If you’ve ever been in any sort of retail or sales position, you’ve undoubtedly heard the age old adage “the customer always comes first.” In an ideal world perhaps this is true, but “always” is quite simply too strong of a word to be practical. After all, not all customers are created equally, and sometimes they are intentionally deceitful or just plain wrong. At times, it may be necessary to side with your employee over the customer, keeping in mind that customers (save so-called “regulars” or those with extensive history in a loyalty program) are often fleeting whereas employees are daily facets in your business or store’s livelihood. While each and every sale is undoubtedly important, it can be ultimately detrimental to your company to lose a good employee over a one-time issue or accident.The customer should be prioritized as highly as possible in every scenario, but there may be instances in the workplace in which a decision will fall directly on a boss or manager in which he or she must immediately pick sides. For instance, if a customer feels offended or disrespected by an employee’s actions, even if it is unintentional or out of context, a customer may request that the employee in question is terminated. At this point there are very important questions to be raised. Did the employee do something wrong? Was it intentional, and if not, does that matter? How much business is this single transgression costing us? Is this the first time a complaint has been filed against this employee or does he or she have a checkered past as far customer relations go? Is there another position in the company without direct customer interaction where this employee might be more of an asset and less of a liability? Is this employee easily replaceable or does he or she provide a skill set unique to the company?Ultimately, there is no cut and dry answer as simple as “the customer always comes first.” The decision should be handled on a case by case basis, but in the event you do choose to break the golden rule of customer service, know that in some instances you are indeed justified.