Sometimes, the customer is wrong

I spent the year prior to beginning law school the way I imagine many other millennial humanities majors do: working at various part-time jobs while living with my parents. After leaving resumes at what felt like every business in my hometown, I was called to interview for a hostess position at a local restaurant and brewery.

Reading off of the standard list of questions, the interviewer asked what I thought about the mantra that “the customer is always right.” A predictable question with a litany of acceptable answers. “Excellent service is crucial to running a successful business.” “This job is about putting others first, going above and beyond for them.”

But this question irked me for some reason. Perhaps because I had already accepted a different job, I felt like being excessively honest. I responded that I wouldn’t go so far as to say “always,” because while good service is important, there comes a point when employees’ comfort and safety outweigh pandering to an irrational customer. The interviewer seemed surprised. She acknowledged that management cared about the employees’ well-being, quickly adding that customer satisfaction is still the most important aspect of their operation.

Reflecting on the question, my mind had snapped back to a situation at my previous job, as an English instructor in Peru. I had a student, a much older man, who would arrive at the school obnoxiously early every morning (before the rest of the class was around). Initially, we would converse casually until the other students trickled in and I could begin the lesson. However, this "friendship" soon snowballed into him mumbling comments about my body in class and badgering me to go out for drinks with him.

I demurred day after day, perfecting the art of avoidance: lingering downstairs, “pouring my coffee” for 15 minutes, asking the secretary questions, and organizing dry erase markers. This was not a very punctual class either, so most days I had to start teaching with only this student in the room.

My boss was a British man, only a few years older than I was. For context, whenever I didn’t have a class to teach, he would task me with standing outside handing flyers to passersby because “sex sells.” Unsurprisingly, when I told him about the creepy student situation, he joked that I should reciprocate the advances to help guarantee the guy’s continued enrollment. It was due to his pressure that I went to lunch with the student after class one day, supposedly to practice his English (we needed to have a reputation for “going the extra mile”).

I realize that teaching is not like a typical service job, and students are not usually thought of as customers. However, in a private school setting, there can be the same pervasive culture of maintaining cash flow and improving reputation at any cost to employees. This is to say that, for many women, putting up with difficult people for the sake of good business can go much further than plastering a smile and remembering to fill the water glasses regularly.

Recently, a restaurant security camera video went viral. It depicted a waitress, Emelia Holden, tackling a male customer who had groped her. She was hailed for standing up for herself, refusing to be disrespected. Other women who had been harassed before in the restaurant industry said that seeing the video had “empowered them to react more assertively next time.” Holden reported that she was confident in her reaction, knowing she would have the support of the restaurant owners and her coworkers.

For every story like this, there are many left untold of women who ignore harassment or laugh it off. A friend of mine working as a server once complained about a regular customer who always tried touch her inappropriately. Because the customer was a close friend of the restaurant owner, her boss refused to do anything about it. 

While some advocate for assertiveness in the workplace as a way for women to avoid being taken advantage of (lean in?), it would be naïve to assume that employees all have equal bargaining power to their employers. Women can be assertive and demand respect, but often only insofar as their employers allow it. Many part-time and low-wage workers are at will employees, meaning that they can be terminated without cause. This, along with other factors such as language barriers and immigration status, can lock women into a harmful work environment.

It is unclear whether legal solutions would play a role in solving these issues, considering that many do not have the time and resources to commence a lawsuit. However, some suggest that steps be taken in training management on sexual harassment, in the hopes of reducing internal problems and building support for employees. Another option is to employ more women in higher up positions in this sector, with the idea that they may be more empathetic to issues like harassment.

Ultimately, I am probably reading too deeply into an old adage that doesn’t necessarily imply so much. But abiding by the contention that the customer is always right promotes the idea that profits are all that matter, disregarding the reality that women are more likely than men to experience harassment in the course of work. Some even argue that the way the service industry is run keeps women in a subservient position and normalizes sexism. While many things may be improving, these traditions perpetuate the reality that many women must suffer in order to maintain employment.