(Published January 12, 2009)
The old customer service mantra that "the customer is always right" is not meant to be taken literally. However, some customers seem to think that it should be — and that it gives them the right to treat the employees serving them as badly as they want.
Employers may feel like they're caught between a rock and a hard place. Without happy customers, business will suffer. On the other hand, unhappy employees are also bad for business. Being abused by customers — and not being shielded by their employer — will not inspire employees to provide the best customer service or to be loyal to their employer.
I came across an EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) settlement that got me thinking about this. A customer at an inn in California shouted at an Arab waiter of Tunisian origin: "Why don't you f****** speak English?" The restaurant manager heard about the incident the next day. When the customer returned to the restaurant, the manager approached him and told him that he did not approve of the way he had spoken to the waiter. The customer responded by cursing at the manager, who was Arab and Moroccan. The customer stated, "If you don't like it, why don't you go back to your own country?" and "I fought two wars to get rid of people like you"; he also challenged the manager to a fight outside.
Not surprisingly, the manager asked the customer to leave, and the customer filed a complaint with the front desk on his way out. The next day, the manager was told to apologize to the customer! He refused and was fired. He filed race and national origin discrimination claims against the inn, which settled the case before going to trial.
Is any one customer's business so important that allowing him/her to abuse employees is okay? I hear an immediate and resounding "no" from everyone with a heart, conscience, and moral compass.
Realistically, though, who can afford to lose any customers in today's economy, let alone one who provides the company with a lot of business? A former boss of mine had no trouble laying down the law for a customer who had a habit of speaking down to the employee who answered the phone. One day, after the customer was particularly nasty, my boss told him in no uncertain terms that his behavior was not acceptable, and that if he continued, we would ask him to take his business elsewhere. The customer changed his ways and continued his business relationship with us.
I know my boss didn't even think twice about risking losing this customer because he didn't give us a lot of business and dealing with him was more trouble than it was worth. But I've always wondered whether my boss would have told the guy to hit the road had he been a bigger customer. It's certainly a dilemma.
The customer is not always right, and employers owe it to their employees to protect them from abusive behavior. Remove the targeted employee from the customer's line of fire. Where possible, ask for a different customer representative. (I found out for myself later on that the associate of the condescending caller was no better than him!) When you convey your expectations to the customer, be polite, but firm; do not stoop to their level. Hopefully, you won't have to risk losing either the employee or the customer.
Gloria Ju
Editor in Chief
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