 What is ironic about Earth's customer service policy?
A Gift From Earth By MANLY BANISTER Illustrated by KOSSIN [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction August 1955. "It is an outrage," said Koltan of the House of Masur, "that the Earthmen land among the Thorabians!" By this, he seemed to imply that the Thorabians would rob the Earthmen, which the Lorians would not. "When your opinion is wanted, we will ask you for it. If it was impossible to hope for much in the way of metal from the Earthmen, what could one get from them? Speeches were made through interpreters, who had much too quickly learned the tongue of the aliens; hence these left much to be desired in the way of clarity, though their sincerity was evident. There was also some talk going around about agreements made between the Earthmen and officials of the Lorian government, but you heard one thing one day and another the next. Accurate reporting, much less a newspaper, was unknown on Zur. Finally, the Earthmen took off in their great, shining ship. The anti-Earthmen Faction—in any culture complex, there is always an "anti" faction to protest any movement of endeavor—crowed happily that the Earthmen were gone for good, and a good thing, too. Immediately, the Earthmen established what they called "corporations"—Zurian trading companies under terrestrial control. In spite of the fact that a terrestrial ship had landed at every Zurian city of major and minor importance, and all in a single day, it took some time for the news to spread. "The Earthman took them in trade—one reason why the new ones are so cheap. This, for some unknown reason and much to the disgust of the Lorians, was set up in Thorabia. Moreover, the Earthmen brought miles of copper wire—more than enough in value to buy out the governorship of any country on Zur—and set up telegraph lines from country to country and continent to continent. Within five years of the first landing of the Earthmen, every major city on the globe had a printing press, a daily newspaper, and enjoyed the instantaneous transmission of news via telegraph. "As I have always said from the beginning," chortled Director Koltan, "this coming of the Earthmen had been a great thing for us, and especially for the House of Masur." It became very stylish to eat with the newfangled paraphernalia ... and very cheap, too, because for everything they sold, the Earthmen always took the old ware in trade. They destroyed it, which proved how valueless it really was.
 What is 'right' for the customer always benefits the corporation, directly or indirectly
 The customer service policy was drafted by Zurians, not Earthmen  The customer service policy offers no ideal alternatives for non-Earthmen  Earthly corporations have no real solutions for dealing with problems presented by their customers  What is 'right' for the customer always benefits the corporation, directly or indirectly