The customer’s always right, right? Small businesses, freelance service providers and contracted professionals have enough interactions with clients to know that it’s a lot more complicated than that.

The customer service relationship is probably the most unequal one in commerce and there’s nothing really wrong with that. Beyond extreme unpleasant cases (in which it doesn’t matter how good or bad the service actually was), clients understand their position of power but will mostly be appreciative for good and attentive service.

One of the important elements of excellent service is the actual communication with the client. Often, what you say matters less than how you say it. This can go both ways – your communication style can influence the interaction both for better and for worse.

To help you prevent troublesome interactions, here is a list of 10 things you certainly DO NOT want to say to your clients.