EDITORIAL — Isn’t government about customer service?

EDITORIAL — Referring to citizens as “customers” is, apparently, a no-no.

At this week’s council meeting, Coun. Donovan Cavers noted that parks director Byron McCorkell, while presenting his department’s annual report, had made a reference to taxpayers as customers.

Please don’t do that, Cavers asked. They’re citizens. Coun. Arjun Singh quietly voiced agreement.

It’s become common for politicians to refer to taxpayers as customers and it’s not at all a negative term. In the market place, customers are people who pay for goods and services. Companies speak of being “customer-centric,” which means they focus on serving those who shop at their stores or contract services from them. Good customer service is a big deal.

There’s an old saying, “The customer is always right.” There are all kinds of sayings about customers.”It takes months to find a customer and only seconds to lose one. “Customer service is not a department, it’s an attitude.” All of them put customers first. Customers are there to be served.

However, maybe Cavers and Singh have a point about customers being more than that. Citizens are customers but they’re also stakeholders. In effect, they are not only served by the corporation — that is, the corporate entity of the City of Kamloops, or any other government — but they own it as well.

So, citizens are both customers and bosses.

As Henry Ford pointed out, “It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money… It is the customer who pays the wages.”

And he who pays the piper calls the tune. That’s the customer.