Must customers always be right?

CUSTOMERS ARE ALWAYS RIGHT

Have you heard of this saying before? I couldn’t come to term with this saying.

Why? Because in my perspectives, customers are also humans, the seller is also human. Human are not perfect. Human cannot be RIGHT all the time.

I found out:

Meaning

The trading policy that states a company's keenness to be seen to put the customer first.

The Origin

Several retail concern used this as a slogan from the early 20th century onward. In the USA it is particularly associated with Marshall Field's department store, Chicago (established in the late 19th century). The store is an icon of the city, although it is set to lose its name in 2006 when, following a takeover, it becomes renamed as Macy's. In the UK, Harry Gordon Selfridge (1857-1947) the founder of London's Selfridges store (opened in 1909), is credited with championing its use. The Wisconsin born Selfridge worked for Field from 1879 to 1901. Both men were dynamic and creative businessmen and it's highly likely that one of them coined the phrase, although we don't know which.

Of course, these entrepreneurs didn't intend to be taken literally. What they were attempting to do was to make the customer feel special by inculcating into their staff the disposition to behave as if the customer was right, even when they weren't.

[Taken from http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/106700.html.]

Working in my parents’ shop gave me first hand experiences. Of course, not all customers act this way. However, few customers do or think so. They are the ones who get on my nerve. They need not say ‘customer is always right’ policy but rather the way they talk or treat another. Sometimes they are rude and selfish. They used the power of money to belittle another. The vibe of arrogance and cockiness comes from their actions of treating another.  

I think these people had not truly grasped the meaning of the phrase and they had misused the phrase. This is how I look at the phrase 'Customers are always right' – we put customers first. We are service provider who goes out to look at the interest of the customer. We serve the customer at our best, but that doesn’t mean we give you the leeway to treat badly or belittle us. Through observation, I sometimes wondered what complexity this person has to be acting as such? A person who can’t accept to be wrong at times? I don’t know the person as a whole. But, I could sense the insecurity of the person even in a short encounter. 

Especially in the age of IT now, many thinks that the information found in IT is DEFINITELY RIGHT. Some of them come to the shop as a Mr/Ms Know-It-All. What is more valuable? Life experience of another person or the information you get from the internet? Which is tested? My family learned to let the person learnt from his/her mistakes. There’s no point to argue it out because the person is not even willing to listen and learn. We said what we need to say, then we leave it for the person to decide which information he/she deems right. 

Well, it’s not easy to work in the line where we provide service to people, because we meet all SORTS of people from different generations. Many may had lost the understanding what it really means by the phrase. They had taken to the extreme that they are RIGHT all the time and not willing to learn anymore.

When a person reaches that stage, the person is STUCK! Ears, heart and mind are totally closed to incoming information. A stuck person will not grow and learn. 

I am also not saying that we as the seller are ALWAYS RIGHT. We are all humans. We do make rights and wrongs. If we all decide to give each other the space to be right or wrong, then that already make a different. 

This applies to life as well. You and I can’t be RIGHT all the time! We are beings who learn throughout life. Mistakes. Wrong choices. When we made mistakes, we learned from it. We also need to have a listening heart and ears and minds that is open for criticism. The people who are around us see things at a different perspectives that we maybe can’t see. So, why not listen from their perspectives, understand it and learn from it? It’s perfectly fine if you still want to maintain your way. But, at least you made a different. You listen.

If one is right all the time, then there leaves no room for growth.

From the eyes of a parent

Once upon a time, there was a family that is wealthy. Then, one day the youngest son told the father, 'Split my half of inheritance and give it to me'. The father agreed and gave him his half of the inheritance. So, the son took the money and spend it as he wish. He was living a WILD life. At that time, he had lots of friends around him. But, as soon as he spent all that he had, his friends too disappeared along with him.

He was money-less and hungry. He went to search for a job and a countryman hired him. The countryman sent him out to his fields to feed the pigs. *Can you imagine a Jew in the midst of the pigs?* He was so hungry that he eat what the pigs were eating.

He came to his senses, 'Hey, my father's servant gets better treatment than I do and I am here starving to my death'. So, he decided to go home and ask for his father's forgiveness. He played the apologize that he wants to tell his father over and over in his head : Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.

While he was nearing to the house of his father, he was still reciting what he wants to say to his father. His father saw him from afar (your parents will recognize you even if you don't look like yourself, how so? Through your gestures and the way you walk), he ran and threw his arms around him and kissed him (only your parents will do this when you are dirty).

The youngest son said, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But, the father quickly called his servants to bring the BEST robe, put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the FATTENED calf and killed it! Let's have a FEAST and CELEBRATE!

Luke 15: 11-24

This story may ring a bell to many of us. I have a story of my own that is almost similar to the experience of the lost son.

When I was young and wild, I have my own principles that I hold onto. I never put the importance of my family as one of my principles. I went on to do things-I-feel-it-is-right. I dated a guy and hid it away from my parents. My parents eventually found out about the relationship. Many times, they talked to me and told me to break off that relationship.

Because of my rebellious attitudes, I never take to account to what it is said by them. Something had happened between the guy and me, we broke off. Instead of facing the music which I thought my parents would give, they received me back as their daughter who had strayed away. They were overjoyed and comforted me. I never thought my parents would celebrate that day with compassion, love and joy.

Just like the lost son, I also recited many times in my head what should I say to them. How should I ask for forgiveness. My parents forgave me long before and was waiting for that ONE SPECIAL DAY that I'll turn back to them.

That day came eventually.

My parents were happy and grateful that the LORD had brought me back into their arms.

Like the father of the lost son, he waited for that SPECIAL day. My parents waited!

All the waiting is worth it in the end of the day. I am grateful my parents waited patiently and prayerfully.

Nothing is more precious than a child that runs back to the arms of her parents. 

Our Father in Heaven also wait patiently for that 

One Special Day.