Customer Service is not just a verb...

Ok, so unless you have been living under a rock since the day of your birth, you just have to know that Christmas is in 4 days.  Christmas Eve is in 3 days.  Christmas Eve eve is just two days away.  And you get the idea.  Even though we don't celebrate Christmas in our home, family or church, that doesn't mean that it doesn't effect every person living in this house.  As a retailer, I know down to the seconds how much time I have left until my shipping deadlines and even how much time until next Christmas, when this whole thing will start all over again.

So, here I sit, with my bowl of soup (from a bag) nearly empty and a wooden wick candle (home made, of course!) crackling behind me thinking about what Customer Service really is.  Am I good at it?  Do most companies feel that if they just ignore the customer long enough they might go away?  In the age of "The customer is always right" I wonder if that could possibly still hold true.  Do any retail companies or service providers care about anything but BUCK$?  Here is what got me started on this collision course of thought...

Twice this week, I was jaw droppingly surprised at the level of Customer Service that I had received from a couple of different companies.  The first is a HUGE nationwide conglomerate and the second is a smaller local business.  The surprising part of this revelation was that both companies performed excellently.  That is not what I had expected.

Several months ago we took part in a promotion with Kellogg's for a T-Shirt give away.  It was for my 8 year old son and he paid the shipping with his own money.  The promotion was for a Star Trek Shirt that would be a replica of what was worn on the new movie that was released in May.  Yes, we are huge Trekkers, I'm no longer ashamed to admit it after completing my 12 step program.  So, the shirt was supposed to be shipped and received within 6 to 8 weeks.  Long story shortened, it didn't come.  But a postcard did, forwarded to our new address (we had moved during the wait) letting us know that there would be an additional 90 day delay.  Well, I was irritated but hey, what can you do?  If they are out, they are out and I will just sit here and wait, I guess.  So, another 90 days goes by and still nothing.  My son is getting antsy and I don't know what to do about it.  We don't show up in the tracking system, but we did get the postcard, so I know they know about us.  So, I did what any normal computer savvy person would do in this day and age.  I sent an email to Customer Service asking "What the hell are you guys doing over there that 20 weeks isn't long enough to ship a shirt but it's more than long enough to cash the check?!?!"  Turns out that the distribution company that handles the processing had a problem between our two addresses and the Post Office wasn't forwarding what they were supposed to be forwarding.  So, through no fault of Kellogg's, I jumped into cyberspace basically screaming that they had my $10 for crying out loud, I WANT MY SHIRT!  MY CAPTAIN KIRK GOLD, ADULT SMALL SHIRT!  NOW!

I got a very polite email back from Kellogg's letting me know about the shipping problem and telling me that the shirt was going to be immediately reshipped to my new address and hey, for all my trouble, they are throwing in some extras.  So, now I feel like a jerk for the e-yelling but kind of happy too, that I am going to get what I paid for.  So, was I right?

The second example of awesome Customer Service was with a local limo company.  I had planned a date night out with my husband and thought that I might surprise him with a limo for the evening.  I had gotten several quotes through an online service but the company that I had used before wasn't in the list.  I had to root around in the back of my brain for the name of that company, because I can count on 3 fingers the number of times I have been in a limo (and all of them with this company) but none of the times have been recent.  I located the web address for the place I was looking for and found that they had an online ressie system that you can either book or just get a quote.  I elected to get a quote, filled out the form, and really never expected to hear anything at all, because what I wanted was a limo, for cheap, in 2 hours on the weekend before Christmas.  Likely?  I think not!

Lo and behold, not 2 MINUTES later and my phone rang.  It was the limo company calling me about my request.  The lady that I spoke with didn't want to take a chance on emailing me and me not getting it because I needed my car in 2 hours.  So, they called.  And said they could accommodate me.  And were the cheapest rates I found of all the companies that I had quoted all afternoon.  Dude... That's service.  I ended up not renting the limo (my husband would have killed me for spending that money, but I just wanted to check it out anyway!) and thanked the lady very much.  I told her that I was a past client and between the two of us we determined that my husband and I were one of the VERY FIRST customers of this company almost a decade ago.  Now, I feel old.  Just in case you were curious, our limo company is Pech Limousine and they can be found at www.pechlimo.com

I'm not affiliated with either of these companies past these stories that I have just typed, by hand, but I just have to give credit where credit is due.  Between the nationwide company and the little local place, I was quite impressed with both.  It seems like plenty of times customers will write in to complain (like I did in the first example) but not take the time to praise companies that go above and beyond.  What do you, the reader, think?  Is a job well done OUR JOB as retailers and service providers and you should only have to take time out of your life to complain; or is outstanding service cause for compliment?  Let me know...

It smells like unicorns crapping kittens in here...

Mercifully, I have reached the end of a very long week.  It was a good meeting today at the salon, although I can still smell the hair coloring bleach, even now, after not having been there for 5 hours!  I wonder if my hair will lighten by environmental osmosis?  It's a flipping miracle that I can smell anything at all over the pungent aromas of the 117 different essential oils that I have been working with today.  One of them spilled on my work island and it is forever going to smell like ginger in here, which I truly detest.  Why can't there be an essential oil that smells like S'mores or unicorns or Disney World?

A new line of products is going to be released next week that will include five items, but, so help me, none of them will smell like ginger!  We went into final testing today and I will be glad to get this stuff out.  We don't test on animals, or not that often anyway, but the Boxer and Rat Terrier don't really scream anymore when I spray stuff in their direction.  Now we test on actual kids, sometimes babies and pregnant women, but we try to stick to kids.  They're pretty resilient.  My current tester is about 5 years old and as long as she falls asleep tonight, I will be a very happy camper.  If not, I will be sure to hear from her mother in the morning, first thing.  Either way, I will know if what I am trying to make now works and is ready to be released on an unsuspecting public.  Want some?

Sunset around here marks the Sabbath and that means that I won't be working for about 24 hours.  What a lovely break!  If only I could shut my brain off too.  But I am pretty sure that when I go to sleep tonight I am going to see candles and labels and bottles and websites and blogs dancing like sugar plums in my head!  At sunset tomorrow night I will be back on the clock and ready to hit the ground running while my husband tried to entertain our 8 year old son with something that keeps him from interrupting MOMMY WHILE SHE IS CRAZY!  I will know that the hard part of the product release is done when all the vials and jars and droppers and sprayers disappear back onto my work shelves from which they came.  There will soon be a link on the website that talks about the new products, but I am not going to go into detail on that now.  Now, I am on a break.  Just as Ross and Rachel, I'm on a break.

For now, the most important thing if my life is a shot of Theraflu Severe Cold, a trip to the hot tub and maybe a piece of turtle pie.  I gotta tell you, if turtle pie doesn't cure what ails you, you might as well be dead.  Especially since it's made from real turtles...  Just because I don't test on animals doesn't mean I won't eat one.

The end may be near...

I can always tell that it's not going to be my greatest day ever when I open my eyes in the morning to a blinding, screaming, rampaging headache.  I stand by that statement even now.  It wouldn't have been quite so bad if this hadn't been the second morning in a row that that has happened and I am now in my 3rd week of being sick.

About two weeks ago, after not feeling well for several days, I went to see my regular doctor.  I was hoping that he could shed some light on the problem.  The light that he shed on it was the surgical halogen of the medial lamp over my emergency room bed.  It would seem that I scared my poor doctor just a wee bit with the fact that I couldn't breathe, my oxygen was way down, my heart beat was erratic and I kept feeling like I was going to fall over.  Sorry for the fright, big guy, but you got me back by planting me in the ER for the rest of the day, didn'tcha'?

Long, boring story very shortened up, I was released after 2 EKG's, a couple of chest XRays, a CT Scan, 117 vials of blood drawn and the conclusion of what I DIDN'T have.  The problem with that kind of thinking is that we still don't know what I do have.  Although it doesn't seem to be contagious, thank God, since the folks living here with me are still living, if you get my drift.  Husband and son are both healthy as jackasses horses, and I continue to wither with this illness of unknown origin while trying to keep up with all my work.

So, back to the headache.  Although it wasn't a huge surprise, it was a disappointment since I had an event to do tonight on the Kansas side of the state line and I am going to miss that.  Sorry, Hilary, hope it all goes well!  I have a meeting in the morning with one of my stores and the owner, a friend of mine now, knows that I am sick and seems to be willing to take her chances.  I'll be sure to not give her a big hug when I arrive nor will I spit in her cup of iced vanilla coffee with double vanilla and lots of Equal.  I will cough into my elbow, wear a surgical mask, and try to not contaminate anything in my path.  I am pretty sure it's safe.  Between the bleach and the acrylic nails, you know nothing as simple as a virus can live in a salon!

So, in about a week (or less) I will be announcing the next big thing that I have decided that I absolutely must make so that my life will be complete.  And if you think that I am exaggerating, I can give you my husband's cell number and he will assure you that I AM NOT!  This new product line will become my obsession over the next however long it takes to complete, but once done, I can resume being normal and just work on working until the next inspiration strikes and I absolutely must make something else so that my life will again be complete.  And before you start feeling all bad for my husband that only has to ignore my craziness, think about the poor guy that has to create all the labels for this stuff.  THAT. I. MUST. CREATE.  Feel sorry for that guy... and his wife... and maybe his kids... because while I am resting this evening, with this headache that is bigger than my body, he'll be working on those labels, again, that will grace every product that leaves this place.  Good luck with that...

And so it has begun...

With the launch of our new website, I thought it only prudent to tackle the next open vista, that being the blog.  Until this point, neither myself nor the business that I head has had a blog.  I have resisted it with every fiber of my being, all the while reading the blogs of other writers that I thoroughly enjoy.  So, if nothing else, this will be for comic relief!

What we have here is not a place for the posting of ads (although I might do that one day), nor for product reviews (may do that too, dunno yet), unless they are my own products!  This blog, this infinite open space for thoughts, ideas, photos and comments will be filled with my musings on what it is like to (attempt to) run a business - from home even, be and stay married, raise a child, home school said whelp, live peacefully with the two dogs that allow us to inhabit their domicile, shop for groceries, send out orders, experiment with new products and, ultimately, what it is like to just participate in the lunacy that I live with day in and day out!

In the coming weeks and certainly months, there will be posts about my family, my job, my website, my husband, my kid and my dogs.  From those writings, you will get to know me.  After a while, you may wonder why that seemed like a good idea at the time.  But, for now, it is what it is and it is now a blog on my new website.  So, I owe, I owe, off to work I go.  I have an event that I have to prepare for in Overland Park Kansas tomorrow night, that I am not nearly ready for... I might want to get to that...