I’m thinking of opening a store. I would call my store “Dave’s Tough-Shit Store,” because the store’s motto would be, “You think you deserve special treatment? Tough shit.” The motto would be chiseled in stone over the entrance, and over every customer service station you would find it lovingly cross-stitched in crisp linen, framed in gilt oak. All my employees would greet customers with a warm smile and carry out every transaction as professionally as possible, but the moment a customer asked for special treatment of any kind, the employees will smile, point at the motto, wait a moment for the customer to read it, and then ask, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

That kind of attitude probably won’t bring in as many customers as, say, Wal-Mart gets, but the customers that did come to Dave’s Tough-Shit Store would be the kind of customers I wouldn’t mind having. All the rest can go suck eggs.