In the american and british service/retail sector employess are often taught this motto. However this often leads to comprimise with unreasonable customers taking advantage of good nature.
In contrast in France, the customer is viewed with mild contempt and annoyance (I'm sure you've heard about french waiters). This often whips customers into shape and make them more considerate and polite.
Which circumstance do you prefer and why?
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Anonymous2010-02-17 8:31
Clearly human nature sucks and both options involve one side hurting the other for no good reason so my choice would depend on if I was the waiter or customer.
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Anonymous2010-02-17 9:39
Funnily enough, I work with a french waiter, and the impression I receive is that in England the customer is treated with much more contempt than in France
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Anonymous2010-02-17 11:25
Strange. I've worked retail, and I was explicitly taught that the customer is rarely if ever right.
If the motto was taken the least bit seriously at the management level of the people who make the products, then we wouldn't have such bullshit as customer service call centers where the employees are scolded for taking the time to actually help the customer instead of finishing the call within some arbitrary number of minutes. Then there's the CD/DVD packaging with 6 layers of shit to rip open and peel before you get to the disc, and then the BluRay that requires an internet connection to get the code to play every new disc, unskippable ads on the disc, and other shit that makes customers that have already paid get angry. Then there's Wal-Mart that pressures manufactures to cheapen their shit so now the average quality of things is not so good anymore. Then in the US you have insurance fucking you over, even in medical insurance where your god damn health is on the line.