The customer is always right

I took my three year old son Lucas to McDonalds this weekend. I’m not a fan of feeding my kids fast food, but in those desperate times (and other parents know what I’m talking about here), a happy meal can go a long way.
After ordering our lunch, the cashier returned my change short ten dollars. I politely told her that I had given her a twenty dollar bill, and that she gave me back the incorrect change.
“No sir, I did not…you gave me a ten”. I was pretty sure she was wrong – I had just come from the ATM which only disburses twenty dollar bills, and corrected her again. “No, I only had twenty dollar bills in my wallet…you must have made a mistake”.
“No Sir, the mistake is yours, please step aside”. (I don’t take well to being told to step aside – it’s like telling me to relax when I’m not). So...I asked to speak to the manager.
The manager came forward – I began to explain the story. Half way through, my son piped in.
“Dude (he calls everyone dude – I call him dude)…my daddy is the customer, and the customer is always right”.
We all laughed.
Sitting at our table over a happy meal and a salad, I asked my son where he learned that.
“The Backyardigans Daddy”.
I’m not sure what amazed me more – his ability to contextualize this learning the way he had, or the fact that at the age of three years old, my child was learning about customer satisfaction. I sought out the clip he referenced. I think in an anecdotal way, it speaks to the fact that companies are in big trouble…our youth are empowered! Clearly, a moment of pride.
Naturally, I got my ten dollars back.