Is it a good thing to call one's coworkers customers? Especially in a university setting.
I don't like it. I think it diminishes the relationship. I am really not comfortable with the lingo and jargon being used by the IT staff at the top of the food chain.
I thought I left the corporate world.
Oh well.
I like Doublespeak and the sections on language in Class and BAD . They really skewer things like that.
I prefer to think of the people I work for (with) as "customers," but maybe that's because I've got that ethic that says "please the customer," "give the customer what they want," "the customer is always right," "I exist to serve the customer," etc. To me it feels like I'm giving them a compliment.
You could call them slave drivers, but that just wouldn't be the same.
Re:I like it
gizmo_mathboy on 2003-02-19T03:42:17
To me a customer is someone whose only interaction with you is an exchange of goods and/or services. They exist to give you money. The only reason you are nice to them is for them to continue giving them money.
However, a coworker is someone I work with. I have an interest in helping them because it helps the organization.
I feel I have a greater duty to a coworker than to a customer.
I personally don't think it is good to mistreat a customer more from an ethical and moral standpoint than a capitalist standpoint.
Then again I could just be crazy
