Is the customer always right?

If a customer is not happy with the service or the product, he will either go away or, if he has already paid for the item, he will not be back. This rule is applicable especially to a restaurant, particularly if it is upmarket. Imagine a fish which costs only $5 uncooked in the market selling for $25 or more in the restaurant. So if a diner complains that the fish is not fresh, it is not wise to argue with him. Better to give him another fish or another dish in exchange than to insist that the fish is fresh. If he does not want a replacement, the manager will probably not charge him. If the diner is happy, he will come back.

The domestic helper's position is similar to that of the restaurant owner. She is a seller, like the restaurant owner, and her employer is like the diner. The domestic worker sells her labour and gives up her freedom as part of the "purchase" conditions. What the employer means, but does not say is:

"I will buy your labour which you must deliver six days a week (sometimes 29 days a month, etc.) For your convenience and mine, I will provide you with food and lodging free of charge. For this I will pay you $400 per month for the next two years."

So the domestic helper accepts the offer and delivers her labour six days a week. In other words, for six days a week she cooks, cleans, minds the children, etc. At the end of each month, the employer pays her the sum promised. Most domestic helpers understand this and they usually have no problem, unless they lack the powers of a domestic helper. As I have mentioned elsewhere, a domestic worker's power is her ability to give her employer what she (the employer) wants - dinner is ready when she comes home, the house is clean, the clothes are washed and ironed, the children are well cared for, etc.

From my observation, new domestic helpers with little experience usually behave as if the customer (her employer) is always right even if she does not agree with her all the time. Perhaps like the new and inexperienced restaurant staff, the new domestic helper knows instinctively that it is not wise to argue with the customer or employer.

But sometimes an owner of a restaurant, usually a smaller one, will not give in to a customer, especially if he (the owner) is in a bad mood because he has received too many complaints, etc. Instead of being nice, he shows his resentment or anger at some complaints he consders unjustified. Right or wrong, his response does not win friends and customers. Instead it will drive them away.

Sometimes a domestic helper finds herself in the same position. Usually a domestic helper who has a lot of experience and knows her work well is so confident she will "explain" and in doing so, she conveys by body language, that she is right and her employer is wrong. Of course, it is not wise to prove an employer is wrong. What sometimes happens is that the employer is so embarassed that her domestic helper "shows her no respect" by proving that she (the employer) is wrong. In such cases, the domestic helper who is right may need to look for another job.

The question the experienced super maid should ask herself is, "Is it a smart thing to prove that the customer is not always right when doing so may cost her her job?"