, because to the worker it just a job, they don't think they have to be nice to anybody.
Customers should be treated with respect even if they are wrong. Customer service in a business can cause the business to go out of business if the customer service is bad, people will not come back.
If you were to speak to someone who has worked in retail, or someone who works the til, or a customer service line, then they would definitely tell you that the customer is not always right lol. I have a friend who works in the customer service department of a bank, and he gets rude people on the phone daily, taking out their issues on him, just because they can, when they know full well that there is nothing that he can do to bend the bank's policy. He is just the messenger.
I don't really think so. It depends. Sometimes, customers tend to be arrogant and they somehow take advantage of this privilege. I think both the customer and the service staff should be polite and respectful so there would be no complications. To answer your question, I never had that kind of experience with any rude customer service personnel before, and if I ever have one, I would probably get annoyed specially if I think I didn't do anything wrong or if I treated him/her with utter respect.
