The man had started in the grocery business 60 years previously emptying boxes in a fruit stand. Now, at the apex of his career, he headed one of the largest and most influential grocery chains in the country and was personally worth millions. Standing before a large assembly of store managers, the patriarch's stern, gray head addressed the topic of "customer service:"
"Ladies and gentlemen," he began in his most austere tone, "always remember that the customer is never wrong, always right. Misinformed maybe -- perhaps impolite, stubborn, and irate or demanding; even dumb ... but never wrong!"