That elusive middle ground.....

My job is essentially a complicated form of customer service. Now, having been at the receiving end of shitty customer service, I understand full well the frustration, and I understand the desire to express that frustration. However, having spent more than half of my young life consistently employed in customer service related fields, I also understand the desire to tell that grumpy customer where to stick it. It makes good business sense to retain customers by preventing your employees from confronting a pissy customer in the same way they would confront them on the street. But I firmly believe there should be a line of decency that, once crossed, nullifies the customer/employee standard. I believe this because I believe that some customers are not worth retaining. It's sheer numbers. Why maintain one customer, who generates a small, fixed amount of revenue, when that same customer's abysmal attitude can infect an entire department at your company, and effect untold numbers of your customers, and thus a much larger portion of revenue? It makes no sense. Cut the bastards loose.

I heard a story recently of a girl who lost her job at a fast food restaurant because a morbidly obese customer hurled a hamburger at her face to demonstrate his disapproval, and she had the good sense to shower him with a deluge of profanity that would have made George Carlin blush. A perfectly reasonable response, right? I know! I thought so too! Yet the employee lost her job, and the customer was provided with a number of free meals. This baffles me. I want a call to arms about this. I want a unified national consensus. I want the whole of society to agree that some lines should not be crossed with strangers, in any context, and if you cross them, you are solely responsible for the fallout.

Now I don't mean to go on a rant here, but.......