For those of us in the business of People we find that highly humorous. Everyday we deal with situations where we communicate one thing and the customer hears what they want to hear anyway. Its very difficult to make a customer happy when they don't read what you've given them, listen to what your saying or attempt to understand your point of view. Customer are so used to the "customer is always right" that they rarely want to hear anything else.
I think that for the most part, the "customer is always right" mentality is lacking in general common sense. Business practices should be centered around what is best for both the company and the customer. The "Wal-Mart" style of business is pushing companies to bend over backwards for mistakes that are not their own. I find it harmful to society to accodmodate consumers who have made mistakes. I think it follows that taking away people's responsibility for their actions pulls down our society. Yet this is what we are seeing in most aspects of commerce. Those of us who cannot afford to use this business style are finding ourselves degraded for our bad customer service. We are most willing to fix our mistakes and to make concessions based on certain circumstances but we cannot afford to be held responsible financially for those who "just got the wrong thing".
At the end of this commentary I find it necessary to say that customer satisfaction is our priority. We hate unsatisfied customers as much as unsatisfied customers hate us. Yet I feel there is a certain balance that must be maintained between customer service, i.e., working the problem in order to find a solution that is best for both parties and the "customer is always right" mentality. As the Proverbs say, Humoring the Fool with only lead him to further folly- or something like that. I think its time for some tough love among the customer service agents in the world. Take it for what it's worth.
