Language Barrier

"The discs?"

I'm sorry?

"The discs?"

Yes, what about the discs?

*Blank expression*

"The discs?"

Many of you might think this would be an immigrant speaking, someone who is just starting to get the hang of the English language. No. People learning to speak English, while they might not speak in complete sentences, speak in complete thoughts, so I can usually decipher what they're saying. This unfortunate pity case of an individual appeared to be a natural Canadian, judging from the lack of accent (the only other option would be an American visitor or immigrant, but it's mere semantics). Anyway, this person had such difficulty stringing more than two words into a sentence, that he eventually up and walked away in a huff. I guessed that the nature of his inquiry was to find the location of our bulk CD's, but having walked past them twice, I figured this gentleman would have seen them on his way.

I was wrong. Perhaps it was a mental illness... but I've never heard of someone with any kind of illness being left on their own while shopping in a busy warehouse, nor have I ever had a discussion with a handicapped person who didn't at least try to put more than two words together.

This one left me wondering and scratching my head for the better part of an hour. It makes me wonder about the adage "The Customer is Always Right." What happens when the customer can't even effectively communicate their wishes or confusion? What happens when they know what they want, but are so ineffectual at communicating that desire that they end up breaking some rules, or even leaving emptyhanded? Are they still right?

I, for one, enjoy the benefits of working for my employer. While we strive to provide the best possible service to the customer (and we often do), it is the first job I've worked for that has set out guidelines for when a customer is no longer in the right, and lays out expressly when an employee may stop rendering service to a customer.

Still, it leaves me wondering though...
If a customer can only communicate in Moron, are we obliged to respond in kind?