The Rhetorical Analysis Of 'The Customer Is Always Right'

In modern culture, the idea of "the customer is always right" reaches into most commercial and even educational aspects of life. Retail workers and teachers alike complain about ridiculous requests received at the workplace, as well as the criticism they receive when the customer takes their rational denial as a lack of "doing their jobs". As such, Samuel Johnson's dilemma, having to deny a woman’s request to write a recommendation for her son because any recommendation letter he was capable of writing would be inadequate or untruthful, is all too familiar. He expertly handles this difficult situation by writing a letter and taking advantage of the rhetorical strategies of diction, tone shift, and logos to prove his point. The author uses

In the first paragraph, the author seems regretful about destroying the woman’s hope. In this way, he keeps himself from seeming like a harsh and uncaring creature. The second paragraph portrays the author as very confused about why he should write the letter instead of someone more qualified, further conveying his inability to perform the task the mother asked of him. Johnson ends his denial on a happy note, stating his hope that the woman’s son could find a better qualified person to recommend him to the archbishop. These tone shifts serve to portray the author as the wrong man for the woman’s request without seeming too

In lines 18-20, Johnson states that he knows neither the Archbishop of Canterbury nor the woman’s son. He later asserts that without a relationship with either, he could not possibly write an adequate and honest letter of recommendation. This argument not only gives reason for Johnson's refusal, but implores the woman to find a better suited man for the job. He once again uses logic when implying that the woman intended for Johnson to lie. In line 31, Johnson offers to help the woman by "proper" means, implying that her original request was improper or even illegal. He also states that he had no way of knowing that the information the woman gave about her son is true. Stating that her request was improper and giving evidence to support that statement is about as logical as Johnson can get.With fact on his side, Johnson effectively reiterates his point that a man ignorant of both the archbishop and the woman’s son has no authority to recommend the youth to the Archbishop’s university. Unfortunately for most retail workers, customer interaction is a face-to-face ordeal and most cashiers can't get out a full two sentences of reason before the enraged customer demands to see a manager. Samuel Johnson is lucky in this regard, he was able to deal with an impossible request through an eloquent letter. Still, even though his interaction with the woman was very impersonal, Johnson achieved