10 Times The Customer is NOT Always Right

For decades, customers have been spoon-fed the notion that no matter how ridiculous their request is or how absurd their complaint might be, the customer is always right. They’ve seen the slogan on signs in restaurants and at businesses and there is probably someone, somewhere who has the immortal catchphrase embroidered on a pillow as if it came directly from the Bible’s Book of Proverbs. While it is important to acknowledge the value of a customer, they are most certainly NOT always right and in the world of restaurants, there are plenty of times they are 100% dead wrong. Here are ten of those times.

1. When the customer gets to the restaurant two minutes after closing time – because it took them forever to find a parking spot – and since the doors to the restaurant are still unlocked, they think they should still be seated: WRONG.

2. When the customer wants to order something they say used to be on the menu, but the server has worked at the restaurant since the day it opened and knows that item has never once been on the menu. The customer then demands that, if the kitchen still has the ingredients, they should still be allowed to order it: WRONG.

3. When the customer goes to a restaurant that has large screen televisions hanging on every single wall and they ask that the channel be changed or even completely turned off because they don’t like what’s playing: WRONG.

4. When the customer orders their steak “somewhere between rare and medium rare and really juicy” and when the steak arrives they send it back because it’s “practically raw”: WRONG.

5. When the customer sees an empty table in the restaurant and assumes they can immediately sit there, completely disregarding that the reason it might be vacant is because there’s no server for that table, or the kitchen is behind and needs a few minutes to catch up: WRONG.

6. When the customer discovers an automatic gratuity has been added to the check for their party of ten and says they should have been advised of that before they ordered. The manager then points to a sentence on the menu that specifically says “an automatic gratuity will be added to any party of ten or more:” WRONG.

7. When the customer sees a sign that says a mask is required to enter the restaurant, but they feel their rights are being stepped on and that they have the freedom to not wear a mask if they don’t want to. They then demand to be served, forgetting that a restaurant reserves the right to refuse service to anyone: WRONG.

8. When the customer thinks it’s alright to touch, grab, accost, seize, grip, caress, fondle, brush up against, grope, frisk, clutch, feel, squeeze, stroke or embrace their server: WRONG.

9. When the customer complains that they’ve been waiting forty-five minutes for their food and the server looks at the timestamp of the computer and sees it’s actually only been twenty-two minutes: WRONG.

10. When the customer says “the customer is always right:” WRONG.