“The customer is always right” is a phrase that has been misused and abused for decades now.

People take it to mean that however awful a customer behaves, they should never be called out or face consequences.

The entirety of the phrase is “the customer is always right in matters of taste.”

Meaning, if a customer tells you what they want, don’t tell them they’re wrong. Just sell them the thing, what are you doing?

Like in this story from TikTok user @alannajeanhill:

“One thing I’ve absolutely had it with is waiters at, like, share with the table type restaurants nagging you about how much food you’re ordering. This has happened to me now three times in two months in Denver at new restaurants. I can’t do this anymore. If it happens again, I’m leaving.”

“In December, me and two other girls, we went to one of the new restaurants in Denver, share with the table. He, you know, gives us his recommendation. Okay. The thing is, is I’m a big girl. I know kind of what this needs, and I trust my body to understand how much I’m probably gonna need to eat. So I love your recommendation. I really appreciate it. And that allows me to figure out what I actually might need. So he gave us the recommendation. We order, and he goes, ‘you don’t have a vegetable, though.’ Is this fat camp? Like, do I need the vegetable? Is that a law? Is that a legal requirement? We order the vegetable. It was impossible to eat. It was not that good. I was like, ‘well, thank god, you know, thank god we did that.'”

“For my birthday, we go to another new restaurant in Denver. There are six of us. This time again, she gives us what she recommends that you might get, and we, or I say, ‘well, could we start with this and see where we end?’ ‘No, no, you Need to order it all at once.’ Okay, that’s fine, whatever. And so we order, and she goes – she comes screaming back, ‘that’s not going to be enough.’ We’re fine, we’re fine, we’re fine, okay? And guess what? If we’re so hungry, I’m sure we can find a Taco Bell that would let us go around the drive through as many times as we want.”

“Last night, we go to another newish restaurant in Denver. We tried to order, like, an additional thing, and they said ‘we’re out of that for the night.’ Okay, that’s fine. We’ll just go with the order that we originally had. And he goes, ‘well, you know, that’s pretty light.’ I understand. And I appreciate the hustle. That the more I order, the bigger the check is. But I’m a big girl. I’m a big girl, okay? And I know what I need to eat. So thank you for your input. I do appreciate your recommendation. But after that, we’re good.”

Sounds like these restaurants are really trying to upsell!

What’s with these Denver servers?

@alannajeanhill

If it wasn’t a pattern, I wouldn’t have an issue. #restaurants #restaurant #newrestaurant #eatingout #service #tips

♬ original sound – Alanna Jean Hill

Is this like, a regional problem?

Why would you even say that?

Too rich for my blood, man.

Hey, thanks mom.

Maybe it’s not worth it at all.

Can confirm that Taco Bell never comments on your order.

They don’t care even a little.

If you liked that story, check out this one about a couple who forgot to turn off their ice machine and returned home after 4 months to find their freezer had turn into a frozen cavern.