A Challenge

Something happened the other day that made me think a little bit. I don't know about you guys, but if I'm in a position where I receive bad customer service, I am the first person to fill out a comment card or write an email to complain. At the VERY least, I usually tell others (or the blog) about the experience. But what about the opposite circumstance--do I do anything when I receive exceptionally great customer service?

I think I mentioned that Justin decided to be on-call for drain cleaning over the holiday weekend. He's done so before and has literally never gotten a call. But, since J already gets paid more for drain cleaning than other plumbing work, and it was over the holidays, it was a great opportunity for some overtime. Anyway, he got a call right as we were getting ready to leave for our big fancy, much awaited Christmas Eve dinner, and I have to admit that I was pretty bummed. Not at him, but the situation just sucked, and I was sad that he would miss a portion of the dinner. He ended up arriving part-way through the main course. Again, a bummer, but at least he made it.

Earlier this week, the elderly couple that he did the call for dropped off a letter at the shop for Justin's bosses. They said that they just wanted to thank J and the company for the great customer service--that they appreciated Justin's willingness to come out even though it was a holiday, and appreciated his positive attitude once he arrived, even though they knew it was taking him away from a special dinner with his family (they offered him dinner while he was there, but he declined and explained that he was meeting us at the restaurant). At some point, J must have mentioned the fact that I'm hugely pregnant, because they also added that he was not only an asset to the company, but would be a great dad as well.

Seriously...how kind and thoughtful was that follow-up letter? I am so happy for J that he received feedback like that, because he IS such a hard worker, and DOES try his best to always have a positive attitude with customers, even if he's not personally having a great day.

Anyway, that got me thinking...when was the last time that I went out of my way to let a manager know when someone was exceptionally helpful, or went out of their way for me? Why don't I extend the same effort when someone does exceedingly well as I do when someone does exceedingly poorly?

So here's my challenge to you all--in the next month, if you receive customer service that goes above and beyond, take the time to fill out a comment card or send the manager an email. Just let them (not just the employee, but their boss) know! I guarantee that the positive feedback will make both the manager and the employee's day :)

April Goals Revisited

1. Continue taking the 2 pre-natal vitamins every morning, no matter what. Done, and done!

2. Work out 13 days during the month of April. I was actually WAY over my number. I know this, because it was more unusual for me NOT to work out than to work out this month. However, I don't know the exact number of days, because I had been keeping a list on the fridge of what day I was on, what activity I had done, and how many days I had left. Justin thought it would be REALLY funny to write- "One hour cardio--SEXUAL ACTIVITY!" on the sheet right before his parents and grandparents came over. It promptly was taken off the fridge and deposited in the trash.

3. Take a hike (Table Rock or Other). This didn't happen--not for lack of trying. Any day that I had a hike planned, it poured down rain. Or, I had better things to do.

4. Conquer the Garage Laundry Pile. I came close, but it isn't entirely gone. I'm not sure that we'll ever be 100% caught up on laundry though. And I've been a little bitter about doing laundry lately, because y'all aw how well I get along with my rolling garment rack!

April Goals

1. Continue taking the 2 pre-natal vitamins every morning, no matter what.

2. Work out 13 days during the month of April.

3. Take a hike (Table Rock or Other).

4. Conquer the Garage Laundry Pile.


What do you all plan to accomplish this month?

Well.

-So, Anne Marie didn't like her pictures. I'm sad. And now pretty self-conscious. I know it wasn't my greatest photographic work ever, but I felt like there were at least a couple of cute shots that could have worked for grad announcements. Especially considering I was doing it for free. I don't know...

-As far as March Goals go, I accomplished them all except for the gym 3 times a week. I need to change that up next month to a total number of days in a month. This past month, I had a migraine all of one week and didn't go to the gym. Then the next week, I had a hard time convincing myself to go because I already hadn't met my March goals. I need to go pick up more vitamins tonight to continue that trend for next month. An April Goals post will be coming soon!

-Going back to work after a 4-day weekend is hard. I'm ready for another 4-day weekend.

Picture Fest & March Goals

There was a great sunset last night visible from our backyard.

I can't believe my little plants have grown so much since Saturday! I have these labeled as Morning Glories, but I am thinking they might actually be watermelons. We'll see.

Sweet, funny, rambunctious Bones Cat. She's in a bit of a hyper phase, and is really liking to climb the clothes in my closet, so my new best friend is now a spray bottle.

And now...for my March Goals:

1. Take a prenatal vitamin every single day. (No, I'm not pregnant, no we're not trying at the moment. My obgyn recommends taking prenatals as far in advance as absolutely possible, and I previously didn't take ANY vitamin at all).

2. Go to the gym or do equivalent exercise at least three times a week.

3. Do at least one photo shoot with the fancy-schmancy camera

4. Clean out my spare bedroom and get it at least somewhat organized and usable!