CK and the Middle Finger

Check out this piece from AdAge: http://adage.com/article?article_id=120337
It covers a huge influx of business to marketing agency Cramer-Krasselt (founded in Milwaukee and built in part by, you guessed it, another alum of the J-School). Many in the industry were astounded earlier this year when one of its leaders very publicly showed a client the door. I couldn't recall a time when I had seen anything like that. I found it oddly electrifying. Strat comm is fun when it's edgy. CK certainly took us to the edge.
The AdAge piece seems to indicate it worked for them, rather than costing them business, as many had suspected. What does this mean? What obligation do agencies have to listen to clients? Is it like the restaurant business, is the "customer always right"? And what about CareerBuilder's reliance on the USA Today ad meter for evidence that the spots weren't successful? Is that any more scientific than the random polls I stick on this blog?