Customer Service

The other day I was ranting and ranting about some bad service that I had before Christmas at a local pub here in Denver. The Irish Snug has great prices for their happy hour - two for one on select beer, wine and cocktails and $3 appetizers that are really fantastic. Two appetizers is a total meal - some of them one appetizer is big enough for a meal for me. Anyway - we celebrated Mia's return with happy hour at the Irish Snug the week before Christmas and had the worst service I can remember having in a really long time. The server was downright rude and it took a long time to get what we had ordered. I mentioned to this friend that I would like to start talking about when I have great service as well as when I don't because in my world service can make or break an experience.

In that spirit I would like to share that I just this afternoon got great customer service from RedBox. The super inexpensive movie rental service that has kiosks at most McDonald's here in Denver. I know for a while they weren't all over the country but I don't know if they've expanded by now. In any case - on Friday I rented 2 movies for $1.00 per night and attempted to return them this afternoon. I put one movie in the machine and it didn't seem to be working correctly so I called the 800 number on the machine. I calmly explained what had happened and the guy on the other end of the phone credited my return of the first movie and told me he would send a technician out to the machine. He also told me that he would credit my account for the second movie for tonight so I wouldn't have to worry about getting it in later after the technician had been there. In my world this is great customer service - I would have been happy to bring that second movie back today if he gave me an estimated time that the machine would be fixed by, and still, without me even complaining, whining, or seeming otherwise forcefully angry he took care of it for me. Thanks RedBox.

Happy Christmas!

Here I go breaking my resolution to not post on the blog at my new job. Since it's the day after Christmas and there are about 12 of us here in the office (maybe less) I'm bored out of my mind and so posting it is.

I had a wonderful trip to Michigan for Christmas. I was able to spend some quality time with many of the people I love the most and coming back was (and in the moment still is) hard. My little niece (pictures here) is hysterical! She is ultra independent and talks and talks and talks. Only thing is, she's the only one who has any idea what she's saying. She uses hand motions and intonation so it sounds like she knows what she's talking about, problem is I understand about 6 of her words - Mommy, Daddy, juice, ball, baby and puppy. Her parents don't understand much more, so I don't feel too bad. She adores the sparkly pink shoes my sisters and I got her for Christmas, so I'm confident she's going to continue to grow up a girl after my own heart.

I really enjoyed the time I spent with my family. My sister borrowed a PlayStation, so my family Christmas included video games for the first time ever. In fact I would dare say this was the first time my parent's house had a game system in it. Thankfully the games she brought over were not car racing or shooting or what have you. We had Guitar Hero II - way fun - and a trivia game that I am currently undefeated at. Yup - I rock. I also loved just sitting around my parents house playing cards and eating. Have I mentioned the eating - it was AWESOME and I think I've put back on every last pound I lost this fall. While the detour away from the fresh fruits, veggies and generally low calorie meals was fun, I'm ready to be back on, because I feel better when I eat better.

I also truly believe that I made memories that will last forever this weekend. In addition to the aforementioned things, Friday night was hands down one of the best times I've had in a while. I spent the afternoon Christmas Shopping with Burt and then Tim and his wife Stephanie joined us for dinner at Bombay Cuisine - quite possibly the best restaurant in all of West Michigan. We then drove around and looked at Christmas lights and then had a good snowball fight and made a snowman up in a park on Coit Hill. I can not explain to you the deep connectedness I feel with these wonderful friends and there are so many days I wish my life would work better in Michigan so I could spend more face time with them. There is something deep within me, however, that is not willing to live there full time. I got the feeling though that I may see them in Denver before next Christmas, and that would be wonderful!

This has been one of my most favorite holiday seasons, despite what has been an otherwise tough few months. Thanks to every person I was able to share it with. Happy Christmas to all you who still read this blog :)

Starting the Day on the Wrong Shuttle

Ladies and Gentlemen I need some input. My dilemma is as follows:

Every morning I walk into downtown from my apartment and take the free mall shuttle from Capitol Hill to the building I work in. The mall shuttle drivers are ruthless - I've seen them shut things in the door (not quite a body part, but almost) and for whatever reason even though they stay on the same street and go back and forth they are in a hurry to get from here to there. Sometimes I figure they must just get bored driving on 16th Street only and so it's a bit of entertainment to see who they can inconvenience. That said there are times when I'm catching the shuttle at the station that if I start moving faster once they ring the door closing bell the driver will wait. On these occasions I give the driver a courtesy nod - similar to the nod I give drivers who let me into traffic. One morning within the last month I did just this and when I got off the shuttle the driver made a point to open his window and wish me a nice day. That day I thought - how sweet - and what a great way to start the day. Wellll - Since then I have found myself on said driver's shuttle a half dozen times. He watches me in the rear view mirror and waves when I get off the shuttle. It creeps me out a bit and this morning I avoided getting on his shuttle for this specific reason.

Now - short of wearing a big fat coat and a robber ski mask hat I have no idea what to do with this. Even when I was not getting on this guy's shuttle this morning he was watching me as he drove away. I have no way to talk to him and ask him to leave me alone because there's a barrier between the driver and the passengers. I'm thinking I may get on his shuttle the next time, catch the bus number and make a complaint to the bus people. Only it feels like I'm four years old and saying "stop looking at me." I just don't like how it feels to start my day like this. What do you think? Oh - and driving to work is just too expensive.

A Long One

Wow - so it's been 10 days since I've posted. Those ten days have been full of highs and lows - as they all are. Let me give you a recap.

The last weekend in November Sheralee's dear cat Mia escaped. We searched and searched and Sheralee was certainly heartbroken. After 15 days on the run, presumably with a very beautiful boy cat, she has returned home! I spent many of those 15 days with Sheralee, calling her name over the neighborhood, posting signs, and simply sitting in the sadness. I can't tell you the sheer joy that I felt when we finally found her out in the alley. Someone from about 8 blocks away thinks that she was hiding out in his basement - which is great because it's been snowy and the temperatures have been in the single digits at night.

Simultaneously I was dealing with a car that kept overheating. The mechanic replaced my radiator (this was not entirely a surprise) but when I got it back it was smoking. The mechanic assured me this was because there was some antifreeze on the radiator that needed to burn off. But it was really smoky, and a day later it started overheating again and then on my way home from the grocery store there was smoke coming in through the heater. In the middle of a snow storm. Thankfully the tow company agreed to take my car without my presence so Sheralee came and picked me up.

That same evening we celebrated Sheralee's sister's birthday with a pasty party. (The U.P. kind of pasty - not the boob kind of pasty.) It was great fun, even though Sheralee was still missing Mia. We ended up playing Apples to Apples and with this group it was truly enjoyable. At this party was a friend from Radius days I had not seen in at least a year. I totally forgot how much fun this particular friend was and I have seen her one time since the party. I hope I can see her more often.

I'm settling into my job. There are frustrating parts - particularly dealing with one of the people that I work with who is great to work with one day and abusive the next. I'm hoping for more good days than bad. I'm also frustrated to be on the placement agency's payroll yet - mostly because it means no holiday pay - but I'm more than half way through that program and thankful for that. The women who sit in the cubicles next to mine are great and I'm really starting to settle into the environment.

That said I'm also excited to work only two more days this week before I head back to Michigan for Christmas. It looks (fingers crossed) that Denver is not fated for another Christmas blizzard and I'm really hopeful to make it to GR as planned for the holiday. I'm looking forward to spending time with my family as well as a number of great friends who I miss dearly.

My internal journey has also been feeling positive these past few weeks. I've been talking with a number of people about how even though things are positively hard right now I feel more content with where I am than I have in quite a while and for that reason (mainly) I'm better equipped to deal with the struggles that are being sent my direction. I hope that this contentment and peace continues to grow and that I can continue to settle into myself in the coming years.

I think that's a good summary. Hope things are well for you. mg

Everything's Gonna Be Alright

I know that's not the real name, and, I heart Alicia Keys new song. It's a great one to belt out in the car, and it's just one of those songs that makes me feel good. Other things that are making me feel good - only two weeks until I'm in Michigan for Christmas!

Absence

As all 5 of my loyal readers have probably noticed my posting frequency has dropped significantly in the past few weeks. On the surface this is certainly because with the new job I'm certainly busier, and I haven't been as excited about being on the computer while I'm away from work. Dig a little deeper and I find that I just don't have as much that I'm compelled to talk about. Dig even a bit deeper and I find that I wonder if writing this blog hasn't strengthened my narcissistic tendencies. I was going to write that perhaps writing this blog has made me narcissistic, but that would just not be true. It's certainly made it easier to focus on myself, but I'm sure I would find some other way had there been no blog.

That said - while the last 72 hours have been a bit rough I am overall doing very well. I really like my new job and I think it's going to be challenging and a great fit. I'm also on a quest to see life as it really is. Not as I'd like it to be. Not rosy. What I mean is, I'm trying not to be surprised when shit happens. I'm hoping it helps me roll with the punches a bit better. I'll let you know how it turns out.