Undue Familiarity

[Fireball]

In re Whateverist's post-
Reminds me of when my uncle was getting a divorce, and the Sheriff was called for some sort of disagreement, and I then showed up to visit him. His son in law was talking to one of the deputies, and asked his name. Deputy gave his last name, SiL asked for his first name, to which the response was "Deputy". What a fucking hardcase. He then proceeded to give my uncle, cousin and me shit. My uncle was career Army with 4 Purple Hearts (WW2, Korea and Viet Nam), the cousin was Green Beret with two tours of Viet Nam under his belt. When the deputy started in on us, my cousin leaned in, and was thinking, "Oh shit, here it comes!" But he managed to keep it in check. That was after I got out of the Navy in '76. Los Angeles County SD still has a way to go on treating people decently.

[Jackalope]

I've run into a number of randos who for some reason decide I'd like to be called "Boss". Do that, and in my world, you are evermore Fucko McDouchecanoe.

[Fireball]

I've run into a number of randos who for some reason decide I'd like to be called "Boss".  Do that, and in my world, you are evermore Fucko McDouchecanoe.

Yeah, I'm not their "boss", either. It's just the latest non-obvious covertly insolent sobriquet bandied about by the young.

[Seraphina]

I'm a big believer in choosing your battles and this isn't a battle I would have chosen. You wouldn't believe how many ways there are to spell "Teresa".
BUT you are not me and after you explicitly asked the man to use your last name, that's exactly what he should have done. Why did he ignore your request? It's never a good sign when a business ignores a simple customer request. I wonder what else in your transaction he might have ignored. The "holistic" woo excuse the manager used sounds like bs, too.

-Teresa

[ignoramus]

Whatever happened to the first rule of business

The customer's always right?

[KevinM1]

Whatever happened to the first rule of business

The customer's always right?

Like everything else, it depends on context.

Want me to call you Mr./Mrs. Surname? No sweat.

Want me to make a site for your business that makes Geocities look artful? Fuck no. Not only would it tarnish your brand, but it would tarnish my brand as well. And, yes, I've actually had to fight some clients over things like that.

In my estimation, when it comes to important things, the customer is almost always wrong. The smart ones trust that the people/services they hire will do things correctly. Unfortunately, there's more dumb ones running around than smart ones.

[Silver]

Whatever happened to the first rule of business

The customer's always right?

The new rule, according to younger generations tired of your old ass bullshit, is that the customer is not always right.

[c172]

Whatever happened to the first rule of business

The customer's always right?

I agree with Lut on this. Tere's been a fair amount of recent backlash in editorials over the subject of the customer's infallibility, and frankly, a lot of it makes sense.

That said, as I said, I do like "sir" and "ma'am", and at 42, I really hate "young man" or "youngster" or anything like that. 

Especially by those that use a really friendly tone, as though their friendliness makes them more eligible to just say whatever the hell they want.

[Fireball]

Whatever happened to the first rule of business

The customer's always right?

Back in the '70s, I accepted this rule, until I replaced a carburetor (at the customer's insistence) which was not the problem. Customer got all kinds of bitchy about the expense (because the problem wasn't fixed!), and the shop owner had to eat that cost, as the customer got his money back. After that, I relied on my own diagnosis. If the customer disagreed, they took their business elsewhere, because I wasn't going to throw parts at a vehicle until it was fixed, even if the customer asked first. I grew up poor as piss on a plate, and I don't like spending other people's money on unnecessary repairs, just like if it were my own vehicle. The customer is not always right, but it's up to the "salesperson", in my case the mechanic, to explain why they are wrong, and if they don't trust my diagnosis, they can go to another shop. The number of times I was wrong can be counted on one hand. Yup, I was a cocky sumbitch, and I made a lot of money, honestly, as opposed to making shit up and changing parts until the vehicle was fixed. Those guys make more money right up until the customers stop coming back because they spend too much money on getting simple problems fixed.

[Silver]

Unsure if you understand, however.

I mean this literally: "The customer is not always right."

In case there was a misunderstanding in my previous post.