Following orders or making them?

Being a manager has both its perks and its drawbacks, but you can look at either with multiple views and make it possible to see the good in every situation.  A great example is talking with customers: no matter their attitude, it is always possible to remain professional and polite, which creates growth as an individual.  Being able to help a customer with a complaint understand a company policy allows one to better their verbal and problem solving skills, in addition to building a higher level of maturity.  When it comes down to conflicts between what a customer wants and what my boss wants, 99% of the time the answer is plain and simple to me: my boss pays my bills!  It is up to me to get the customer to understand the viewpoint of my boss and be just as happy with the decision as if the customer got his own way.  Sometimes following orders means that I have to take the heat from customers, employees, and very rarely, my wife.  Following orders doesn't mean that I make excuses when customers or employees have a problem with a policy, it means that I do my best to understand every aspect of that order, and use a little bit of faith in my boss when I don't understand certain parts of the instructions.  In the end, I know that my boss would rather have me ask him something a few times until I understand instead of smiling and nodding as if I knew what was going on, even though I'm clueless.  There are customers that I face every week that I know are going to give me a hard time, but I am persistent in following orders and making sure that I understand them, which helps me to deal with the fire a little bit better every time.  I like the growth that I receive when I work through problems with customers and employees, and when it comes to bringing home those problem solving skills, I think my marriage is thriving due to them.