Nope, not joking.

I was half watching a TV show last week, with Gordon Ramsay ("Chef Ramsay" to US viewers) trying to find the best restaurants. He sent in some mystery shoppers with instructions to be awkward; one woman asked for a meal to be sent back to the kitchen to be made more spicy, then complained that it was now too spicy, and the restaurant replaced it for her. This was held up as an example of great customer service under extremely testing conditions. Why? Because the customer is always right.

If the customer thinks something is wrong, then something is wrong. Maybe it's a real grievance, maybe they've just got a wrong impression of what they're entitled to, but there is a problem to be dealt with, and fobbing them off will only make matters worse.

DYKWIAs are annoying, but are basically just narcissists, and want to be made to feel special - they'll only kick off if you don't flatter their egos. When have you ever heard of someone walking into a hotel/airport check-in/whatever and opening with DYKWIA? It's a reaction, not an action.

The only customer you're better off without is one who, aggregated over time, is a net loss for the company. This is nearly impossible without either them breaking the law (e.g. trashing a hotel room) or you systematically under-pricing for your risk exposure. They pretty much don't exist.


The other alternative is to decide you don't want to deal with DYKWIAs, then it's a slippery slope where you don't want to deal with rude customers, or arrogant customers, or black customers, or ginger customers, or customers who remind you of your ex, and then you've the mother of all moral hazards where the staff are rewarded (by having less to do) for driving away all of the customers that pay their wages.