@4channel wrote:
A man has to take care of where he makes mistakes. Having worked in various customer service and sales roles, the motto is ... "The customer is always right". I like the "Old school" ethic! The name of the game is just keep on keeping on and adjust where necessary I don't expect karma or reward as something binding, no, not at all. OK, but it is a well-known fact that good done does invite good. It does work for people.
This phrase is misused so often I wish all memory of it was wiped from the face of the earth 
, mostly because some consumers like the sound of it and think it's there to remind sellers (or businesses) that they (the sellers) are there to cater to the buyer's every need, demand and whim (which, of course, is not the case at all).
The phrase itself is over 100 years old, so it is indeed "old school"; it has also garnered criticism for nearly just as long, so opposition, counter-arguments and counter-practices to the phrase are also "old school".
Originally, it was touted by retailers as counter-practice to the whole "caveat emptor" school of thought, as in "no need for that, we'll take on all the responsibility and liability of your bad purchase decisions, and / or incorrect operation of the products you've purchased". So, it was never intended to mean "the customer should get their way, in any circumstance, no matter what".
Most sales-oriented businesses have morphed it in to a philosophy, the phrase more becoming "the customer is always right.... about what they want".
In other words, it has been used to mean many different things over many years, and is (at least to me) a worthless platitude, not a magical "abracadabra" to use to try and bend someone else to a particular customer's will.
This is not a defense of sellers who withdraw items post-sale (I get it, people are imperfect and their failures are annoying), just an opportunistic rant.
Of course the customer is not always going to right 100% of the time and I didn't intend the phrase to mean that in a binding way. where it's do it or face the firing squad. 
However, I do like the sound of it as it does hark back to a time where customer service really existed. As I mentioned, I have worked in various sales related roles and I always liked the "I take pride in my work" ethic. We don't see a whole lot of that these days.
Once upon a time some sales posts in shops used to have the sign "The Customer is Always Right" hanging up or positioned somewhere. It is a good guide! 
@4channel wrote:
Once upon a time some sales posts in shops used to have the sign "The Customer is Always Right" hanging up or positioned somewhere. It is a good guide!
My point was that something can only be a guide for others if it has a universally understood meaning - if it has to be clarified exactly what is and isn't meant by something, particularly when one of the things it isn't is a commonly held belief, it's not a guide to much, it only works to reaffirm what someone already thinks, or is an attempt to stop them from thinking further (see next paragraph), which puts everyone back at square one, frequently on opposite sides and with a continuing failure to communicate meaningfully, and / or constructively (JMHO).
As a standalone phrase, as a sign hanging in a shop window, and the last dying scream of the Karen (with apologies to those named Karen), I see it as more a thought-terminating cliché.
Honour and integrity are good things, pride...eh, limited but sometimes appropriate use - these concepts are easily understood but can be thought about at great depth as well as practiced from a surface-level understanding, can apply to everyone no matter what their role in a transaction is, don't give anyone a false sense of entitlement and (with the exception of pride) don't tend to encourage dismissal / disrespect / elevation of one party over another.
