practices are, in general, deplorable. The ones who operate on the belief that "misfortune is the mother of opportunity" are odious.
In my book, executives who extract money from hapless customers by exploiting their misfortune deserve nothing but scorn.
And I don't have contempt just for greedy funeral parlor owners or retailers who run check-cashing stores in disadvantaged neighborhoods. I have it for the leaders of many purported "world-class" companies, Fortune 1000 firms that rountinely reap windfall profits by imposing customer "penalties."
As a consumer, you know who they are. If not, you know the corporations they run. Most of the major airlines, banks, health insurance companies, credit card companies and phone companies.
Of course, any business leader who's halfway smart would weigh the short-term gains won by penalizing loyal customers against the pain inflicted on them and the long-term hatred that inevitably results.
But these executives aren't smart. They're merely treacherous.
Dante's Ninth Circle of Hell (the most vicious of all) was the final repository for the treacherous: men and women who, in Dante's eyes, had betrayed their communities. Condemned to the Ninth Circle, the treacherous don't "burn in Hell," contrary to the popular expression, but are encased in ice for all eternity.
Pack your Gucci parkas, ladies and gentlemen.
