An optimization of the M/M/1 queue with impatient customers is studied. The impatient customer does not enter the system if his or her virtual waiting time exceeds the threshold K ＞ 0. After assigning three costs to the system, a cost proportional to the virtual waiting time, a penalty to each impatient customer, and also a penalty to each unit of the idle period of the server, we show that there exists a threshold K which minimizes the long-run average cost per unit time.