406 - Why the Customer Is NOT Always Right

The Real Jason Duncan Podcast · Oct 28, 2026 · 14m

Everybody in business has been told the customer is always right. Herb Kelleher didn't buy it. When a woman Southwest's staff called Pen Pal wrote in to complain after every single flight, he answered her himself in about 60 seconds: "Dear Mrs. Crabapple, We will miss you. Love, Herb."

In this episode, Jason reads this week's What's Real? article and traces the slogan back to where it started. The earliest anybody has found it in print is a 1905 Boston newspaper story about Marshall Field, but a man who wrote about Field's methods in 1919 said the real rule was to assume the customer is right…