In this second part of the series, Dan Wooldridge witnesses the potential for damage if we ignore our influence on anyone who might be watching us.

Dan Wooldridge recalls a lesson learned from a front-desk manager: we never know who is watching us and who is being influenced by our behavior.

I travel way too much. My kids tease me that the only people that send me personalized Christmas cards are hotel staff. So over the years I’ve developed a pretty keen sense of the good, the bad, and the ugly of the travel, hospitality, and restaurant businesses.

Pete Blackshaw — executive vice president of Nielsen Online Digital Strategic Services and author of Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000 — points to low-hanging fruit in an AdAge piece called Marketers Love Conversation Unless the Consumer Starts It (11 August, 2008): If the consumer voice is so important these days, why are brand feedback, or "contact us," forms so get-out-of-my-face unfriendly?

In the face of lean times, Micheal Holmes writes about that most basic of business practices — expressing heartfelt gratitude clearly and directly to our customers.

Jim Hancock looks at upgrading his homeowners insurance and ends up frowning.

Everyone claims to believe in customer service. But little hints are everywhere that there is a big disconnect between what businesses say and what they really believe and do.