For those of you who have ever had the displeasure of working in either the food service or retail industries, you have most likely heard the phrase "the customer is always right." Any workplace where customer service is especially central has probably used this phrase to exemplify the importance of taking good care of their patrons. In a sense, treating the customer with respect and care is important for continued patronage. However, this idea creates a situation in which one party is guaranteed respect, while the other party does not even get to ask for respect. The-customer-is-always-right mentality has created a society of disrespectful, self-entitled assholes.

Treating workers, especially minimum wage workers, with disrespect is rewarded because workers are told to simply give in to customer demands regardless of their behavior. Let's be honest, some workers have been treated blatantly cruel by customers, and they cannot even stand up for themselves without risk of losing their jobs. Rewarding cruel behavior reinforces the behavior, which increases the likelihood that a customer will continue to treat workers with disrespect. Is it really so insulting that customers be asked to show a little patience and simple human decency?

I worked in the food service industry for a little over three years, and I learned a great deal about human behavior. If you want to measure the character of a person, all you have to do is watch how he or she treats a food service or retail worker. It can be down right scary the way some workers get treated. I had an employer who could pretty much care less how workers were treated by customers or their coworkers. There was even a sign by the drive-thru window that read something along the lines of, "Without customers there is not a need for cashiers, cooks, or dishwashers. So, if you can't treat customers as important as they are then I will be happy to help you into the unemployed segment of our society." There was even a little smiley-face at the end. How nice. I had grown-ass adults scream at me over there chicken not being ready fast enough. I had creepy-ass men tell me to smile all the time. One guy even wrote his number on his receipt and left it on the counter for me (people leaving their receipts on the counter was one of my biggest pet peeves). Oh, and one of the real gems of being employed there (as a female) was when a male customer came through the drive-thru, looked me up and down, and said, "Girl, if you was a chicken dinner I'd eat you up too." I gave my best "fuck off" smile and slammed the window shut. Because what else could I do? Just to put it in perspective for you, we literally had a customer pull a knife on one of our employees and he didn't even get banned from the restaurant, nor did anyone even call the police.

Workers have to choose between being respected and having a job. Those two things should not be mutually exclusive. Allowing customers to get away with dehumanizing behavior creates a society where minimum wage workers and lower class individuals are viewed as less than deserving of respect and common decency. Minimum wage workers are often forced to work more hours in worse conditions just to make ends meet. The-customer-is-always-right framework actually contributes to exponentially increasing classism, which is the systematic oppression of poorer individuals by the wealthy.

Instead of allowing employees to be demeaned and disrespected by customers, employers should adopt customer service policies that center on mutual respect. Customers who dehumanize workers should not be tolerated, nor should they be rewarded. Customers who behave in such ways should be removed and told that they are welcome back when they can use more respectful language. Asking to be treated with respect should not be an insult. Employees should be able to stand up for themselves without fear of reprisal.

Let's be real, there are a plethora of ways to politely tell a worker that there has been a mistake made. Some people just want to act like assholes for the sake of acting like assholes, and because they think they can get away with it.