When I ran a commercial company I insisted that all complaints, however minor, came over my desk. I phoned customers personally and addressed their concerns, thanking them for helping us to be better suppliers. It worked like magic. Over a period of time complaints dropped to about one every two months.

In America company executives hide anonymously behind customer service staff. You have to be sneaky and visit the “investor” section of their websites to even find the names of the top bosses. No phone numbers, no email.

Today I wanted to lodge a complaint about the management of a gym, owned by a large corporation. It’s a total waste of time complaining to underlings. I asked the customer service lady the name and extension number of the general manager. She didn’t know it. I asked her for his name. She didn’t know it. I said, “So you don’t know who you work for?” She giggled.

This is outrageous on several levels. All chief executives should have their fingers on the pulse of their customers. But do they care? Is the annual bonus all they think about?

A good and wise Epicurean looks after his customers so that his customers look after him. He gets back to them. He expresses concern. He gets errors corrected. Customers represent his bread and his butter and his future income. American executives have forgotten this. The result will be witnessed in the coming years. During my time at business school the issue of customer service never came up. Time it did.