Amazing customer service…I think I may faint!

So, last week, I decided to surprise a friend of mine who is going through a smidge of a rough time (she fell down some stairs and reallllly did a number on her arm, right below her elbow.) with one of the cool beans keychain sock blockers from Knitcellaneous

I ordered it, and the owner emailed me within a few hours to tell me she would ship it the next morning. I wanted to make sure that the invoice got left out, because it was a gift, so I emailed her back…and we exchanged 4 emails discussing what kind of card to put in, ect.

This was the most pleasant exchange I’ve had from a customer service outlet in oh, weeks! Woohoo!

So, if you’re in need of a cool sock blocker, a shawl stick, or some other neat stuff, go check them out. They completely rock!

Buttinskis-they’re not just random people in public anymore!

So, today at work, I was telling my wonderful Learning Coach that I would MAYBE bring Isaac in for a drink later. It just depended on how well behaved he was while I was gone and me having 5 seconds to sit down and talk to Doug so that I could see if his behavior warranted a “coffee trip.” (We’ve been having issues at school. He’s been in “turd” mode for the teachers. I’ve got my theories on why, but I’m not rewarding poor behavior at any turn. Not a chance.)

So, let me put this in perspective. I was LEAVING work. I was on the other side of the bar and getting a drink to go home with (Oh, and btw-you all MUST try the blended strawberry lemonade. YUMMMY. Just have them go easy on the strawberry, or it will taste all wicked sweet and tooth shattering.), and another barista overhears my conversation, and has no idea that Isaac calls Starbucks “Coffee” because of his language delay (and that’s even going away-but I digress), and went off on this tangent about how no child should EVER have caffine, and how I was this horrid parent for giving my child caffine and how although it MAY do what I claim it does (calm him down…which it does. trust me-this kid drinks my drinks-because he’s stolen them- and then sleeps a full 9-10 hours! Caffine truly has no serious effect on him!!), I’m just so wrong to do this.

She even had the nerve to say “Far be it from me to tell you how to parent…”

 

Yeah, then shut up. Like I told her. This is my parenting choice, and I’ll do what I think is right for my child.

This conversation was NOT with her…and she was only making my drink. She needs a grip.

Now, I”m still taking the boy out for drinks. He was a gem for Doug and was really good yesterday. Who knows what he’ll ask for, but I intend to get whatever he wants for him. Reason? I promised if he was good, Mommy would take him for coffee-which means-we’ll take a ride to Starbucks so he can get a drink.

Basically what all of this boils down to is this:

You parent your child the way you want, I’ll parent mine the way I want. Don’t offer unsolicited advice, because I sure know I don’t.

Maybe I’m a bit indulgent in some ways, maybe I’m a bit too strict in others…but it works for me, and us as a family.

 

Really, I do love my job. I love pulling coffee…and making weird, random frappucinos. But buttinski co-workers? Not so much.

Friday Fill ins, 5/29/08

1. For me too much conformity is the opposite of creativity.
2.Water for Elephants was the last excellent book I read.
3. I like fill-ins because They’re a blast and it makes my addled brain do a bit of thinking.
4. In nature I like looking at blue skies and whispy clouds.
5.Anyone BUT John McCain should win the US elections.
6. The last time I laughed with all my belly was The last time Isaac picked up Poor Furball and brought her into his room and tucked her into his bed.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to getting my room moved in, tomorrow my plans include Working starting at an indecent hour and then coming home and hopefully not bouncing off the walls from all of the caffine and Sunday, I want to get my socks done for dueling club before my partner gets them done-man..competitive knitting!

The Short list of things

Because my brain is filled with…well, you’ll see when you read the list…I’m doing a bullet post.

 

and I’ve got so much more in the Saga of Laura vs. Old Navy. I’ll tell it when I can calmly discuss how stupid they are.

 

so, here goes the short list:

• Working at the Big Green allows me freebie coffee. Lesson #1 of that…do NOT drink 5 caffinated beverages in one day while training, no matter HOW boring the “sit and read this manual” is.
• Drinking 5 caffinated beverages of teh VENTI size causes insomnia.
• Pepsi Co. is stupid for discontinuing Undercover Orange Sierra Mist.
• If you want to know the difference between a wet and dry cappucino, I can tell you..and I can make you one too!
• My “learning coach” at the Big Green is awesome. We (the two of us who are training at this store-there was a 3rd, but she no showed yesterday)think the world of Alyssa. I think so much of her, I’m making her a pair of socks
• on that tip-does anyone know where I can find some really cool “Barista Green” sock yarn?
• Yet another piss note was sent to Isaac’s school.
• Why would you put spare clothes on a child from the “spare” cabinet when they have their own? Yeah. I don’t know either. Hence the previous bullet.
• My mom rocks. For lots of reasons. Just know she does. And if you meet her, tell her so.
• The “green room” is ALMOST put together. I’ll put together a slide show when I can, showing the transformation from spilled Latte brown to Desert Cactus Green!
• I came home smelling like espresso last night.
• Yes, that’s an occupational hazard.

Ok. that’s it for now…and I”m off to knit socks. I need mindless!

Can I please bitch slap Old Navy?

Good lord, here we go again. There has GOT to be someone who has it out for me this time from Old Navy.

 

So, after knowing that I’ve got this package intercept on, I check the UPS shipping status. Umm..NO PACKAGE INTERCEPT IS ON THIS SUCKER! It’s being delivered, oh, tomorrow.

Enter yet another screaming phone call to Old Navy, where I have to repeat the entire story from the top for yet another poor customer service associate…and I tried to avoid this, becaiuse I asked for a supervisor. I told the poor soul who intercepted my phone call that it was not their fault and I felt that at this point, since I had been through 3 CSA”s, I needed a supervisor.

So, after having to repeat my story a 4th time to this person, I get a supervisor, who I have to tell the entire story to a 5th time.

Do we all see where this is going?

Well, Manager asks what I would like to see happen. I told her. Plain and simple. At this point, since I’ve tried to cancel the order 3x, and was given bad information, and nothing was ever done appropriately, I want my money back. I don’t care where the stinkin package is, I don’t even want to know. I want the $46.75 back in my account NOW. I don’t care what it takes, just stinkin do it.

So, she goes on and on about how she can give me a credit for next time (what the last CSA did…which went to a 15% discount on my next order. Whoopie.), and they’ve refunded my shipping, but ther’s nothing they can do until they have a package back in hand, and why don’t I just accept the package and return it at the store?

UMM…the last CSA told me I couldn’t do that. They told me what I bought was online exclusive and I was not allowed to return it to the store.

See Laura tear out her hair. See Laura attempt NOT to throttle manager through the phone. See Doug remove Isaac from the loft so I could have at this woman in private.

So, she asks me what my nearest store is. I’ve told her 3x that it’s on XXXtown Road. We go back and forth over the sematics of the city name…East Nowhere versus Scummy City. We live on the border. It’s 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of the other. If we use E. Nowhere, we get the good school district.

So, she finds the store and makes a call to the manager there and has a chat with her. They claim I can return the stuff there tomorrow. Yeah. sure. I’ll believe that when it goes well. I have a feeling that this will go horribly wrong because of what’s happened here.

 

So, the manager now tries to appease me after I’ve told her about the bonehead…and the comment that I didn’t post here, about “Oh, I thought you had Tourette’s Syndrome”, as I gave him words to make the “sound aline consonants” in my order number clearer, as well as the other 2 CSA’s who gave me bad information and didn’t set the package ntercept properly.

She says:

“Will 5.00 off your next order make this right?”

Lord. That won’t even cover shipping! No, this isn’t going to make it right. Just credit my card back for the money I spent and let me go on my merry waym and know, that this year, after Christmas, when I make my usual flurry of online orders of stuff for Isaac and myself and Doug on clearance, it’ll be in the store, and NOT through their website…because, I hate to say it, I’m addicted to their clothing.

 

So, we’ll see how things go tomorrow. It’s not nice to mess with a highly caffinated me. I’m still slightly buzzing from all of the caffine I downed today

 

Do the customer service Gods hate me?

Maeve’s answer when I asked her this question? “Yep.”

So, here’s the latest in my ability to find every..stinkin…bad customer service rep in the 48 contiguous states.

 

So, working at the Big, Green Coffee company that is Seattle based-and yes, to those who have asked…Free coffee is seriously involved here…including the drinks. Holy moly!-I needed to get some clothes that fit in dress code. Ok. Fine. So, I figure the best plan of action is to dive on line and order from a few well-known companies that I’ve had great luck with in the past-Old Navy and Target.

So, the target order goes off without a hitch. I even get some points for my MyPoints account. No biggie there! Woohoo!

Then, I move onto Old Navy. I order and figure things will go as smoothly there…well, that was Monday.

I’m waiting and waiting and waiting for my email that says that my stuff has been shipped, and it never comes. This is not usual for Old Navy. So, on Thursday, I call them, and I get Dweeb brain on the phone. I explain the situation and ask if he knows when it will be shipping, because if it doesn’t ship that day, I need to cancel the order. Dweeb Brain stops listening and says “I put an expidite notice on this, and it should work..” I said “I never asked for an expidite. I just want to cancel the order, because it’s not shipping today,and…”

Well, Dweeb Brain cuts me off and the most annoying conversation ensues, because he starts going on and on and on about how he can’t do anything but what he just did because it’s in the 4-7 day window. WELL, let’s think about this. I ordered Monday with the hopes of having everything by Friday/Saturday. That’s the way Old Navy rolls, Usually. Well, with the holiday, this isn’t happening, and without shipping on Thursday, that blows their 4-7 day window out of the water totally. So, I get so frustrated, I hang up on the guy. I call back 10 minutes later and get a totally helpful girl, who puts in a notice to cancel the order, because she said it wasn’t too late. She said I would get an email and the money put back on my card.

So, I went off to the Old Navy store by the house and got everything I needed in one shot. It was a serious jackpot hit! Woohoo!

Well. I never got the cancellation email. So, I call back today.

*sigh*

I get a sweet gentleman, who informs me that the order HAS SHIPPED. What the…

and I still haven’t gotten an email.

 

Well, I tell the gentleman all about Dweeb Brain as well as the nice lady who helped me later. He about hit the floor…especially because the note said “Customer requests expedited shipping.”

No, I did NOT request expedited shipping. I requested an ORDER CANCELLATION, which he saw from the 2nd call. So, he tries to find the cancellation, and lo and behold, there it is. It just got to the distribution warehouse just too late.

So, now, we’ve got a package reroute on this sucker from UPS, so we can intercept it and get it back to them. I’m not keeping ths, and they will pay to send it back to them because frankly, I called with plenty of time to cancel this sucker…and argh.

I swear…between Home Depot lady and this, I swear the customer service Gods hate me.

And what does Booger say?

Isaac and I were leaving the house the other day to go and run an errand…and this is the conversation that happened as we were pulling out of the driveway.

Isaac Bye, Lucy! Bye home! See you later! (Lucy is our neighbor’s cat. VERY sweet cat…puts up with Isaac, and actually pals around with him..) What does Lucy say?

Me: Ok..what does Lucy say?

Isaac: Meow, meow!

me: What does Furball say?

Isaac: Meow, meow! What does Booger say?

me: What DOES Booger say? Meow, right?

Isaac:No! Booger doesn’t say meow!  Booger SQUEEKS!

Wordless Wednesday, 5/21/08

The saga of the paint

So, yesterday, I go to Home Depot to get the paint to get rid of the bad latte brown on my walls (and no, that doesn’t make me a bad barista for not wanting the color on the walls of a room…)and I figured this would be uneventful. What could be so hard about getting 3 gallons of paint and the paraphanalia to go with it?

 

Ok. All of you. STOP LAUGHING. Just stop.

 

I head into the Depot and grab some grass seed (the lawn looks atrocious. Yeah…we’re not even going there.), and head over to the paint department. There’s a tech calibrating the machines, so they can’t mix paint, so I start getting my brushes, rollers, paint trays and a corner painter, which Doug calls my “cheater tool.” Having all of this, I wander over to the now-crowded paint counter and take my place in line, with my color cards-cactus green and baby roo. Everyone is standing nicely, waiting their turn with the ONLY paint guy behind the counter. Meanwhile, Tech Guy is calibrating the other paint machine, so Paint Guy has one machine going.

All of a sudden, Woman in an ugly maroon t-shrit (WIAUMTS) comes up to the back of the counter and starts bothering Tech Guy (who is just a tech guy-not a Home Depot worker) about some deck stain. This is how the conversation went down:

WIAUMTS: I need you to help me now. I need some stain.

Tech Guy: Well, I’m only here to calibrate the paint machine, so, I really can’t help you, because I don’t know where anything is.

WIAUMTS: Well, I need deck stain NOW.

(Tech guy looking at all of us who have been waiting for a while to get our paint/stain/whatever…)

Tech Guy: You really need to go to the front of the counter and they’ll help you from there.

(all of us look aghast…)

WIAUMTS: (To the woman standing next to me)- You’re not in this line are you?

Woman standing next to me: Yes. I am. I’m next, then she’s next (pointing to me) and then her, and him and her.

WIAUMTS : God. I’m never going to get out of here before 3.

So, finally Home Depot sends another employee to back up poor Paint Guy. Since I’m next in line, Paint Girl helps me out while Paint Guy does woman before me, and gets done with her and moves on to the next wacko customer who decided it was time to argue about a shade of grey (Driftwood Grey versus just Driftwood) and then argue about quart versus gallon. That was so insane, I’m not even going to detail that one.

So, while I’m being helped by Paint Girl, WIAUMTS starts interrupting my time, as I was hemming and hawing over semi-gloss versus high sheen. For the record, I went with Semi-Gloss. That went like this:

WIAUMTS: I need deck stain. I need you to help me NOW.

Paint Girl: Ma’am, you’ll have to wait a few minutes, because I’m helping her now, and then I know there are at least 2 more people in front of you.

WIAUMTS: Well, I need deck stain!

Paint Girl (looking at me apologetically) I’ll be with you as soon as I can. (turns back to me and we decide on 2 gallons of Cactus Green and one of Baby Roo in semi gloss-and discover that the Disney colors are the same price as the regular Behr colors! Whoopie!!! I can get Disney colors without paying an arm and a leg! YIPEE!!)

WIAUMTS huffs and stands there.

So, Paint Guy is done with Ms. Driftwood Grey vs Driftwood, and moves on to the next customer in line, and finally, Paint Girl gets to WIAUMTS.

The same conversation about stain starts again. Paint Girl goes and gets the stain, and starts programming the color of the stain into the computer so it can be mixed. Meanwhile, WIAUMTS is going behind the paint counter to argue over the fact that the computerized system put in too much of one color and not enough of another.

This woman spent an entire 9 minutes harassing the poor Paint Girl over the stain. Those of us who were still at the counter (I was waiting for my paint to be shaken. They’ve got like 4 machines, and I had 3 gallons, and there were a few people ahead of me for the shaker.) were mortified/felt bad for the paint staff/thought this woman was delusional. It was like a train wreck in slow motion. You know, the kind you can’t look away from, but you know damn skippy that you really shouldn’t be watching this.

Finally, I got my paint and stirrers and headed off to get a drop cloth, and this woman was STILL going on and on and on.

 

And I thought it ended there.

Again. STOP LAUGHING.

So, I take my paint and paraphanalia home, and Isaac comes out to help me get the stuff out of the car. He can carry rollers and things in… Well, he notices where I’ve been-and he’s been on one of those jags that 4 year olds go on…you know…Right now, it’s a Home Depot Jag. The incessant chatter about the Depot and every time we pass by, the line “are we going to Home Depot? Tony Stewart drives the Home Depot Car! ” There’s more to that conversation, but I’m not going to go there, because I need my sanity. So, Isaac notes that the paint is from Home Depot and this happens…

“Mommy-you went to home depot all by yourself? You bought paint?”

“yes, I went to Home Depot, Yes, I got paint. Can you please put the rollers on the couch?”

“The paint you got at the Home Depot is green! Tony Stewart drives the Home Depot car…”

At this point, I cut off the conversation, because I know where it’s going and I’m just not in the mood to go there after the WIAUMTS.

“Isaac-can you please go and put this (the paint tray..) in the room for me?”

Isaac wanders away, still muttering about Home Depot.

 

What I do to get some seriouly ugly Latte Brown off my walls.

See? Even the neighbors know how bad this is!

This evening, I was out playing with Isaac, and our neighbor was out doing her gardening. She saw me come back from Home Depot with the paint paraphanalia…and she got nosey…as any good neighbor would!

The conversation went like this:

Neighbor: “So, whatcha paintin’?”

me: “That front room. I’m converting it into my study/craft area. The color is completely horrid.”

Neighbor: “Oh, you mean the one that’s that pukey brown color? You know, they’re art teachers. For art teachers, they certainly had some weird taste…”

 

See? Even my neighbor knows that the front room needs updating…I promise, I’ll post before, during and after pictures…as the renovation starts TOMORROW!!!