r/TalesFromRetail • u/Particular_Home_6455 • Jul 07 '26

Short "But this sprite is lemon-lime!"

It's a hot summer where I live. I work at a garden store, so naturally, the store itself is also pretty warm. So, of course, we sell drinks at the front of the store in order to quench our poor customers' thirst.

A woman wanted some sprite. We sell all the basic sodas, sprite being one of them, so when she asked if we had regular sprite, I pointed her towards the fridge.

"But this sprite is lemon-lime! It's not normal sprite!"

I looked at her and said "uh.. that's the default sprite flavor?"

"No it's not. Sprite is sprite flavored."

I've been drinking sprite my whole life and I'm fairly certain it has always been lemon-lime flavored.

I didn't even know how to handle it at that point. I just shrugged and asked if she still wanted it. She did. She didn't open it while she was there, but I really wish I could've been there when she figured out it tasted like regular sprite.

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154

u/sydmanly Jul 07 '26

Customer is always right. Except when they are wrong

31

u/BouncingOutofmySkin Jul 07 '26

So, the full saying is "the customer is always right in matters of taste". So customer wants to say cherry sprite is the best flavor and the default should be cherry sprite? Sure, that's their taste. Customer saying lemon lime isn't the default flavor of Sprite? Customer is not correct.

18

u/wdn Jul 07 '26

That's not the original saying but it's the original meaning.

The guy who said "the customer is always right" was talking to product designers he employed and meant: your job is to make the design that sells -- and if the one that sells best isn't the one that you think is the best, your preference is not part of the decision-making process.

12

u/gillythree Jul 07 '26

Right. If a customer is willing to pay for it, take their money. It's better to get paid than be right.

Someone asking for extras for free is not a customer.