I wish we would have had some of these things at my last job.

Are you a bad customer?

According to this article, some companies are identifying problem customers and shunting them to the back of the customer service phone queue.
"Fidelity Investments took this approach several years ago to customers who were tying up their phone representatives, including one client who called thousands of times a year. Fidelity then focused on teaching these folks how to use the company’s Web site and automated phone systems."

Uh, can anybody think of a couple of damaged individuals who earned this treatment? Not sure how well it would have worked for us, but it's nice to dream.

Some companies are disallowing returns from customers who abuse their policies. Others track people who eat up staff time with crank complaints and other crap and remove them from mailing lists for sales and promotions.

. (Side note on my shopping habits: I return a lot of stuff, mostly to Target; basically I like to have the power to change my mind about a purchase. But I buy a lot more than I return, I always have a reciept, and I'm always polite. So they can't get too mad at me.)
I think it's a good idea for companies to start in this direction. It could always go wrong, invading privacy or causing embarassment, but I think this is one of those things where the market will correct itself if they overdo it. It's an interesting thing, when companies don't just say, let's get as many customers as we can, or let's target this certain segment, but let's figure out which of these customers are actually costing us money, or bring in so little, they just aren't worth it. Of course, if you are a total asshole but a big spender, you are still welcome. That part makes me sad. But that is what karma is for, yeah?

The article also gives tips to help consumers avoid the shitlists of their favorite companies.
My two favorites:
Don't be a jerk.
If you don’t like the return policy, shop somewhere else.