Some people have never worked retail and it shows.

“The customer is always right!”

No, actually most customers have no clue how this business works, and the ones that do don’t say shit like that.

Bingo.

The customer is always right!

Some of the worst managers (and coworkers, and customers) are people who take this literally and without criticism. The phrase is a handy way to express that customer service is important, and the customer should be given the benefit of the doubt whenever possible.

That’s fine. However, it does not mean that a person turns into an infallible god upon becoming the customer of a business. The only people I’ve ever seen take it 100% seriously are customers who know they’re wrong, and managers who are too lazy to do their jobs.

I never verified, but some years ago I heard someone expand on that as meaning something like “The customer’s willingness to buy is the right thing to do”. It makes sense. If a moron will buy gold plated lead, a capitalistic perspective says sell gold-plated lead. Ethically a bit fucked? Sure. But interesting nonetheless

Yeah, you’re on the right track, the full quote is “the customer is always right in matters of taste”. But like a lot of sayings (blood is thicker than water being another example), the original intent has been lost and now it means something else colloquially.