Sorry about your experience and if I could get ahold of your clients I would let them have an earful about traditions.
We are "anonymous" in and out of meetings. That means that once you walk in you have lost all status and stigma in the community. You are simply one of us. Nothing more. Your clients seem to be part of the virus that is running rampant in the rooms of AA and NA. That virus consists of people that think they're members but never open the book. If they had opened the book they would understand that alcoholism and addiction do not discriminate. Skid Row Bums and First Ladies of The United States are afflicted. Once they walk into a meeting they become just another drunk looking for help amongst his/her own kind.