During a community consultation workshop, a local government staff member asked me this question: “There is a citizen I am having a great deal of difficulty dealing with. He demands things of me in such a commanding and assertive manner, that I don’t feel I have any option but to give him everything he wants, even if he is not entitled to it, and even if no one else gets it. With our municipality moving towards more community involvement, the premise is that `the customer is always right.’ Can I do anything other than say yes?”

Saying yes to every citizen (on the premise that he or she is `the customer,’ who is always right) is inherently problematic. The desire to be `democratic’ and more responsive to citizens is laudable, but it should be targeted at the community as a whole, and not at each citizen. Whenever appeasement, acquiescence and conflict avoidance become the overriding goals, assertive citizens have an advantage, and less assertive ones are left behind. This is not democracy, but anarchy, or `the tyranny of the minority.’

So what should an individual who is `button-holed’ by an assertive citizen do? How about something like this: “Sir, I am having a hard time right now. It seems like whatever I say, you will not take no for an answer. My job here is to work for the entire municipality, and I have to treat all citizens equally and follow our policies consistently. It wouldn’t be fair to other people if I gave you something that they wouldn’t get. So, with all due respect, I have to say no.”

And so, is `the customer’ always right? The answer depends on who `the customer’ is (an individual citizen or the community as a whole), on what `the customer’ wants, on what the relevant policies are, and on what is fair and reasonable for the community as a whole.