The Premium Debate: Subscribers weigh in on when ‘the customer is always right’ is wrong

Customer-facing jobs are awful. At least, all mine were. Ask almost any person who has worked in hospitality, retail or customer service and I reckon they’ll have a horror story or two about their worst customers.

Most customers are perfectly pleasant, but the ones who aren’t will go out of their way to ruin your day and make sure you feel inferior. And they’re the ones you remember, Sonya Bateson wrote last week (Opinion, March 31).

Read the full story here: Sonya Bateson: Customer behaviour plays a huge role in a job’s attractiveness

Have your say by going to bayofplentytimes.co.nz or rotoruadailypost.co.nz and becoming a Premium subscriber.

How bad has our society become that people believe it is acceptable to show disrespect and have no idea of what constitutes good manners toward the people they deal with? Is it a loss of societal values? Is it poor parenting? Or is it laziness?

- Kim B

If I were your manager and saw that behaviour in the clothes store, I would have politely asked them to leave and not return, making it clear that it was unacceptable to interact with my staff like that. Ditto the drunks in the restaurant. I have done this in the various businesses I’ve run. This sort of stuff is just not on.

- Greg M

I think the main issue in today’s society is more and more people are angry and offload this on staff in all sorts of industries. Time to be kind.

- Peter M

Bad service equals annoyed customers. When people walk into a shop and see staff on their phones and ignoring customers is it any surprise people get annoyed? Also, please and thank you don’t go amiss, from both the server and the customer.

- Mark Y

It’s human behaviour to only remember the bad ones but they are the 1 per cent. Worked in customer service for seven years, just remember the two psychopaths I met.

- Katrina H

Maybe I’m wired differently but I loved customers like the slow cooker guy when a younger me worked in retail. Don’t take it personally and have some fun dealing with someone who is clearly a moron, and know that he left there in a worse mood than you.

- Matt C

Yeah. Try working at an airport. Now that’s an environment that brings out “the best” in people. Not. Never been so abused in my life.

- Wayne T

Well written and so true from a former customer-facing person. And it’s often the least valued job in an organisation these days. When I did it at least we were valued by management. It wears you down and I gladly left it behind. Just got tired of it. But I must say the odd one has been on the receiving end of me. Because of the poor performance of the organisation though I make it clear it’s a problem that’s frustrating me not the person on the end of the phone. These service roles are the face of the business, they are important and should be respected and valued. And, many are just grumpy at life, or having a bad day so don’t take it personally.

- Cheryl P

That’s one side of the story. The other side is where customers are offered a choice on a menu and after they have chosen, they are casually advised that the option is not available, within even a semblance of an apology.

- Rakesh K

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