I wonder if the people who make the "policy" ever have to deal with a "customer" that it affects. I doubt it.

The customer could care less about you, your company, or your company policy; and even LESS about "why you can't" give them what they want. They want YES, or help us to get to yes, and if you can't help them, they'll go someplace else (and take their money and their word-of-mouth advertising with the).

To serve customers, a set of principles must be established, so that policies can be delivered in a positive (customer-retaining) manner. Oh, that.

Train on principles before you even dream of opening your policy book.

Why companies train employees ad-nauseum about their policies is beyond me. Policies have nothing to do with success. Principles have everything to do with the success of "people" - and that leads to the success of "company".

Principles are what we live by. Policies are what you live with.