Is The Customer Right?

"Customers Are Always Right."

Perhaps, all of us have heard this phrase so many times already, especially when we're buying something inside a convenience store or mall, or even from the street vendors and there's a certain argument that is going on between the seller and the buyer. Whenever there is a scenario like this, we are always reminded of this sentence, "customers are always right", and the sellers do not have any right to contradict what the customer is saying. It's as if even if the problem started because of the customer, the seller has nothing to do but be more understanding, and sometimes they have to act as if it's their fault just to avoid the bigger issue that would possibly arise.

Customers are the heart of a business.

Without the customers who buy and patronize the products and services a certain company is selling, the business will not go anywhere but down the road of failure and bankruptcy. Customers play a very important role in every business because it is up to them whether the business will succeed or fail as they are the ones who give money to their business so managers and businessmen should take good care of them.

Over a week ago, last Tuesday, when I was about to go to the bus terminal and catch my trip going back to my beloved hometown, I decided to drop by a popular fast-food company first to buy myself a snack that I will eat when I'm already traveling back home.

I didn't get to eat my lunch at that time because my group mates and I were so busy editing our presentation for our Thesis study that we presented last Thursday during the required College Research Colloquium.

Then when I arrived in Laoag City, I immediately walked straight to the McDonald's store near the city market to buy a piece of crunchy chicken burger and a glass of Coke McFloat.

As I was lining up and patiently waiting for about 10 to 15 minutes after all of the orders of the first customers who were waiting for their food were already given, I witnessed a scene in the store, which made me write this article now.

There were two customers before me who were also in line and patiently waiting for their orders to be taken by the staff. After everything was cleared, the staff then proceeded to get the orders of the remaining customers.

The first customer then gave his order and the second customer (the one before me) also gave his order. The staff began processing the orders of the first two customers until one of the customers (the one before me) brought up his concern about how unfair the staff was.

As the concerned citizen that I am, or simply just being a Marites, I was trying to get all of the information that I needed to understand what was going on. And here is what happened. The first customer ordered something but the staff said it wasn't available. So that customer then chose a different order and paid for it afterward. Then she stepped aside for the staff to get the order of the second customer. The second customer happened to order the same menu that the first customer ordered, to which the staff said to the first customer that it was already out of stock, but it, later on, became available because the customer insisted that it is even if the staff already told her it is not. In the end, the staff accepted and processed her order. That action of the staff probably made the first customer upset and felt an unfair treatment from the staff.

After the order of the second customer was handed to her, the first customer stepped up and confronted the staff asking how was it possible that when it was her time to order that menu, it wasn't available, but when the second customer ordered it, it became available. She told the staff that he was being unfair to her because of that and he resisted taking her order and made him replace his order with his first order. The staff apologized and calmed the customer down, and he processed his order again.

I don't know if the story made sense but in that certain scenario, I could say that the customer was right for voicing out that the staff was being unfair to the first customer. Because if he said that the product was already out of stock then suddenly it became available just because the second customer insisted that it was, then he is obviously showing some kind of favoritism. Even though he personally knew the second customer, he still should have persisted that it's no longer available just like what he did to the first customer to avoid any feeling of unfair treatment, like what the first customer felt. Meanwhile, I still admire the staff for how he handled the situation because he remained calm despite how the second customer acted towards the issue.

As a Marketer and just like what my professor during my second year of college has taught me,

"A sale gone is gone forever."

So it is just right to treat every customer equally and don't show any kind of favoritism to any of them, especially if they are just paying the same amount. Instead, make them all feel special.