Good service; Bad service

Hey everyone,

I had the opportunity to have 2 very good examples of good and bad service yesterday. The funny thing was that I was thinking about this very topic as a possible blog entry (well, I was going to talk about people in the east but...this works too).

Scenario 1: Juice dropped off a roll of film to be developed for the one hour development place at 1:05 pm. I went by on my way home to pick it up around 6:30 pm. Edith was at the counter, and there were a 2 people in line in front of me. Now, you know the film counters are often long, and I was standing on one end in full view. Well, Edith looked straight at me, no smile, no nod, no acknowledgment. Well, I suppose there was acknowledgement because she looked right at me but other than eye contact, there was nothing. Nada. 6:45 pm rolls around...still nothing. She's back behind the counter, doing her film-processing thing, and there are now a few more people behind me in line. We're all kind of looking at each other a little bewildered and glancing at Edith (who, by the way, looked like a very fierce hawk, hooked nose and all). Now, the people in front of me didn't seem concerned, so I assumed that she was helping them and will get to me soon.

6:50 pm came, and I considered saying "Hello Edith, some help please?" but I didn't have to. As soon as I opened my mouth, she comes over to the counter with a few packs of pictures and waves to a Hispanic guy lurking in the background. He comes scurrying up to the counter, and the rest of us look a little put out at each other. And he didn't speak English. Edith kept asking him for his membership card, and he kept looking at her blankly. So I pulled out my card and pointed at it and pointed at Edith. He got the idea but didn't have one. At this point Edith looked put out, which I thought was amazing because she didn't look put out when she asked him 5 or 6 times for his card.

Anyway, she went from the Hispanic guy to the ladies in front of me and then to me. I told her I was here to pick up for us, and she asked if I was sure. Um, yes. I'm sure. Is she calling my hubby a liar? Grr... She found my film tacked onto the "to be processed" rack. Not done. Of course. It cleared Juice's name though. :) In any case, she went right into doing it. Oookaaay. Didn't she see the people stacking up behind me? Couldn't she multi-task? In any case, I finally got my film about 7:20 pm, all with the people behind me waiting to be helped as well.

But here's a picture from the roll.

Soot Puppy!

Scenario 2: I went to Subway for dinner after I FINALLY got my film and the customer service was so drastically different. The guy behind the counter was down right friendly. I walked in, walked up to the counter and even though he was helping others, he smiled at me and motioned he'd be with me in one moment. I was amazed at the difference because both Edith and this guy were about the same age (I would say mid to late 40's) but he had such a better attitude about everything. And the sandwiches (one for me, one for Juice when he got home from class) were made to perfection! What a difference it was between Edith and Nice Subway Guy. He made my day and wiped out all the bad vibes I got from Edith.

Just goes to show you how much a smile can mean to a person.

Love you all,
Safire, Juice, and Soot!

Do Squirrels eat bulbs?

Hey everyone,

Last weekend between Conference sessions, Juice and I planted bulbs. We planted them all along the front of our house and along the side. The snow crocuses we planted in the front and I planted pink daffodils along the side. Yes, pink! They should be stunning in the spring. We're very excited for spring to come! But my question is this: Do squirrels eat bulbs? Ever since we planted the bulbs, I've noticed a lot of squirrels hanging around. A lot more than usual.

These squirrels are gray, and really not afraid of people. Seriously, I've gotten close enough to these things to see their little whiskers on each side of their nose. I tried to chase them out of the yard, but since they are not afraid of people, this has very little effect.

What does have effect is Soot! Wow those things move when they see her coming. And so does Soot when she sees them. The other day, we were walking back home and a squirrel was on the top of a fence we were walking next too. Soot saw it, ran to the end of the fence and stood there with open jaws. Well, this squirrel saw Soot running on the ground and picked up some speed to get off the fence before Soot got there. They both got to the end of the fence at the same time. They both leapt in the air at the same time. They both met in the air at the same time, although I think the squirrel got the worse end of the deal. Soot only got it's tail. And only the fur on the tail so the squirrel didn't stick around too long. It leapt away, tearing out a big hunk of it's tail fur, and ran up the tree. Soot sat at that tree and whined and barked for about 2 minutes, the whole time I'm laughing and trying to get her to go inside. I had to drag her away from the tree.

Now every time we go outside she has to smell around every tree to see where the squirrels have gone. And we have a toy of hers that is a grey squirrel and she has been carrying that around for a few days. You'd think she liked being the hunter! And hopefully her presence will keep those squirrels away from my flowers!

Speaking of having a run in with animals, Juice had one recently. I don't know when, but he pulled out one of his shirts in the morning and put it on and I noticed a dark spot on his shoulder. When I went to get a closer look, he'd been hit by a bird. Who knows when it happened or how many times he's worn the shirt with the bird bomb on it! I made him change his shirt, and he gave it to me. Uh, what? Wash it? Okay, I did. Twice.

Does anyone know how to get out dried bird poop from fabric?

Love you all,
Safire and Juice