Is 'the customer always right'? Mayhaps this business axiom has acted as an ENABLER for now the customer thinks that he or she can get away with, well, ANYTHING. And big business wants you to believe that, they really do. They want you to think that you qualify for individual attention and that the issues you raise will be addressed.
Alexandre Chambon- Unsplash.com
Maybe!
The reality is that businesses, ever hungry to capture more dollars, pander to all segments of society and plunge consumers into a one size fits all experience. Now, whereas there is a great upside to this (Costco) there is a downside to it as well, as individual shopping experiences aren't honored so much, unless you purchase an amount of goods or services far and above what normal people usually do. Thus, ordinary people become the rabble, and in that manner are moved from place to place, sourcing their goods and experiences from the menu that is offered. They mainly stay in chain hotels/resorts, shop at the big box stores or in vast quasi warehouses; wandering the aisles looking for this and that, they park in bustling parking lots and stream past hordes of fellow shoppers, trying to stay out of each other's way but there's never really enough room for that, is there? They feel rushed, fill up their carts, and get gone.
Volume, business people tell us, keeps prices low, but the tradeoff is customers become a herd of consumers.
In their travel, they are sold experiences and rush to pack those in, amongst others who are bustling to launch or conclude theirs, people are commodoties just as much as the experiences themselves. The entertainment they are served hits them at primal levels, food, survival, sex. Can't miss with those common ingredients.
Craig Whitehead- Unsplash.com
As humans we are born to explore, to maximize our potentials, but..... hey, a lot of this is starting to look like a lot of people doing the same thing, you know? This points to the fact that we're really not so different after all. Little things set us apart, but the major plotlines for living a life have been exhaustingly acted out.
Still, whattaya going to do? Can't passively watch, that wouldn't be any fun. Join the scrum or sit on the sidelines are your choices. Within the arc of human possibility we exist and until that box is made bigger this is all we'll ever know.