I’m eighteen and have just gotten my first job in retail. My manager, who isn’t that much older than me, has only recently been promoted to his position of authority, shortly before I was hired, because the previous manager disappeared. (I’m realizing as I write this that I never got the full story for that.)
On my first day, about twenty minutes before we open, I’m watching the training video in the manager’s office. He comes in to take something from a file cabinet, which I can see is a printed page in a plastic sleeve, with the words “The Customer Is Always Right” printed on it. I must get a funny look on my face, as [Manager] pauses and explains.
Manager: “My mom told me this. She said I should remember it, so I figured, why not put it up on a sign and make sure everyone does, right?”
Because I’m eighteen, this is my first job, and I don’t want to insult this guy’s mother, I hold my tongue, despite having heard horror stories from friends and family — and from this very site.
I’m getting into my shift, and I notice that the “The Customer Is Always Right” sign is posted above the screen of the cash register, so it will be within my line of sight every time I look over at the screen. I get the distinct feeling that I’m not going to enjoy working here.
Luckily, the vast majority of the customers I assist at the register, with [Manager] at my shoulder to assist as needed, are perfectly fine and polite, with only one slightly grumpy customer who, to be fair, looks tired after a night shift. It is this customer who notices the sign above my register, and as he is paying, speaks to the manager.
Customer: “Were you forced to put that up?”
Manager: *Confused* “No, sir? I put it up this morning. I was told—”
Customer: “‘In matters of taste.'”
Manager: “…I’m sorry?”
Customer: “The whole thing. It’s ‘The customer is always right in matters of taste.’ It means they can feel or think a certain way, but it doesn’t mean they’re correct.”
Manager: “Sir, I don’t think—
Customer: *Pays and starts to leave* “Look it up, man. You got a computer, right?”
As the customer walks off with his groceries, [Manager] frowns, looking a little perturbed, before telling me to take a fifteen-minute break while he goes into the office.
After fifteen minutes, I go back to the register. [Manager] comes back out shortly after to take down the sign he’d made, take it out of the plastic sleeve, and then crumple the paper up and throw it away.
Manager: “I need to call my mom later.” *To me* “Did you know that there was a whole thing to ‘The Customer Is Always Right’?”
Me: “Well, yeah, but—”
Manager: “Next time I say something stupid, you have my permission to inform me. Er, politely, please. Unless you have a good reason to be impolite.”
Me: “Yes, sir. I’ll do my best.”
I proceeded to work at that store for four years. It still had its issues, but a spineless manager was, thankfully, not one of them, so I didn’t have to be impolite.
