[thelist] losing irritated / arrogant customers off my books

[Joel D Canfield]

> thoughts?
> 
> time to "let him go"?

unless you can change, if you ask the question, the answer is probably
'yes'

the *real* trick is to do so without burning bridges. 

if you're in a nice enough restaurant and you send the lobster back
three times, the manager is apt to come out and apologize that they
can't meet your discerning requirements, and he's sure you'll find
another restaurant the suits your needs.

it doesn't work to say "you're a jerk; take your work somewhere else."
but if you say "I'm sorry I can't meet your expectations; I'd be glad to
maintain things for a couple weeks while you find someone else." Then
stick to the two weeks or whatever timeline, and they'll either move on,
or change their expectations. You also have to decide in advance whether
you'll back down if they claim they'll change their expectations. Good
chance that it'll be temporary, and then you're stuck again.

either way, doing it nice creates less stress in your own life. 

joel

yeah, it's all from real-life experience, and the problem client never
cashed the refund check I sent them, so I think they realized it wasn't
*us*