In my newest book, "It’s the Customer, Stupid!" (John Wiley & Sons/ January 2011) I offer the premise over and over that people don't know what they don't know. Doctors, for example, think they are the only people in the world whose time is valuable.

I once got so irritated while waiting for my doctor that I got up and walked out after an insufferable delay of some two hours. I promptly sent him a bill for the fee I would charge a client for a two hour speech. Indignant, he not only said he would not pay it but he arrogantly wanted me to pay for missing my appointment.

Why are doctors so superior and egotistical? What makes them think that only their time is valuable? My wife was pregnant with my twin sons in 1978. She not only waited for some three hours to see her doctor, but she had to literally sit on the floor because he was too cheap to have enough seats in his waiting room. She finally got up and walked out. Not only did she cancel her appointment but she immediately searched for a new doctor.

In my book, "It's the Customer, Stupid!" I point out some interesting statistics which would stun some of these same arrogant medical professionals. For instance, in our research we've found that if 20 clients are dissatisfied with your service, 19 won't even bother to tell you and 14 of the 20 will take their business elsewhere.

I occasionally get to speak to medical professionals on the subject of customer service. When I've surveyed medical professionals and asked them why they are late, their most common excuse is that people stand them up and they overbook, much like the airlines. The next most common reason they give for delays were "medical emergencies" that came up causing them to be sidetracked to handle the emergency.

I recently sat for over an hour and one half waiting to be told that I needed to have both my hips replaced. Old age and old football injuries have gotten even with yours truly. Not only is this literally a pain in the-you-know-what, but I was further irritated by the delay of over an hour to be granted this wonderful news.

Frustrated by the wait, I went to the receptionist and advised her that I would be leaving shortly and I wanted my co-pay back, which, by the way, they promptly collected before I could even take a seat on arriving.

"Would you like to reschedule sir?" she inquired. "No, I would like my money back and I'll find a doctor who wants to see me." Miraculously I was suddenly granted my long awaited appointment. When I asked the doctor what the problem was, he advised me that he was about to go on vacation and his staff double booked his schedule.

This is the kind of stuff that makes its way into the books I write on the subject of customer service. Too bad "It's the Customer, Stupid!" has already gone to press. I could write a whole chapter on this kind of nonsense.

I think doctors and others get away with this kind of behavior because we, the customer, allow it. Sometime we need to fire the vendor, the doctor or whoever is indignantly taking advantage of situation.

The story of a Washington state woman named Beryl Challis began simply enough. A sixty-year old woman whose beauty had faded beneath the sags and wrinkles, turned to plastic surgery in hopes of turning back the years.

But her facelift left her tortured by pain, horrified by her new face and infuriated with the man she blamed for the misery. After a year of suffering, she confronted her plastic surgeon in his office and blew his head off with a gun, and then sadly turned the gun on herself.

One could argue that this is the ultimate customer service response. Obviously Belle's problems were bigger than delayed appointments and arrogant doctors, but it does suggest that people have had enough and are no longer going to take it.

No, they don't always result to violence, but many do exactly what my wife did-- they get up and they walk out, never to return.

In a day and time when people have choices and profit margins are thinner than ever, doctors and other professionals would be better served if they treated their customers with some basic common courtesy. But then this is probably falling on deaf ears too.