Yeah that’s great point. That’s probably a very likely reason. It’s a good way to preempt any customers possibly getting angry at the employees or the business. Defer the blame to a tier above your control. I wonder if there is a term for that? I could see the same phenomenon happening other scenarios.
It’s called an agent of limited authority. The cashier as an agent of the principal-merchant has limited authority to process transactions at the point of service, nothing more. When problems arise beyond that authority, they defer blame to the “tier above.” It’s a useful negotiating tactic.
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Yeah that’s great point. That’s probably a very likely reason. It’s a good way to preempt any customers possibly getting angry at the employees or the business. Defer the blame to a tier above your control. I wonder if there is a term for that? I could see the same phenomenon happening other scenarios.
It’s called an agent of limited authority. The cashier as an agent of the principal-merchant has limited authority to process transactions at the point of service, nothing more. When problems arise beyond that authority, they defer blame to the “tier above.” It’s a useful negotiating tactic.