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Some Things you Didn't know.....and some things you did

Took this idea from a friend and fellow blogger.  I love it, so I thought I'd do it myself!

• my favorite color is purple, second favorite is pink
• my least favorite color is orange
• I started working at age 14 in my family's market
• I'm a giver
• sometimes I give too much and people take advantage of me
• I'm emotional and over-sensitive
• I cry over pretty much everything
• I love making new friends
• my favorite season is Fall
• my second favorite season is Winter
• I despise Summer
• I would rather be in the mountains than at the beach
• I always wanted a horse
• I never got a horse
• I still want one
• my dream is to live in Montana on a horse ranch, with mountains in my back yard
• I need to learn to keep my mouth shut sometimes
• I over-think
• I am addicted to Facebook games
• I miss my family in Michigan
• I love shopping
• my dream job is interior designer or stylist
• my favorite sports team is the Detroit Red Wings
• my favorite hockey player is Chris Chelios
• I have several autographed items of his
• since he has retired, my new favorite is Henrik Zetterberg
• I have a black lab named Cole
• my kids make me proud everyday
• my kids make me smile everyday
• I have a step-daughter
• she hates me
• I don't hate anyone
• I have been at my job for almost 15 years
• I love camping
• I have met and hugged Carter Oosterhouse from Trading Spaces and HGTV
• One of my best friends was killed when I was 16, he was 15
• I think about him a lot
• I despise liars
• I have a fear of water
• therefore I cannot swim
• I have never been to Las Vegas
• I am a quiet person, but get loud at hockey games and concerts
• I do not like driving
• but I love my car
• I have a large collection of shoes and handbags

I'm sure there will be more, but this is enough for now!!!!

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

   Don't sweat the small stuff.  Good advice, right?  I try my best to live by this advice.  I used to sweat the small stuff.  Not so much anymore.  I wish more people would take this advice.  Freaking out over the smallest things only make you look childish and foolish.  There are bigger and better things to worry about than what time you're going to eat lunch, or what someone else is doing wrong, or right.  There are just some things that really aren't worth getting that excited over.  Think about this the next time you start to flip out because of something small.  It's just not worth getting worked up over.  Don't sweat the small stuff!

Angels Among Us

I met an angel this past weekend.  Actually, I met two angels this past weekend.  They were husband and wife.  The wife and I work for the same company.  I have seen her at work, probably walked passed her hundreds of times, without ever saying hello.  We were seated next to each other at a wedding reception this past weekend.  I didn't recognize her at first, but she recognized me, and initiated a conversation.  With her was her husband, who was holding a small boy, and next to her was an infant stroller, which held a beautiful baby girl.  Her husband spoke up, and told my husband and I that these two little ones were their grandchildren.  The wife went on to tell us that the children's parents could not take care of them, so they were raising them.  They were twins, just under 2 years old.  The little boy was a typical toddler boy.  Squirming in his Pop Pop's arms to get down and run around, just itching to touch the pretty wedding cake he had his big beautiful brown eyes on.  Eventually, he was let down to run around and dance, with two pretty little girls who had taken a liking to him.  The little girl, however, was a completely different story.  The wife proceeded to tell us her story.  Looking at the little girl, you saw nothing out of sorts.  She was beautiful, the spitting image of her brother, with those same beautiful, big brown eyes.  But the sad story is, she is autistic, with something called Angelman's Syndrome.  This little girl will never walk, speak, eat on her own, dress herself, get married, or have children of her own.  The doctor's think she may be blind, or partially blind.  They think she can hear.  She has no control of her arm movements.  She constantly smiles and seemed to be a happy baby, but that's how the syndrome works. She looks like a perfect angel, hence the name, Angelman's syndrome.  So, I actually met three angels this past weekend.  During the Father/Daughter dance, while the song "Butterfly Kisses" was playing, the wife had tears in her eyes.  This of course, made me cry, because, in the words of Dolly Parton in Steele Magnolias, "No one cries alone in my presence".  The wife dried her eyes and said to me, "It times like this that break my heart, knowing that this little girl will never have these moments.  She will never dance at her wedding.  She will never have a wedding."  It broke my heart too.  There is a special place in heaven for people like her and her husband, for they are truly angels among us.  God bless you both, and your beautiful grandchildren.

Good customer service is hard to find

   In my line of work, customer service is first and foremost the most important aspect of the job.  Without great customer service, our business just wouldn't thrive.  This is true.  When someone is treated like crap, they tell their friends, and they tell their friends, and so on, and so on.  After being treated in such a way, we tend to stop frequenting the places that treated us like crap, and find friendlier places to go.  But sometimes, you have no choice but to keep going there, due to certain circumstances.  Take, for example, my experience from yesterday.   I have been going to the same hair salon for years.  I love my hairdresser!  She always does a great job, and, even though she is off on Mondays, she comes in just for me, once every six weeks to color and cut my hair.  Impressive, right??!!  So, yesterday I had an appointment at 10 am.  My appointments are always at 10 am, on a Monday.....always.  I get there at 10 am, and the lady ( I use the term loosely) at the front desk asked me who I was there for.  I said my hair dresser's name, and she looked it up and said my appointment wasn't until 12 pm.  Now, my appointment card said 10 am, and that's what I was sticking with.  The lady? continued to argue with me and just had to let me know, at least 3 times, very rudely, that my hairdresser doesn't even work on Mondays.  So I argued back, that she does come in for me on Mondays.  She continued to be extremely rude, and told me that my hairdresser has been on vacation for 3 weeks, like that had anything to do with anything.  In the end, she just shrugged her shoulders, and said to come back at noon, and hopefully my hairdresser would be there.  Thankfully, she was, and she was very apologetic for what had happened.  My appointment had been changed, and the friendly? front desk people had neglected to call me to let me know.  So, in normal circumstances, I would just quit going there, but because I love my hairdresser, I will not.  I did, however, put in a complaint, which apparently was not the first one against this lady.  Hopefully, something will be done, but I'm doubtful.
   My second bad CS experience that I would like to rant about happened late last week.  I had called my eye dr office to order contacts.  The rep (Jamie) I talked to took my order and told me my contacts should be in in 2 - 3 days.  When I get home from work, there is a voice mail on my phone from the lovely rep (Jamie) who had taken my order earlier that day, saying that my prescription was about to run out and that I need to call her.  I called her back the next day, and this is how the conversation went:

Me:  Hi, this is Jennifer H. returning your phone call.
Silence
Me:  You had called me and left a message yesterday.
Jamie:  And did you listen to it? (rude tone in voice)
Me:  Ummmmmm, yes.
Jamie:  So, what are you going to do?  (again, rude tone)
Me:  What do you SUGGEST I do?  (I give the rude tone right back to her)
Jamie:  I SUGGEST you come in for an eye exam since your prescription runs out on the 29th.

   Really?!?!?!  This is how you talk to your customers??  I ended up making the eye appointment because I love my eye doctor, and this company pretty much has a monopoly in this area.  I really don't have much of a choice.

   Like I said, good customer service is hard to find.  If you're in this line of work, remember, your job really depends on you to do your best, and keep the customers coming back for more.