What is wrong with people?

I didn't have a single nice customer on the phone all day today. Not one.

The worst ones are not the ones who are ignorant, stupid, and rude/mean. It's the ones who know just enough to get themselves in trouble, but not quite enough to get out of it.

And they all have one thing in common: They know that it was not in any way their fault, and they are convinced that if they are nasty and mean enough, then everything will work itself out just the way they know it should have been all along.

The ones who whine are nearly as annoying as the ones who think they have to bully me to get help. Worst of all are the ones who think that if they say either furiously, border-line hysterically, or triumphantly, "this is not good customer service!", that phrase will magically, like a spell of ancient power, turn me into a groveling and obliging model of instant obedience to their whims.

"I'm a loyal customer" seems to hold the same magical power.

I know we can't live without our customers. I know we need them, and that I would not have a job without them, and I have absolutely nothing against them. It's just that sometimes I wonder if someone who has spent all of $45 in the two years they have been a "loyal customer" really is worth sitting there and taking that abuse for.