by Brenda Coffman

Created on: August 26, 2008   Last Updated: May 14, 2012

"The customer is always right" Is the worse thing ever written. Most customers are sincere and honestly friendly people. Customer's have a right to great customer service with a smile, and fairly-priced merchandise offered in a clean safe atmosphere. Unfortunately, a small percentage of society has taken the customer is always right mentality to mean that they have a right to behave any way they please, because they are the customer.

I am currently working as a clerk and the fun of the job is talking to new people and getting excited by their choices in merchandise. Unfortunately, at least once an hour I get deflated by "the customer is always right" shopper.

"The customer is always right" shoppers usually share some similiar characteristics:

1. They are more important than any other customer in the store, including the
elderly lady I am currently assisting into a chair;

2. They are better than me, because I am just a store clerk, even though I took this job to help while I earn a master's degree;

3. Store clerks are personally responsible for high prices, and they have to complain to me about it;

4. I have a secret stash of merchandise in the color/size they want, but I am too mean/lazy to get it for them from the back

5. Because it says "legal tender", they should be able to give me $30 worth of pennies;

6. They enjoy telling me how bad the rest of the store employees are;

7. They no longer have to watch their kids after they enter the store;

8. They enjoy telling me how to do my job better;

9. After ringing up their huge pile of stuff, they decide to take some items off after I have already rung them;

10. They try and include me in their arguments with their spouse, mother, boyfriend etc.;

11. They don't understand when the store is packed, why I can't give them individualized attention;

12. They never smile;

13. They expect you to read their minds;

14. They expect me to know why their credit card is over the limit;

15. They don't know the name of the item they are looking for, can't describe it, yet expect you to know what it is;

16. They expect me to be able to give directions to anywhere in the country, and it's somehow my fault they are lost;

17. They think I am responsible for how many lanes/registers are open;

18. If I accidentally mis-ring something, I am trying to rip them off;

19. They don't understand that I am a living human being, and I have feelings too;

The majority of customers are fun to talk to. I have a lot of regulars that are good people. But many of us, even the good people, don't look at cashiers as anything more than accessories of the store they work in. I always start my shift with a smile, but it is hard some days to keep it. Many of your frustrations with the store are beyond my control.

Perhaps stores would have less turn-over and better cashiers, if people were nicer. That would mean more lanes open, better service, and more knowledgeable salespeople. The customer is always right, but sometimes the person is wrong by behaving badly.

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