The customer is always right, they say. This popular saying was invented by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1909 and has been a go-to policy for both managers and customers alike. And while as a policy, it does seem to make solid sense, especially when customers are the ones that make or break your business, on many occasions, it doesn’t quite work. Because the customers may not be right even if they think they are.

So this time, we’ll be diving into one particular case of an entitled customer getting enraged at a local restaurant that turned her away. In a written complaint, the dissatisfied woman wrote: “When the restaurant hostess turns away a local customer at 8pm because they close at 8pm then it will be long before they get my money again.”

As you can imagine, the community was simply not buying it and people formed an alliance to roast the woman dubbed ‘Karen’ for her short-sightedness. Let’s see what they had to say in the comments below and make sure to leave your thoughts on the incident in the comment section!

This customer has recently left a complaint to a local restaurant for not serving her at closing time

Image credits: AdorableEnvironment

We’ve all heard people saying the customer is always right, but in many instances, the phrase begs questioning. Is it really true or is it an outdated relic which simply doesn’t have a place in today’s service industry? To find out what an expert had to say on it, we reached out to Geraint Clarke, a writer and marketing consultant who specializes in giving business, marketing, leadership & self-development lessons.

“People are too savvy with the phrase ‘the customer is always right’ and will leverage it for free desserts, discounts and perks,” Geraint said and added that “They’ve learned to expect it.” Geraint continued: “As business owners, we have empowered these negative interactions and dehumanized the purchasing process.” Moreover, “These days we encourage bad behavior from customers by giving them rewards through fear,” argues the marketing consultant.

But the community found her complaint utterly irrational and people wasted no time to roast the entitled customer

According to Geraint, “The customer is always right” used to be relevant when we made transactions in store and could interact face to face. “But now we live in an online, connected society. The cost of a customer leaving unhappy could manifest in outrage on social media, anonymous negative reviews online, or corporate complaints that could result in disciplinary action. Or worse, you losing your livelihood.”

Geraint argues that “As businesses, we’ve opened ourselves up to the mob—literally.” So when asked whether the customer is really always right, Geraint said that “Not all customers are wrong, but not all customers are right either.” “The issue is that a certain number of customers of any business will go from zero to 60 and become completely unreasonable. Reaching all-new levels of rage over what seems like trivial problems.”

In fact, there’s a psychological theory that explains this behavior called deindividuation. Geraint explained that “Deindividuation is a phenomenon in which people engage in seemingly impulsive, deviant, and sometimes violent acts in situations in which they believe they cannot be personally identified. Groups, crowds, and especially on the internet.”

According to him, “Your only way to counteract this behavior is to humanize all of your customers. Learn their names, tell them yours and connect on a personal level. Fix genuine problems when they’re your mistake.”Meanwhile, Geraint urges business owners not to fold to outrage. “Educate customers who are genuinely wrong and don’t be afraid to lose customers if they’re unreasonable,” he concluded.

Image credits: AdorableEnvironment

Image credits: AdorableEnvironment

Image credits: AdorableEnvironment

Image credits: AdorableEnvironment

People on Reddit also had a lot to say about the incident

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