Recently had a discussion with my brother about people who are rude or downright mean to customer service agents in order to obtain discounts or freebies. I believe the mistake they're making is not looking at the big picture. You see they think they're saving money by bitching up a storm and receiving a free hash brown or 10% off their next purchase, but they don't realize that they're actually losing quite a bit more.
They're not seeing the path of destruction left in the wake of their outburst of anger, a path of destruction which they in turn must pay for one way or another. When someone has a burst of anger directed at them, on the job or not, it makes them a little angry, a little irritable, might even ruin their day. Customer service agents take the brunt of angry tirades quite a bit and to ease the pain many of them turn to things such as drugs and alcohol. As we all know these drug addictions can lead to even more problems such as theft and even murder or rape.
In order to combat these additional problems a police force must be hired, a police force that is paid for with tax dollars. So the person who thinks they're saving by getting a free hash brown is actually losing because even though they saved a buck fifty on some food they're spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars more per year in taxes to pay for the police force that needs to combat the problems that are caused by the person going on an angry rant thinking it saves them money.
The same can be said for the corporation with a "customer is always right" policy. The corporation thinks they're making more money by ensuring that even the angriest customer is served, but by forcing their service agents into hurtful situations they are contributing to the issues that cause their employees to turn to crime which in turn requires a large police force that the company must pay for in the form of taxes.