Business Bitch-Slapping

There is an unacknowledged hierarchy in the business-to-business world. You are the bitch of your customer, who are in turn, bitches of their customers....and so on. Consumers rarely see this, because they can bitch-slap a business anytime they want.

Interesting things happen when B2B transactions are done between businesses that are both customers and vendors to each other. Massive power struggles are waged to see who will accept the "bitch" status, and who will be master. Case in point:

My business gives freight to other trucklines for delivery. Some of these also give freight to me for delivery. We are both customers and vendors to each other. When the crap hits the fan...who budges? I had one of these call me yesterday and jump my shit about when our trucks were arriving to pickup their freight. How do I respond? If I accept their criticism, that I will allow this vendor/customer to dictate how I operate my business...I'm their bitch. If I put up any kind of fight, I stand to lose the revenue from the customer side of our relationship. But come on; I give them a lot of revenue too. Does this not at least elevate me from bitch status to tension-filled relationship significant other? Should I accept everything they have to say, apologize profusely...then hang up and redial to chew their ass about everything they do that bothers me? It is clinically insane.

I've had enough of being everyone's bitch. I put up a fight...and a damn mean one at that, and I lost their business. Interestingly, they said I was welcome to continue to drop my freight off for them to deliver. Apparently, they do not realize this immediately places them in bitch status with me without the counterweight of their revenue to me. On the other hand, continuing to provide them with revenue when they so coldly took theirs from me...makes me dependent on them for service without the counterweight of my service TO THEM. So in a sense..I'm still their bitch...because all they have to do if I voice displeasure with the level of service is say "take your freight elsewhere". Then I'm screwed because there isn't any "elsewhere" to go...and they know it.

This is why I hate business. It is also why some love it so much. The games. The power struggles. Some people love the contest and the ego trips so much they become great businessmen. Ever wonder why Donald Trump comes across as so arrogant? It is because he can. He is the top of the food chain; the place every business residing directly under the sphincter of another wants to be. Ken Lay, Skillings, et al let that power go to their heads, and directed their treachery and greed in the wrong direction...at their company & employees. Me? I've always said I am too nice of a person to be in business. Maybe I can get my own "Apprentice" style show where everyone completes tasks designed to make them nicer business people. But if I told them "you're fired", they would probably just argue with me anyway.