There are actually pretty strong character and narrative driven reasons why Rick and Carl are "treating her like crap", so I don't know what it's got to do with the concept of making anyone more "likeable".

I wasn't really convinced by the prisoner group behaviour after first immediately encountering the group; they just seemed too passive and not near territorial enough, especially after witnessing Rick go the hack in the way he did.
Still, it was a pretty funny moment to see them mob rush zombies and the whole scenario provided some good tension.