Thanks for your business. Now don’t come back

The story of a Cleveland couple who had sailed on numerous Royal Caribbean cruises, but now has been banned from the line for, presumably, complaining too much, has taken on gigantic proportions. MSNBC picked up the story, and online comments have fanned the flames, making it a p.r. nightmare for Royal Caribbean.

I’m a veteran of 14 cruise sailings, so I know that things go wrong. Weather brings itinerary changes that cause you to miss your favorite port. Spring-breakers in the next cabin party on the balcony and keep you awake all night. A waiter grabs a fork off of an adjacent table and presents it to you as a clean one. All of those things have happened to me on cruise ships -- it’s part of sailing the high seas.

The Cleveland sailors’ plight made me wonder what it would take to get banned from a garden center. Have you ever asked a customer to please not return? Short of committing a crime such as shoplifting, what would a customer have to do to be blacklisted from your store?

Sandi McDonald, at Hillermann Nursery & Florist in Washington, Mo., mentioned once that an unexpected benefit of an improved electronic Garden Reward program she implemented is that it made her aware of one customer who made too many returns and thus had become a candidate to be terminated.

Give credit to Royal Caribbean: at least they allowed the kvetching passengers to return to port before banning them. They could have made them walk the plank.

-- Kevin