What is the one thing that virtually every business has in common? The answer would undoubtedly have to be customer service. Customer service is usually the most significant component of any business. You can always lower your prices; you can always advertise all over the world and promote your business until you’re blue in the face, but that doesn’t guarantee that your business is going to retain its customers and attract new ones.

I was picking up Chinese takeout. Behind the counter a handwritten sign read, “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” While I was paying I asked the hostess if they ever actually did that. I mean, how can you run a business if you refuse clients, right? She said that sometimes, when someone is exceptionally rude, the management will ask them to leave. That surprised me. I would have thought that $50 from a rude person would deposit in the bank just as easily as $50 from a more polite patron. I guess that sometimes it’s just not worth the hassle.