In any business, it’s bad business to keep your customers or clients waiting. Regardless of the reason for the delay, being late can be a poor reflection on your integrity and character.

In some situations it is virtually impossible to reschedule, especially when the client meeting is during a round of golf. Tee times are set in stone, and no one waits for tardy stragglers and dawdlers.

Encino, one of my closest friends, is a tax accountant and securities broker who mixes an occasional game of golf with business. Encino is perfect for "customer golf" because he’s just good enough to keep the ball in play, and just bad enough so his clients always win.

As I like to tease him, his golf score is the same as the temperature on my birthday in July: 105.

Encino is very proud of his business, having built it from scratch, and recently used his entrepreneur experience to help a client set up her business. Michelle wanted to be an independent neurologist.

Encino already had been working with Michelle and her husband, Andre, on various investment programs when he offered to help her jump out on her own.

In short time, Michelle’s business was a resounding success. Because of Encino’s help, both their investment portfolios and her new business venture were doing extremely well.

In appreciation, Andre invited Encino to the exclusive Gallery Golf Course at Dove Mountain in Marana for an afternoon of golf.

Encino was exceedingly excited. He had never played The Gallery. When the big day arrived, however, he got so wrapped up in his work with other clients he lost track of time. He should have left 30 minutes ago.

He raced to his car and headed for the course, a good 20-minute drive from his office. But along the way, Encino realized he had forgotten his golf shoes. There was not enough time to turn around and go back, nor was there a store along the way where he could stop and pick up a new pair.

In a quandary, he phoned Andre who was already warming up on the driving range. As Encino explained his dilemma, his client just laughed and told him to relax.

"Just go to the Pro Shop. Pick out any pair you want and charge it to my account. And hurry up! We’re going to miss our tee time! Goodbye."

That was the last option Encino wanted to hear.

He didn’t want to buy shoes at the Gallery because he knew they would be very expensive. In the back of his mind, he was thinking that a decent pair of golf spikes cost only $75 or so at a sporting goods store.

Flustered, Encino rushed into the Pro Shop and started sizing up the shoe selection. His heart - and wallet - fluttered. Prices started at about $250 and ran to $500. His integrity would not allow him to buy a pricey pair of fancy footwear on his client’s account.

Stressed for time, Encino bought "cheap" $300 shoes on his own credit card.

Wearing his new spikes, he high-stepped from the Pro Shop to the starter where Andre was waiting in a cart. There was no time to warm up, it was tee time.

After a cordial welcome, his client slowly looked him over from head to toe. A wry smile broke out across his face when his eyes fixated on Encino’s shiny new foot gear.

"It figures, you bought the most expensive pair in the shop!" Andre laughed.

Encino told him no, that he had paid with his own credit card.

"But I insisted on paying! Who’s the customer here?" Andre replied.

Joking, the two bantered back and forth for a few minutes. They reached a stalemate, laughed it off, and moved on to enjoy a good day of golf.

About a week later, Encino received an envelope from his client. Inside was a note that read: "Thank you. In appreciation for all that you have done for me, my wife and her business, please accept this check. You’re worth more to us than a $300 pair of shoes."

This is a true story, drawn from Roger Yohem’s 25-year career in corporate communications with the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association, Tucson Electric Power and Southwest Gas. The names are changed to protect the guilty. Yohem’s column looks at the lighter side of "challenges" in the business world and appears the first and third week of each month in Inside Tucson Business. Contact Yohem at news@azbiz.com.