One of the most cut-throat (and smartest) business practices I ever heard was from a restaurateur from the Denver area.  He owned several restaurants and he told that, if he was dining at a restaurant he didn’t own and the server impressed him, he would routinely try to hire that server to come and work for him.  He recognized that good food is only half the battle in keeping customers.  Bad service in any business will drive a customer away from even superior product.  He was also known to fire employees with “pissy” attitudes, even if they technically did their jobs well.  Any manager knows that it doesn’t take much to poison the well of employees with one complainer.

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