HSCC continues! Yes, you thought it was safe to return to the blog, but you were WRONG! My Christmas won't officially end until Sunday, Jan. 3, so endure -- I mean -- ENJOY a few more days of that Yuletide cheer! Or else ...
Saturday my roomie and I drove up to Shawnee to meet my family at the Cracker Barrel there. We talked, ate (and yes, I stayed low carb), took pictures, and generally had a good time. Afterwards, my brother's family and my roomie and I went the Shawnee Mall and walked around for a couple of hours. First mall I've been to in several years. I tried to buy some sugar-free jelly beans in the candy store in the mall, but they didn't have them. Other than purchasing a present for one of my roomie's grandson, I didn't buy anything. Oops, I take that back. I did buy myself a sweater on sale at JCPenney's.
The drive back home was much better than the drive up. Our area received the snow and ice you saw in the news -- my town got 6-7 inches of the nasty stuff -- and the roads were slick. But by the time we started home, the roads were much better with only a couple of miles that were still covered by ice.
Sunday I cleaned house, put away Christmas gifts, did laundry, washed dishes, and generally was as productive as I could be between long periods of napping like a bear. I'm going miss all the wonderful Christmas concerts that had been showing on TV lately. I enjoyed them.
Speaking of things I miss, my friend's blog are mostly silent these days. Still, Michelle has been posting updates so that's good. Frenzied Feline hasn't updated since November, but I do like the template she's using. Nice, isn't it? I used to be able to nag FF into blogging, but my nagging powers have diminished and she ignores me now. Jean has moved her blog to a new site -- update your links accordingly -- but it's still active. Jean is a fellow writer, and I like hearing about her struggles and successes with her novels. Erudite Redneck continues to stir the political and life pot over on his blog. I'm grateful he's still out there swinging. Although she doesn't have a link to my blog, I've been reading EJ's blog lately. EJ has three books out on Lulu.com that I intend to buy at my next paycheck. You can buy them here. Adam has been posting but has taken a break again. Sigh. Really, my friends need to post something interesting for me to read EACH AND EVERY DAY!
What else? I'm ready for summer. So very ready for warmth and sunshine and glorious long days. Love Christmas and Thanksgiving; they're grand and help make winter bearable. My heart, however, belongs to summer.
And now, I'm going to share a few Customer Service Tips that will doubtlessly help you during these holiday shopping days if you work retail or in any other way interact with the public.
From The Anti-Customer Service Training Manual
Customer Service Tip #13: Not only is the customer not always right, sometimes they are batweasel crazy. When this happens, take a deep breath and remember they're not worth you going to prison.
Customer Service Tip #56: It's not your customer's fault he/she is loathsome. That's what happens when first cousins marry. Be kind.
Customer Service Tip #87: I don't care what Willy in Receiving says; drinking when you're busy on your job is a bad thing. For one thing, you might get fired ... Wait, let me think about this some more.
Customer Service Tip #134: In most social circles, it's considered impolite to leap the service counter and snatch your customer baldheaded. Remember this, and you'll be welcome everywhere.
Customer Service Tip #159: If the customer has money and you'll do anything to get it, this means conventional wisdom is wrong: Customer service IS the oldest profession in the world.
Customer Service Tip #176: Bad breath and body odor will only drive away the most sensitive customers. It's not worth the risk of tooth decay and disease. So go ahead and brush your teeth and shower once in a while. Deodorant is, of course, optional.
Customer Service Tip #211: Bitterness is never attractive. Learn to fake sincerity, and your customers will love you until you turn on them like a mad badger and gnaw their legs off.
Customer Service Tip #236: Never tell a customer you're going to have him/her hunted down and killed in the street like a dog. It will upset them. No, let it be a total surprise when it happens.
Copyright 2009 by Stephen B. Bagley. Excerpted from The Anti-Customer Service Training Manual.
And now I think we'll close. I'll be talking with you tomorrow. Same blog channel, same blog time. Or something like that.
Order Murder by the Acre in softcover from Amazon.com.
Order Murder by the Acre in softcover from Barnes & Noble.com
Order Murder by the Acre in softcover from Lulu.com.
Order Murder by the Acre in hardcover only at from Lulu.com.
Order MBTA & MBDD items and more at Oakleaf
6 comments:
If it's any consolation, I've learned my lesson about taking college classes during the fall semester. If that's all I had to do with my time, it'd be fine, but being a wife and mom at the same time makes it really hard. So, I probably won't let it go dark for so long again. That make you feel better?? :)
Yes, it does! Here's hoping to another post soon.
You know ... I just thought about this ... but I stopped being able to write about the time you stopped being able to spend time encouraging me ... so could it be ... that you're my muse?!
I'll add you to my blogroll as soon as I figure out how to do it. I was poking around my template today and couldn't see where to do it. I also noticed that I haven't cleaned it up in a very long time...
BTW, you might want to wait on Sword and Scabbard a little while longer. They're supposed to be fixing a few typos and a formatting issue for me. If you're interested, I can make you a package deal on signed copies of the trilogy. When they get my stuff fixed, I'm going to post the offer on my blog.
I'll try to post a couple times a week at least, just for your amusement. ;)
EJ, yes! A package deal sounds cool! Let me know.
And thanks for making the committment to post for me ... :)
Regarding #159 and Customer Service as the oldest profession. Hmmm. I wonder if that's one of the job descriptions practicers of the oldest profession use when reporting their income to the IRS.
Jean, if they don't, they should! :)
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