Employee Perspective: Is Customer really “The King”?

“At the very outset, let me start off by acknowledging that we were at fault and we not only apologize for the regrettable incident, we have also taken action,” IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh wrote.

About the incident

• The incident on the Delhi airport tarmac took place on October 15 and it started with ground personnel – Juby Thomas asking passenger Rajiv Katiyal not to abuse.
• The passenger continues to walk towards the shuttle bus and a voice can be heard asking the ground personnel to stop him.
• After this, Thomas can be seen pulling him out of the coach. Second ground personnel Sahiv Sharma indicates to the bus driver to depart to the airport terminal.
• A scuffle suddenly breaks out between Thomas and Katiyal.
• The video which went viral doesn’t show who made the first move.
• Sharma tries to restrain the passenger by putting his arms around Katiyal’s chest.
• Katiyal later breaks free from his grip and attack Thomas and grab him around his neck. In the ensuing fight he falls onto the ground and Thomas is seen with his hand on the passenger’s collar bone.

I’m sure, our memory can recollect this infamous IndiGo incident (whose video went viral) of barbaric customer handling few months back. Recently, in one of my marketing lecture, I was explaining concepts of “Customer Relationship”, “Customer satisfaction” & “Customer Delight” sighting this incident. These phrases along with – “Customer is King” & “Customer is always right” are widely used terms in business world.

These philosophies are on top list in induction training programs for all the new joinees. Even mid to senior level managers in sales and other business functions chant it frequently”. Still, such incidents often come in media. So a question struck my mind – Are these metaphors (invented seven decades earlier) still powerful & relevant enough in enriching relationship between employee and customer and achieving organizational goals?

Customer (noun) is one of those few words, that has become part of our daily lexicon & we use it as a symbol of superiority in the marketplace. The origin of the word customer is the Latin – “consuetudinem”, coming from one’s habit or custom – or, someone’s customary practice do something repeatedly.

As per psychology, each word generates uniquely strong emotion in human mind. Generalization of words like customer in place of “people” has resulted in low EQ (Emotional Quotient) & high MQ (Materialistic Quotient).

I remember a scene from Munnabhai MBBS movie where professor addresses a half dead patient as subject several times in his lecture. Annoyed by this tag, Munnabhai shouts – “Kya subject subject laga rakha hai, doesn’t he has a name? You see in the climax, the patient is miraculously cured just because of love and care shown by Munnabhai.

Even greats like Henry Ford and Steve Jobs address their customers as people…..

Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked people what they wanted they would have asked for a faster horse.”

King (adj.) symbolizes superiority, authority and power to make or break things. In a nutshell, “Customer is King” epitomize customers as someone whose birth right is to exert control and influence the market by making any demands they want, rejecting anything not liked. It still holds true from strategic & marketing perspective as customer has become more fickle minded, provided they have lot of options available suiting their needs.

Steve jobs once told Business Week: “A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

But do you think “Customer is King” metaphor still valid from employee perspective? Following are my observations arguing, it has run out of course now…

• In reality it’s humans, who play role of customer and employee simultaneously. Human behavior has gone through sea change over past decades, thanks to technology and associated social revolution.
• As a developing economy, India’s 65% (approx.) of population is young (15-59 years). Most of urban young population has basic financial stability and this has made them – independent with high self esteem & risk taking ability, full of aspirations.
• Highly pressurized work environment & rat race for survival has altered employees’ behavior considerably. They’re now more pruned to short temper, aggressiveness and so on…
• The paradox is that working for a King also reflects - slavery, tyranny, apathy, arrogance and inferiority in mind of employees. It generates fear which compels them to accept customer as king. (Relationship blossoms with genuine feeling of love and care and not under coercive atmosphere)

For an employee, a lot is at stake when he deals with the king. He always carries a feeling of uncertainty that a customer (whom he calls king) is the one deciding his fate. This results in state of mental choking. It creates a dangerous state where an employee working for 10-12 hrs a day feels strangled for freedom and fresh air.

This state was visible in IndiGo incident where a communication brawl turned into a physical assault. The incident has been and must be condemned. But in the end, it was a reaction from 3 individuals who were in different mental states. However, this philosophy has turned more heat on employee than on customer. We must acknowledge that at ground level, a human is interacting with human. A human which has countless emotional states any moment based on his inner and external stimuli. We need more humane philosophy to enhance satisfaction and strengthen relationship with existing and prospective customers.