I may not be a home accessories retailer like the rest of you, but when it comes to the hassle and headaches of running a business, I feel your pain.

In my outside life, I’m an aerobics instructor. Like most of you who have opened your own stores out of a deep-seated love of decorating and home fashions, I got into teaching aerobics because I loved taking it so much as a student, I figured I would love it even more as an instructor.

But just because it’s fun doesn’t mean I don’t want to make money.

Which brings me to my point. The other day, a new student came to class – a perfect opportunity to rope in a new customer. The student said she didn’t have any money with her to pay, and my assistant, who is responsible for signing up new customers, told the student she could take class anyway and pay next time.

I was frustrated the customer walked away for free, but I decided not to make an issue of it, because I didn’t want to put my assistant in a bad position and, after all, the customer is always right… right?

Fast forward to the next class. Same customer returns, and again says she has no money to pay and promises to pay next time. My assistant again tells her it’s fine, to pay when she can.

This is when I started freaking out. I ran after the customer who was heading toward the parking lot, and I tell her that it’s really not OK to not pay for two classes in a row. The customer apologizes and says she’ll go out to her car to get her credit card.

As she leaves, I tell my assistant that we can’t let customers come and not pay, at which point, my assistant says she doesn’t deserve to be treated this way and might as well just quit.

I’m sure those of you who are home accessories retailers can all relate to this story, and have long struggled with pushy customers and employees who won’t stand up to them. It’s a tricky tightrope to walk — when do you bend the rules in the name of over-the-top customer service, and when do you stick to them? How do you communicate to your employees when they’ve done something wrong in a way that’s constructive and not demeaning?

In my opinion, customers should never push you around. There are set prices, set hours, set policies, and those policies should not be bent for any reason. Those policies give you integrity, reliability and consistency, and to break them for one customer will spell trouble for you not only with other customers, but in your own staff knowing when it is and is not OK to bend the rules.

And I also believe that you shouldn’t let employees push you around, either. If an employee complains about a policy or a does not stand up to your expectations, that employee should not work for you. There is no point keeping a bad employee because you’re afraid that you won’t find a better one. Trust me, you’ll always find someone else, and if you stick to your vision and your standards, you’ll find employees who see things your way.

So what did I do with my aerobics assistant? For the moment, nothing. The new customer did pay for class, and as of today, my assistant is still my assistant. But if it happens again, I’ll know that which side of the tight rope I will be on.