If you're anyone that's had a job then you've probably heard the phrase “The customer is always right”. Or even as a customer you know this rule. But what makes the customer right? and what if they're wrong? Before I got a job I never understood the magnitude of this belief. Has anyone stopped and thought about how this rule affects employees, having their feelings invalidated, their opinions overlooked and being disrespected without being able to say a word back. Is there any hope that there could be a change made?.
As someone who worked as a host at a restaurant, I had to adjust with what the customer wanted quite often. Whether that be changing their seats, fixing reservations or switching their server. Quickly I learned just how rude people could be. I've had adults who would try to argue with me and raise their voice at me. Mind you, I'm 17. I'm pretty much a child. And when I would let my manager know what was going on, he would always put me aside and begin to apologize to the customer for the “inconvenience.” But where was my apology?
A big problem is people normalizing poor behavior from clients. And when employers have this mind set of “It's their job,” it is my job to go above and beyond for a customer, but is it fair to do that for someone who won't even let me get my point across in a conversation and belittle me? It becomes tiring and repetitive, and most people just deal with it. But nowadays with technology we have brought the issue to light. Social media is a powerful resource to share anything, and in minutes have thousands of people see it. I'm glad that people have shared their personal experience facing difficult customers. Or even people filming customers acting crazy towards workers at stores. People are beginning to be aware of such behavior and are agreeing that there needs to be something done. As a society I know we can make a change. More than ever I've seen people come together this year for all kinds of issues, and this is one we can all agree on.
I was inspired to write this proposal because I think that employees deserve to get treated better by their superiors and customers. There are so many things that are going on behind a smiling employee, but you would never know it. They always prioritize everyone's feelings but they never get the same attention. It's time for a change.
This piece made me agree with what they were trying to say, some customers' behavior is unacceptable for their age. The parts I found effective was the writer including their own experience and feelings on how they feel when the customer is wrong but acting as if they're right. My favorite part of this piece is the last paragraph which shows how things can and will change because of social media.
--Nohemi Lopez