For as long as we can remember, we've repeatedly heard, "The customer is always right".
The phrase was shortened many decades ago to make it simpler and easier to remember, but after that what it means has been forgotten as each new generation of retail workers and bosses has kept repeating the phrase for their employees and each new generation has lived up to the phrase.

This has caused many problems that could have been prevented if the social structure around this phrase remained original and if people were taught properly what it means and what the real common sense among customers.

How many times every day, do retail workers fall victim to hysterical and screaming customers for the sake of "The customer is always right"?
Too many!

The original phrase is actually:
"The customer is always right, in matters of taste"
This phrase from the early 1900s is the headline of the common sense among customers and retail workers.
Of course, most customers have common sense and act as such, they don't demand special treatment.
However, most have forgotten what it means to be a customer.

As a customer, you're always right in what you want to buy
The objects you want, their functions, their colors, everything that goes into the category of what you want to bring home.
As a retail worker, "The customer is always right" means that the retail worker cannot show judgment for a customer buying odd things.
The retail worker cannot deny you from buying what you want, with the exception of laws and permits.
And most importantly, a retail worker cannot question your choice.
The retail worker may submit advice but only if the customer seems to accept it and want to hear it or directly asks for it.

What customers are not right in
Coming to a store 1 minute before closing
Normally the store is supposed to lock the doors at their closing time, if they close at 11:00, you shouldn't enter the store at 10:59 and expect to be able to leave at 11:05 because you had to get a few things.

Yelling at retail workers for a mistake by the business
The retail worker is only a retail worker, he/she has no power over the company or its decisions.
If the company has changed or done something that upset you, yelling at a random employee is wrong, they had nothing to do with it.

Arguing that an item should be cheaper because staff forgot to take down a sale sign on its expiry date
Whatever the size of the store, they probably have hundreds of stickers out every week for different kinds of sales and it's not easy keeping track of them, now and then a sticker is left up even if it expired and it's human.
And the majority of them have dates present when the sale is, either by pure dates, or week of the year.
Surprisingly, most of the time forgotten stickers are left, it's customers with kindness that take them down and bring them to the staff saying "Hey, this is expired so I brought it to you".
If a sale sign is left up but the date has passed, it's passed, don't argue that it's valid as long it's up.
Customers with manners don't argue about expired offers.

Causing an accident or knocking things down
If you accidentally knocked things down or caused an accident, clean it up.
If you cannot correct it efficiently, tell the staff about it and make sure you intend that you want to take responsibility.
They can give you paper and a bin if needed, or a hand to correct whatever needs to be corrected, and sometimes the staff does it for you out of kindness.
Either what happened, deserve kindness, you're a customer, not a dictator.. kindness is deserved and not an obligation.

Arguing that specific items should be sold in the store
The store is never obligated to sell specific items, they can choose which items they want to present and sell.
Of course, they select inventory that sells more than less so naturally the customers will impact this through their options and wallets, not what they're saying in the store.
It happens often that some customer who hate a brand, yells at retail workers for selling that brand and not the customer's favorite brand, this is just wrong!
A customer may ask the store staff if they could bring in a specific item, but it is not the customer's place to demand the store to replace brands!

Expecting staff to clean up your mess
We've all seen how a table can look in Mc'Donalds for example, customers who left all their dirt behind expecting the staff to clean it.
Sure the staff is responsible for cleaning the business, but they're not responsible for cleaning after you!
They're staff, not slaves.
Anyone who sees staff as responsible for cleaning up after them is likely the kind of person who would buy a slave from eBay if it were legal.
It's not dignified behavior to leave a mess and expect someone else to take care of it.

It's time to use the full quote within businesses again, and teach both retail workers and customers of its full meaning!
We're moving in time, and the further we come, for each new generation is taught by the last.
This means errors of the last generation, are passed on to the new generation.
And this is especially dangerous when a generation is pushing the limits with excuses, such as "It's not that bad, could be worse".
These excuses make the bar go lower and lower each time the excuse is used.
"It's just a little worse than last time", how many times does that excuse need to be used to go from a campfire to a burned-down house?
A few generations!
If you're making a campfire in the woods, the steps aren't that large between a controlled campfire and a forest fire, and forest fire often means burned down houses.
All it takes is a few turns of making it just slightly worse, starting the fire on a slightly more dry day, and in a slightly worse position with slightly worse eyes on the flames.
This is what's happening with our generations when it comes to business and customers, each new generation takes it further and further until disaster happens.

We still have a lot of honest, intelligent, and respectful people with good manners.
But nobody can deny, that the ratio of rude and selfish people is increasing every year.

By starting to bring back the full quote "The customer is always right, in matters of taste", we can try to better humanity when it comes to business and customers.