Customer — not always right!

We’ve had someone fake a panic attack. Tech answered the phone and she was perfectly calm. Not 15 seconds later, my Rph picks up and the woman is in the full throes of an attack.

All because we denied an early control.

This is kinda sad, but the exact same thing (sort of) happened to me last week! Ordered from Pizza Hut, pizza was delivered with pepperoni insead of the chicken we had ordered (our friend cannot eat pork, so the pizza was wasted). I called back the central office (as you cannot call the store directly) and the dispatcher said not to worry that a credit of one pizza would be on my account, all I would have to do is give my phone # when I next called. Of course, when I did call days later, there was no record of this. I felt like an idiot for believing her and not getting her to refund my credit card on the spot. Luckily customer service believed my “story”…sometimes the customer is right, but most of the time, I agree they are not :P

There is a state of mind that has long evolved among the public. I call it consumerism. There’s something to it, but only up to a point. Many companies have very generous return policies. I am still a bit amazed that I can return a defective Mesopotamian pair of scissors after I open the blister pack, because, after all, what do they do with the pair of scissors after I rape its salability? They must have a way of returning it to the distributor for credit. There must have been a time when you couldn’t just return something and get your money back that easily. Anyhow, with that kind of sales environment, a lot of people must believe they have rights they don’t have, which leads to pizza stories like that. I am certain that this story happened.

Just look at the expression “rip off.” It means you are entitled to remove a smaller object from a larger object with the idea that the owner “won’t miss it.” To “rip off” is, conceptually on the part of the thief, not really stealing. It has come to mean “to steal,”, but the expression implies that the thief is entitled to steal.

The Ole’ Apothecary you’ve got it right, when we get stuff back thats broken or what not we just return it to the manufacturer and they give us back our cost. Sure we lose any profit on it, but at least we don’t lose money.

I work at one of the companies that is perpetuating this problem, though thankfully we only sell women’s clothing. Do anything you have to to please the customer, they say. Doesn’t matter if they deserve it or not, just say “Yes” unless is exorbitant. You want your shipping charges refunded because you forgot to select the right shipping method? Sure, here’s 25$. You ordered something two years ago and now it’s on sale for 1/4th the price? Sure, here’s your money back. Damn it pisses me the hell off.