Unpopular opinion: The customer is not always right. No one is.

The customer is not always right. No one is. 

Let’s celebrate that & cut each other some slack. 

We love our customers but that does not translate to tolerating unacceptable behavior.

In fact, some of the times you are flat out wrong, mean, rude, rushed, hangry, unhearing, unforgiving, irrational and unrealistic. 

Now, let me take a moment to highlight something very important. 

This is not all customers. In fact, most customers are truly lovely! Say 90/10 ratio. (Maybe 80/20 in August.)

Friendly, grateful, generous, and a pleasure to serve. Even when something goes wrong, we will always, always,100% of the time, try and fix whatever we have gotten wrong (sometimes it’s our fault, sometimes it’s your fault). It’s a great example of a functioning human when you understand that it’s not the end of the world, we didn’t forget your bacon because we had some personal vendetta against you, you allow us to fix it and everyone moves on in a pleasant and jovial way with the rest of their lives. 

For the rest of you, which, of course, have no idea who you are, (again, the “always right” thing,) has made unacceptable behavior not only tolerated for too long but somehow expected or even encouraged. Gross.

If you can’t tell the difference between how long it takes to cook in an egg at your house versus how long it takes to cook an egg at a restaurant full of people ordering eggs than maybe you should ask yourself why you went out to have an egg in the first place.

You demand speed, quality and service all at the same time- which every self respecting business owner (especially in the food industry) knows that only 2 out of those 3 choices can ever exist at one time. 

You’re frazzled, distracted, stressed & spoiled. Probably from all those years of being told you are always right.

You might be wondering hey, if this is not the majority of people and most people are good then why bother ruminating over a couple of bad apples? Because. 

It’s a reflection of what we are willing to accept when it comes to bad behavior and I don’t think it’s right on a societal level. 

Cause it really is a bummer when people suck the joy out of what we do. Even if we do it wrong. Bold statement. I know. But hear me out. 

I’m not saying you shouldn’t speak up or address if something isn’t right. You should absolutely tell us if something is wrong.

(“Not up to your expectations” can go eff itself cause how in the world are we supposed to manage whatever grandiose brunch day dreams you’ve come up with in your head? Scrolling on instagram all day and never working a day in the service industry makes your ‘expertise’ mean absolute egg noodle to me.)

I digress. My point is-

We value your business so we intend to provide the service you desire with love, quality, efficiency and grace.

We didn’t wake up, put on our ugly server shoes and line our pockets with pens with the intention of messing up your sandwich and then not caring. 

Those few bad apples who don’t even give us a chance to fix a problem, or even give us a chance to say, “hello how are you? 2 for lunch?” before barking out orders, need to check themselves. 

You’re walking into someone’s business. It is their livelihood, the staff are to be treated the way you would like to be treated. 

Just take a second to notice the period at the end of that sentence. It’s ok. I’ll wait. 

This is not a one sided transaction.

We are all doing our best and it’s pretty damn good. We see hundreds of people a day, thousands in a week. We greet everyone with a genuine smile, we buy and prep the freshest ingredients, we cook plate after plate after plate of food with the real, true hope that you enjoy it. We check on you so we can get you some extra napkins or more water, hot sauce, another round.  

We take pride in what we do and then we clean it all up everyday and we come back and we do it again. We work to create a little sub culture in our businesses of respect, fair wages, insurance, benefits, sustainable schedules, room for growth, communication. In other words a functional, healthy, positive work environment. 

We are grateful for our customers. Even the ones who can be a little cranky, a bit peeved, you’re hungry, your kids are hungry, we get it. We got you. We’re gunna make it all right. It’s ok. But you (and your attitude) are an important part of this exchange.

If you just can’t wait to rush to the 2 billion dollar review page to say something bad about a business that is operating with honesty, integrity & compassion, you are the problem. And you certainly aren’t always right. 

So take a deep breath- and go ahead and dust off those basic manners your mother taught you. 

The hello, the please & thank you. I’ll even help you out with restaurant specific scripts:

Customer: excuse me we didn’t get our bacon 

Server: oh let me go get that right away. 

:::walk to kitchen, comes back with bacon::

Applause erupts. 

Customer: excuse me this burger is under cooked

Server: yes that is more medium rare than medium well, let us grill it for a little longer it’ll just be a moment.

I’m so sorry. 

Customer: we wanted the stuffed French toast this is the plain French toast 

Server: oh I’m so sorry let me fix that for you it’ll just take a moment.  

We won’t even get snarky and tell you, well, that’s what you ordered. It’s ok. We got you. We’re just gunna make it right. And from now on- every time someone orders French toast we will follow up with a simple clarifying “would you like the plain or the stuffed.” Cause we are here to get better, too. 

No one is perfect. 

No one is always right. 

But we can grow & learn and for the love of god, we can cut each other some slack. 

In the big picture of our lives, what is really more important? Being right or being human?