There's nothing wrong with having contempt for your customers—maybe your customers really are stupid. But if you're the CEO of a prominent company in the midst of popular backlash, hoping to IPO someday, don't make your contempt obvious on Twitter.

After taking a break from blowing kisses at a framed portrait of Ayn Rand, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick tweeted out the above snide joke regarding airline pricing. Never mind that someone else's price gouging is a very weak excuse for Uber to do it—and never mind that the way airplane seats are priced is hugely complicated, to the point of not being comparable. Never mind it all! Travis continued with a mock paraphrase of the very real complaints many of his customers have: "OMG so f'ing evil," etc. To be clear, he's responding to someone who's keen on surge pricing—but mocking your customers to a supporter isn't much better than mocking them directly.

Even if you think Uber is justified in blasting prices when it thinks it can get away with it, trivializing customer complaints is never good business, and the invisible hand won't be there to pick you up when potential Uber riders all think the outfit is run by a bunch of pricks. If the company is in the right, explain that—don't mock frustration.

Travis, a little hard-earned advice from Sean Parker: know when to shut up.