“What can I do for you?” he says softly, which seems odd since his demeanor is anything but soft at this particular moment.

Almost every word she shouts is bleeped. Les’s eyes are lasers.

“Let’s step outside and talk,” he says in a tone between assurance and a threat.

If you have not seen Hard Core Pawn on TruTV, you are missing an MBA in management and customer service or lack thereof. Or both. They should use this show at Harvard Business School. That said, I doubt any student at Harvard will ever have to deal with an angry pawn customer on 8 Mile Road in Detroit.

There are a few Pawn shows on TV these days, but Pawn Stars on History is more about the merchandise being bought and sold. Hard Core Pawn is about the ruthless front lines of retail in the trenches. It is an education in human behavior.

Les’s management philosophy is a little like Vito Corleone in the Godfather. Try to reason with them. If that does not work, make them an offer they can’t refuse. If that does not work use the F-bomb a few times. If that does not work, bring over the big meat and take it outside. It is pretty simple. And it seems to work. American Jewelry and Loan has a steady stream of customers and their profits grow every year, despite the dysfunctional family working together in a small business, and Les’s angry daughter, and the son who likes to pick fights with customers. Les makes up for it all in kindness, now and then. Do not let the fact that he looks like a mob enforcer fool you. The dude has a heart, sort of. With Les there is always a qualifier at the end of the sentence.

Perhaps it is an indication of the economy that so many people are pawning and loaning and struggling over rancid fur coats or a beat up guitars and haggling over $5 on a VCR that may not work. But at its core, that is what business is, no matter the level. The lessons learned by watching Les’s kids mismanage a customer’s $20 loan are no different than watching Chase or Citibank do the same thing with $3 billion on Wall Street. There is, however, one difference: in this pawnshop, they have a leader who understands people. If Les’s son tells an irate customer to “get the f#@k out of the store,” Les comes over and calms things down and tries to work out a solution – which may also end with Les yelling, “get the f#@k out of my store.” Sometimes, the customer needs a swift kick in the ass and Les does not mind providing it. It makes him real.

In a world of spreadsheets and presentations, projections and trends, in companies filled with drones yawning in endless meetings, in a country where few people make anything anymore, it is educational to see a nasty little pawn shop creating something you would never expect in such a setting: trust between people. Well, at least when it works.

As hard as the transactions are, as cagy as the store employees and customers get, as petty and agitated as the negotiations become, you see something in their faces that is missing in far too many faces of corporate America: trust.

Trust is the last thing you would expect here. But that makes it work. Pawnshops are scummy places filled with the desperate being preyed upon by opportunistic businessmen with slick hair and gold chains, right? Perhaps not.

Les has slick hair and his share of gold chains. But if you watch the show, you begin to see something else in his management style. He likes people, even the mean ones – even the means ones who are his kids. He actually trusts them when sometimes he should not. He trusts customers sometimes when he should not. He cares about his people in a twisted, dangerous way. He is willing to lose a few bucks this time to make a few bucks next time. He goes with the flow and makes up the rules as he goes. And when his kids do the same thing, he yells at them. But one rule is always the same. He seems to enjoy helping people. He seems to love the conversations, the back and forth, the fairness of basic business between two people. He understands profit, absolutely. But he also understands his customer’s lives. Does your bank understand your life? Does the giant retailer down the road? Does your boss understand your life? Does your pawnshop understand your life? Maybe.

Hard Core Pawn should be a class in business schools, not because the show is showing how to do business, but because they are showing how people interact with each other in business. It is about the people not the stuff being pawned. If a woman comes in with a fake diamond and wants $3,000 for it, is it really any different when an investment corporation comes in with a worthless auction rate security? They are exactly the same thing. One person is wearing spandex and a puffy coat, the other is wearing Brooks Brothers and a silk tie. Every person who gets an MBA should be required to watch an entire season and write 20 blog posts about what they learned.

I do not run a business school, and I do not have an MBA, and I have only been a guest of Harvard’s athletic department, and I have only touched the fake John Harvard statue on the Cambridge campus – even though I know students pee on it at night – and last time I checked, neither Harvard nor any other business school ever asked for my advice. But they should be taking it.

This Semester – Hard Core Pawn 101 For 1st Year Students. Tuition fee: $2,000, or maybe $1,500. Okay, will you go for $1,250? Your professor: the honorable and sometimes dishonorable Les Gold. That’s Dr. Gold for you Ivy Leaguers. Textbook: none. You will need a TV and cable however. First paper is due after tonight’s show. See you in class.