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    Designers create mistakes on purpose for entitled customer to find: 'Demand that there's always a mistake? Here you go!'

    The customer is always right — never forget that! 

    It's true: the customer is always right in matters of taste. That means that if you work at a clothing store, and a customer insists on ordering the ugliest shirt in a size that's way too small for them, the employee is supposed to simply nod in agreement, and ring them up for it. 

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    • 01
      Client criticizes design layout as employee displays papers to him.
      via Getty Images

      Client criticizes design layout as employee displays papers to him. 

      The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    • Of course, that has never stopped a single entitled customer from insisting that they're right all the time, not just in their own opinions, as the phrase actually means. Customers want to be coddled by employees. And the more expensive the product is, the more insight the customer will demand. 

      The whole reason the customer hires a designer in the first place is because the designer hold skills that they don't. In this worker's case, they were an independent designer in the 1990s, working with customers to create flyers and brochures. The client would bring them their information or ideas, and this guy would hand-letter it and print it for them. At the time, this was a pricey venture. When the customer is paying for something that's breaking the bank, they tend to get involved. They want to know where those thousands of dollars are going! But they're often just inserting themselves into a process that they don't belong in. You hired this person, just let them work! 

      These days, a lot of design work is done digitally, but customers still have the same gripes. They want things moved around, they don't like how this and that is worded, they want to scrap everything and start from the ground up. That's all a big headache for the workers — who are, again, experts in their field — and employees will do just about anything to get the customer to leave them alone. They've designed something perfectly lovely, just leave it be! 

    • 02

      Customer always found a mistake - so we complied

      This goes back to around 1990s. I was an independent designer for a few different printing businesses in the South suburbs of Chicago.
      via BrightRick
    • 03
      Back then computers were fairly new and print shops were still old school. Those inserts you found in newspapers?
      via BrightRick
    • 04
      They were still hand lettered back then!!! I'd design brochures and flyers, laser-print proofs, scan photos (a 150 dpi HP scanner was $1200 - that's like $5K today!) and so on.
      via BrightRick
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    • 05
      Anyway, one of the print shops had a customer that ALWAYS found an error, would demand a new proof, and not authorize the job until he signed off on the new proof.
      via BrightRick
    • 06
      Every. Single. Time. "This line is crooked" "This word is too dark" and so on. So we came up with a solution.
      via BrightRick
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    • 07
      I'd do two proofs. One was the original, accurate one. The other has an obvious intentional mistake.
      via BrightRick
    • 08
      He'd catch the "mistake" and ask for a new proof. He'd be told to come back in an hour (it was usually a day or two.) He'd come back and be shown the 2nd proof.
      via BrightRick
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    • 09
      He approved it every time. Demand that there's always a mistake? Here you go!
      via BrightRick
    • 10
      Employee and client talk about color choices while holding paint swatches.
      via Getty Images

      Employee and client talk about color choices while holding paint swatches. 

      The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

    • 11

      Apparently, this is a common phenomenon!

      Random_Chaoss Graphic designer here. We did the exact same thing. The indelicate way WE put it... "The customer ain't gonna like the taste until he in it a little."
      via Random_Cha0ss

      Clients need to feel like they're doing something. Best just to give them a little leeway, while also still ensuring that your own work maintains its' integrity. 

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    • 12
      PumpkinCrouton We used to get calls by a woman on a machine. She complained about the keyboard. We had 1 spare keyboard. I'd get it out of the cabinet and unbox it and swap it. She loved the new keyboard and said how nice it was. Later I'd put the old one in the same box for next month when her KB was up again and needed replacement. She never figured it out and the new KB was always much better than the 'old' one. This went on a long long time.
      via PumpkinCrouton
    • 13
      Illustrious-Leader Worked in publishing in the 90's and we had a magazine editor that would demand the impossible 15 mins before print. She'd formaly complain if you told her it couldnt be done and it would be on your file at appraisal time. But she never complained about Jo. So I watched the next time she asked Jo. Jo said "sure", waited 10 mins then printed out another proof without making a change. Jo only took the new proof to her desk so she had nothing to compare it to. Got accepted every
      via Illustrious-Leader
    • 14
      nobody_really__ My grandfather had a pretty solid side business as a surveyor. After doing mountain ranges in the Sawtooths, putting in fence lines was a piece of cake. On every fence job, he'd put one steel fence post in just six inches out of place, and he'd only drive it in a few inches. When the landowner came to approve, Grandfather would line up the transit and have the customer take a look. Invariably, one post would need to be adjusted. Grandfather would make a big show of pulling it up,
      via nobody_really__
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    • 15
      No_Group5174 I used to write technical documents which had to go through three reviews before being issued. I was always sceptical that any of them were doing their reviews properly so I used to add "free coffee for anyone who reads this sentence" near the end of the document. Only one person ever claimed his coffee.
      via No_Group5174
    • 16
      Employee and client inspect large stacks of paper together.
      via Getty Images

      Employee and client inspect large stacks of paper together. 

      The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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