I hate the word ‘Consumer’ or I mockingly call it ‘CONSOOMER’. Because that’s to imply everyone in the world is just cattle, but with wallets. We’re no longer customers. We’re consumers now. And a consumer’s purpose is to consume shit, whatever is put out there. Got money? Shut up and consume, it’s what corporate interests and capitalism itself thrive on. Consume and consume.
Calling customers, “guests”. A customer is someone with a business relationship with someone/something else. They’re exchanging money for goods and services and have a right to expect certain value for their money.
A guest is something else entirely. A guest has no implicit right to expect a certain any particular level or quality of services. They are dependent on the magnamity of the “host”.
Calling a customer a “guest” robs them of status.
This one’s interesting, because it hails from a time when there was more of a cultural underpinning to the term - companies had a cultural obligation to at least keep up a facade of taking care of their customers, and calling customers guests was explicitly meant to convey a sense of safety and comfort.
It has the exact opposite effect now, because the customer’s interests are often in direct opposition to those of the company. The company thinks it owns you, and no longer cares what you think about it.
I think of it this way.
The urban legend I grew up with was that one time a kid wasn’t satisfied with their Hershey Bar, so they wrote Mr. Hershey and got a personal replay. Didn’t matter if it was true, it reflected the idea that somewhere there was an actual person behind the brands we used everyday.
Today’s kids know that there’s nothing behind a name like ‘Hershey’ except bean counters and ad men.
Don’t forget the chocolate-flavored food grade wax.
I haven’t eaten a Hersey bar in decades.