I’ve seen enough of the internets to know this is a must have. Damn, if I was in America this would be a business idea in itself.
Edit: If you nick this idea and make it your business - YOU’RE WELCOME! I only ask kindly of you send a yearly donation to Doctors Without Borders or some similar organisation.
Dang, give good advice to a shop and a few generations it gets taken out of context.
The problem is that idea derives from an economics idea that “your customers preferences” are the ones you should gear your product/service to.
I like green so I stock 10 green boxes and 5 red boxes. At the end of the day I have 9 green boxes left but no red ones. The red sold out. The customer is always right it doesn’t matter what you like you should stock what they want because that is what will sell. (At least that’s what I was taught in my college economics class)
Yeah, the story behind it I heard was “The customer is always right [in matters of taste]”.
Customer: Does this dress look good on me?
Sales Rep: Oh, yes! You look great! (regardless of actual opinion).
That said, when I looked into the origins of the phrase, there are several different stories behind it, so I’m not really sure which one is accurate. But yeah, regardless of origins, it’s been twisted to enable some crazy senses of entitlement.
I don’t think it was ever “in matters of taste” either, just a more general “sell what people will buy, not what you think people should buy.”