Not an hour ago I was at Budget in Naples, and I had such an extraordinary conversation that I had to share it right away.

I had to rent a car for a short trip while my car is in the garage. I picked it up at the Budget office, and the service was fine – pleasant, the manager/franchise owner was efficient yet chatty, the office itself was pretty attractive. So I personally had no complaints.

…But I couldn’t let this sign go without comment. Right there blocking the hallway to the offices in the rear was a big, beautiful sign which read (and I paraphrase), “No public rest rooms, for insurance purposes.”

Now, as my readers know, I rarely bring bad customer service to the attention of the management, because I figure that if they’re going to insult me, I’m not going to help them. Another reason I hold this policy, though, is that people tend to consider advice as valuable as its price, and free advice doesn’t cost them anything.

I couldn’t help myself this time, though, and I figured that the manager was pleasant enough that I’d do him a favor, my policy be damned.

I started by pointing to his sign and telling him that he should get a new insurance company. I pointed out that I label lack of a restroom for your customers as one-star customer disservice. It’s a slap in the face; it’s worse than a clerk being surly and not making eye contact. Imagine: “I’ll happily take your money, but if you want to go to the bathroom here, you can go screw!” That’s what this policy says.

Well, it turns out that he’s happy about the “No public restroom” limitation. He “Hates!” people poking around in his office, which is between the front of the house and the rest rooms.

I asked if he could lock his office door. He didn’t seem to want to. I got a number of excuses, but, as my swim coach once said, “Excuses are like feet. Everybody has a couple, and they all stink.” I’d add further that one excuse might be construed as a reason, and possibly valid. When you keep offering one excuse after another, it becomes clear that you’re not disclosing the true reason. His actual reason for not offering his customers access was, as he said, because he “Hates” it.

(Note: one excuse he gave for the sign was that thieves can have access to the keys if you let people wander around. Uh…. So lock the key up? Put them behind the service desk? Just an idea.)

Another thing this guy “Hates” – and even more passionately, it seems – is going home a minute after 5:30. He said his first year, he lost “a lot” of regular customers because, if someone entered the store after 5:00, he would be “Rude to them. Really nasty!” He repeated that a few times, so I believe him. I have to wonder how many customers he considers “a lot.” It sounds pretty serious to me.

He solved his problem by hiring someone to close the shop for him. He can leave at 5:00 or so, and this employee can handle customers who show up at 5:32 or what have you.

Well, at least he solved his problem. He’s happier, and so are his customers. And to be fair, your work shouldn’t make you miserable. Too few people would agree with me on that, but it’s essential.

I’d like you to compare this encounter with my write-up of Zoots drycleaners, which we’ll be publishing later this year in Make Your Company a H.I.T. To let the cat out of the bag, Zoots, based in the Boston area, is one of the nine companies we’ll be awarding the Coiné Award in a couple of weeks. They don’t seem to mind staying late to help their customers….