Ready for Anything

In life we must be ready for anything. I was sitting mentally preparing to speak before the largest crowd I have ever spoken to. I was wearing a microphone I was not accustomed to and felt a little Janet Jackson-like (for lack of a better visual image) with it fitting over my ear. I worried that the fact I had chosen to eat with it on and inadvertently jammed portions of my sandwich into it would affect the sound quality. I was prayerfully going over the program in my head, checking off the items that preceded my introduction. “I go on after the second drama”, “I go on after the second drama” I kept repeating to myself. So I was relaxed after one drama and then somewhat shocked to hear my name and what sounded very much like a introduction! What happened to the second drama? Yikes! Oh well, I guess I was heading on stage.

Sometimes we think we have life all figured out. We check off the list of what is “supposed to happen” in our life’s plan. Many times things don’t happen in the order we plan and we need to be prepared for what life brings us.

While You're Young

My sister and her husband just left after a wonderful visit. While she was here she gave some fun insights to my daughters that I thought I would pass on....

While You're Young

1. Wear horizontal stripes - they will not be your friend when you're older
2. If you can do a split - keep yourself limber as you get older
3. Try foods you don't like occasionally to see if your tastes change
4. Get involved - Have fun

I'm sure there were others ..... I know there were others.....but my brain is old and I've already forgotten them. Hopefully, my kids haven't.

Pales in comparison

My last post I was anxiously awaiting our cell phone delivery the next day. Wednesday's schedule was cleared to await our next day delivery only to find it was sent "2-day". Sure why not! In the great scheme of things its only a cell phone. This week brought a reminder of the tragedy of September 11th, a tropical storm quickly turned to hurricane Humberto disrupting people's lives. I lost two days waiting for delivery of a cell phone. In comparison, its not that big a deal.

First Blog - Customer Service

So here I am on my very first blog. You would think a mother of four with three kids in high school would have something better to do with her time than start a blog. But hey it’s trendy! I am drawn to the things we can learn from everyday life experiences, love writing about them and have been told “you should have a blog”. Blame those people.

So what is my life experience today? Two words….customer service.

Even as I am typing this, I am on hold with yet another “customer service representative” regarding a cell phone. This is a follow-up call to a previous call made over a week ago. A call I spent over an hour and a half talking with a representative about a problem. I was assured the issue was resolved and brought to a wonderful outcome. An apology and the phone we desired to be provided free – as it should have been. End of story. Happy ending. Just wait 5 to 7 days as promised.

Day 8 – nothing. Called “customer service” to find out when the phone was shipped and when I can expect it. Oh “we have no record”. No notation. Nothing. “We could give it to you for $79.99” ( a far cry from free). So here I am again on the phone. First customer service, then phone orders, then customer loyalty program, now to a supervisor. More hours of my life wasted and withering away while listening to a very bubbly automated person talking endlessly while I’m on hold.

Ahhhh if this were the only company I’m dealing with. Our TV is also broken – call customer service. Two service calls later, hanging around waiting for them to come “sometime in the morning”. Second service call Friday - Oops wrong part, we’ll order it. My phone call on Monday to see if the part is received with the cheery response “we’re ordering that later today”. As if the fact that they didn’t order right away on Friday but were eager to order it “later today” was a good thing. Sigh!

I guess for my first blog this is a little cranky. Then again I’m sitting at home with a broken TV and still on hold!

(imagine an hour and 15 minute time lapse here)

Victory! Persistence and staying calm pays off with the “new” ordered phone to arrive tomorrow. We’ll see.