As a former retail employee, who literally had people argue with me, "But the customer is always right" BS, this hits close to home.
I'm lucky in that I had access to internet and knew the full quote. So, I'd look it up while listening to them, flip my screen around, and ask them to read the entire quote and explanation:
"The customer is always right in matters of taste" means that when it comes to personal preference and what someone finds aesthetically pleasing, the customer's opinion is considered correct, even if you might not agree with it; essentially, you should respect their subjective choice because taste is personal.
I worked in a fucking electronics store (Radio Shack) and aesthetics didn't really matter there. And what they wanted to argue with me was over what would work with what (they never did work together that way) or that I had to give them a discount or return the wrong merchandise. The worst was a guy who bought a 5 disc DVD changer\player and tried to return his old on that only did 3; cover in cock roaches I might add. He even went so far as to hire a lawyer and private investigator. Thankfully we not only had witnesses but also video evidence of time of purchase and return.
I didn't think you were right, but both grammarist and QI confirm what your saying, the "in matters of taste" isn't included in any of their deep-dives into finding the origin of the quote "The customer is always right", so it seems to be yet another internet invention being passed off as something real.
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u/Lylieth 25d ago
LMAO, this is so fucking great!
As a former retail employee, who literally had people argue with me, "But the customer is always right" BS, this hits close to home.
I'm lucky in that I had access to internet and knew the full quote. So, I'd look it up while listening to them, flip my screen around, and ask them to read the entire quote and explanation:
I worked in a fucking electronics store (Radio Shack) and aesthetics didn't really matter there. And what they wanted to argue with me was over what would work with what (they never did work together that way) or that I had to give them a discount or return the wrong merchandise. The worst was a guy who bought a 5 disc DVD changer\player and tried to return his old on that only did 3; cover in cock roaches I might add. He even went so far as to hire a lawyer and private investigator. Thankfully we not only had witnesses but also video evidence of time of purchase and return.