Customer Service

I saw this quote on FB:


“Whoever said, ‘There’s no such thing as a dumb question’ never worked in Customer Service.” Well, I work in Customer Service, and here are a couple of things that happened recently:

Part of my job includes weighing packages and putting postage on them for mailing. A young lady approached me with a package to mail and said, “This is a birthday gift for my mother, but I don’t want her to know it’s from me until after she opens it. I want her to be surprised. Would you write her address on it for me? If she sees my handwriting she’ll know who it’s from right away.”

Always happy to oblige, while she answered a call on her cell phone, I wrote the address on the package, weighed it, applied the postage and placed it in our outgoing bin. “That will be $5.60,” I told her.

She lowered her phone, looked up at me and said, “Did you put my return address on it?”

“Ah… no,” I said.

“Well, you have to put my return address on it! What if it gets lost!?”

I wonder how surprised her mom was to receive a package from her daughter addressed to her in my handwriting?





We often get lost cell phones turned in to us and we usually let them sit on our counter and within a half hour or so, it rings and then we are able to explain to the caller that the phone they just called is in the lost and found at our store. They are usually able to contact the phone’s owner and get word to them about where their lost phone is waiting for them.

One day, a phone was turned in and after a couple of hours, it still hadn’t rung, so I picked it up, found the phone’s list of numbers and called the one labeled ‘Dad’. Dad answered and I said, “Hi, this is Janell at Customer Service and this phone was turned in to our lost and found. I found your number on the list as ‘Dad’. Did one of your kids lose a cell phone today?”

“Oh!” he said. “I’ll bet it was my son. I’ll give him a call and let him know where it is.”

“Okay, thanks. Good bye.” About 30 seconds later, the phone began to buzz and tweet and spin on my countertop. I answered, “Hello?”

“Hello?” I recognized the voice of the ‘Dad’ I had just spoken to. “Is John there?”

“Um…. no this phone is in the lost and found at my grocery store. I think I may have just spoken to you?”

“Oh! So you did. You have John’s phone?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I’ll try to call him and let him know.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Another 30 seconds later, the phone began to buzz and tweet and spin. Caller ID said ‘Dad’.

I elected not to answer it.



This next one didn’t happen to me, but it’s too good not to include.

This happened shortly after the USPS first started issuing Forever Stamps. One of my co-workers, Bea, (not her real name) waited on a young lady, who requested to buy a Forever Stamp. The stamp was handed over and the young lady paid for it, placed it on a letter and dropped it in the out box. She turned to leave, but then turned back and said to Bea, “Now, how will the mailman know to get that stamp back to me?”

“What do you mean?” Bea asked.

“Well, it’s a Forever Stamp, right?”

“Yes.”

“How will I get it back when I need to use it again?”

“Ma’am, Forever Stamp just means that if you still have some of these,” holding up the familiar Liberty Bell stamp, “in your possession next time the price goes up, you won’t have to pay the increased cost. Uh… each stamp is only good for a one time use.”



My favorite one didn’t happen to me, either, but it’s too funny. It came from a computer telephone helpline worker. A caller wanted to know, “Where is the any key?”

Doodling

When some people doodle, they draw pictures. When I doodle, I doodle in words.

For instance, On an excruciatingly slow Sunday morning, I doodled the following on the pages of my grocery store ads.

On the page advertising pasta sauce –

Prego, Barrilla, Basilico, Ragu,

With meatballs, Alfredo or Parmesan cheese;

Or chicken or pesto, whatever you do

Don’t leave me out! Pass the pasta, please!

Don’t serve the spaghetti

Until it is ready.

Don’t let your poodles

Get into your noodles.

Mac & lasgne are best served with cheese

And lotsa meat is sure to please.

But nothing rhymes with orzo….

Tuna and noodles

Followed by streudel

I surely could eat

The whole kit and caboodle.

On the sherbet page –

Sherbet is yummy and fruity and cold

In a cone or a bowl with sprinkles on top

It cheers us up, both young and old.

It’s sweet and makes our taste buds “POP”!

On the snack page –

Does Curious George like Gatorade,

Turkey Hill tea or lemonade/

I’ll bet he’d like carrots in AE Dip

And Kemps ice cream singles and Itti Bitz,

Cookies and popcorn and gummy worms

Too much sweet stuff makes tummies squirm.

Peanut butter and Kettle chips

A slice of bread and a choice of dips;

A pat of butter and lots of jelly

Would be a treat for a hungry belly.

On the “Dollar Days” pages:

Dollar Days and taco shells,

Lunchables and cabbage,

Sour cream and chicken fries

Would crush tomatoes in the baggage.

Yabba Dabba Doo!

And pineapple, too!

Apricots, tomato soup

All for only 2!

By the picture of the Baby Wipes:

Psalm 127:3 “Children are a heritage from the Lord. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full.”

By the picture of the grilled cheese sandwich:

Matthew 4:4 “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

On the vegetable page:

Daniel 1:12-15 “’Please test us for 10 days. Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare us with the other young men who eat the royal food, and treat us in accordance with what you see.’ So he agreed to this and tested them for 10 days. At the end of the 10 days they looked healthier and better nourished than the other young men who were eating the royal food.”

The Vidalia onion is the best thing to come out of Missouri since TS Eliot, Sara Teasdale, Bob Barker and Rush Limbaugh!

Corn is a-maize-ing!

By the picture of the applesauce:

Psalm 17:8 “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.”

The wonderful thing about tomatoes is

Tomatoes is wonderful things!

They make sauces divine

Ev-er-y time

For tomatoes lets rise up and sing!

By the bottled water:

Genesis 1:2 “And the earth was formless and void… and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep.”

On the meat page:

I love steak.

Broiled, fried or baked.

But one on the grill

Gives me a thrill.

Did I mention that I love steak?

On the dairy page, by the eggs:

In Zoology, an egg is an “organic vessel in which and embryo first begins to develop.”

On the Wine & Spirits page:

Whiskey, vodka, wine and beer;

We’ve all had way too much, I fear!

We don’t hafta go home, but we can’t stay here

So get outta the car and let the sober one steer.

And finally:

A helpful smile in every aisle,

We’ll wait here while

You shop in style.

You can bring your child,

But if he is wild

We’ll put you on file

And the checkers and I’ll

Surely be riled

And our bouncer named Kyle

Will toss you in a pile!

Here is "Lonesome Lucy."

Her pasture mate, Bubba (at right below) has gone to a fine new home and Lucy needs a fearless teenager to take her in. Lucy is 7 years old, unregistered QH mare, (Poco Doc breeding), dark buckskin. Has had 60 days professional training, but is a bit green due to lack of time. She loves attention, and is very people friendly. Lucy is the one on the left in photo below. Stands well for the farrier. She will be a good mount for someone who can give her lots of trail time. Email me for more contact info.

(Email address is on horsetrailriders FB page.)

Truly, I don't want ot "get rid" of her - I just have to let her go.

So.. a garage sale I participated in ended on a hilarious note.

At the closing hour, Bonnie and her sister, Kathy loaded up the back of my pickup with unsold items to be donated to goodwill. “We’ll help you unload,” they both promised. By the time the loading was done, there was no room for a passenger in the front of the pickup. With a promise from Bonnie and Kathy to meet me there, I climbed in and headed to the goodwill store. Fortunately for me, the goodwill workers were available to help me unload. Meanwhile, back at Bonnie’s, Kathy was sitting in her car wondering, “Where the heck is Bonnie?” and Bonnie was sitting in HER car wondering, “Where is the heck is Kathy?” By the time they found each other, I was done unloading and came back to Bonnie’s in time to hear the story and got a huge laugh out of it!

"To everything, there is a season...

It looks like my season as a "cowgirl" has come to an end, due to financial concerns.

The following two horses are now for sale:

Bubba: 17 year old Bay Arabian Gelding. Registered with AHA. Trail horse. Has been on River City Roundup Northeast 7 times. Other rides we've been on several times: Weekend at Bernie's, Petersburg, The Grand Duke Alexis Rendevous. Been many times to Cunningham Lake, Two Rivers Park, Nottleman's at Macy. Does well in parades (unless firecrackers are involved.) Very gentle, good with kids and greenhorns. He is pictured below at left taking my elderly brother for a ride.

Lucy: 8 year old purebred UNREGISTERED Quarterhorse mare. Dark Buckskin. Has had 60 days professional training. Was imprinted at birth. Needs some trail time. I have her sire's bloodline papers for your examination. Lucy is pictured below at right, taking me for a ride.

Both are very good natured, people friendly, stand well for the farrier. Easy to catch, easy to load. Bubba, being Arabian, does not grow a very thick winter coat, so would be better if he can get in out of winter weather.

Prices very negotiable for the right home.



I love these horses.

Below: me on Lucy at left, a small cousin on Bubba at right:




Here we (me and Bubba) are at Petersburg in '08:



Here they are, just hangin' loose. Lucy at left, Bubba right:



Closeups.
Bubba:



Lucy:






Email me if you are interested.

Doug, the Dog:



A/K/A: The Mighty Haybale Climber.

Actually, it's more of a leap for him than a climb.
He must like this point of view because he gets up there a lot.

September 15-17, Emily and I drove to St. Louis, MO and went to the Joyce Meyer Love Life Women's Conference, along with 21,998 of our closest friends. We had worship times led by Israel Houghton and Cece Wynans; heard Joyce speak during most of the sessions and heard John and Stasi Eldredge. Can't begin to describe how refreshing it was. Hope to be able to go again sometime.
And since it was only a few blocks away from our hotel, we also went up in the Arch.
So here are some pics:

The Edward Jones Dome, where we attended the conference.


A view of the Dome from the Arch:

And - oh yeah - also where the Rams play football.

From the Arch: Home field of the St. Louis Cardinals:


From the Arch; The Old Courthouse, where the Dred Scott Decision was handed down:


Here is the Arch and some downtown buildings. The green dome on the right is the Old Courthouse.


One of the highlights of the trip for Em was spending Fri afternoon at Macy's with a 20% off coupon, compliments of Joyce.


Some sort of a weird double exposure thing that happened in the camera. I kinda like it, tho. Gotta love those 35 mm's.