I know this is how most people feel, and I do try to pretend to be a sane, rational person who doesn't get angry when dealing with customers, and I think that h

I know this is how most people feel, and I do try to pretend to be a sane, rational person who doesn't get angry when dealing with customers, and I think that helps me a lot. Flying off the handle at a customer almost never makes business sense. But I don't think it's such a good overall heuristic for picking service providers. Personally, I'd rather deal with an employee who was good technically and bad socially than deal with someone who is the other way around. (I mean, if I could get both at a price I could afford, that'd be perfect. but that's not usually how my world works.) If the food is good and the service is fast, sure, it'd be nice if the waiter was also friendly, but if I had to sacrifice something; price, speed of service, quality of food, or politeness of service, I'm going to pick the rude fast waiter and the good cook every time.