Good Day and Happy Friday.  I am so ready for the weekend and then in not too many days a mini vacation for Jeanne and I.  We will be traveling to God’s Country and breathing some great air.  🙂  I’ll send a post card.

Last Sunday Jeanne and I went down to the river and shot some images of the replicas of the Nina and Pinta.  The background was terrible but there wasn’t anything I could do about that.  It would have been great to capture their image on the river.  Anyway I hope you enjoy the images.

Now for a rant.  If you are not in the mood just look at the pictures and stop reading here.  I know it is not a new lament for me or for that matter for a lot of people.  The level or better said, lack of customer service in some retail stores is appalling.  I won’t even go into the buying process, which by the way, I walked out of two stores for lack of anyone even acknowledging my presence after 15 minutes.

So I bought a hybrid bicycle the other evening because I need to get some exercise and with my right knee problem, lots of walking is out of the question.   The whole process took about 15 minutes so there was no sales effort  on the part of the clerk.  I told him what I wanted including accessories and he simply rang them up.  I even told him I’d pick up the bike the next night so there was no hurry to get it set up.  I picked up the bike the next night (oh by the way the kid who sold me the bike was gone and they couldn’t find my bike for awhile.)  I rode it a total of 5 miles (long enough to realize how much I’ve missed riding) and then put it away.

Then all day yesterday I was anticipating doing a moderate ride when I got off work.  Well after some unforeseen delay I suited up and was ready to go.  Ugh, back tire flat as could be.  So I aired it up and took off.   I didn’t get far before I had to call Jeanne to come get me and my flat tire.  We took it back to the store and there was a whole new crew of kids working.  So I told them I had just bought the bike the night before and I needed to get the tire fixed.

Out came the repair guy telling me that they didn’t put the tires on the bike so it wasn’t their fault and then he started asking me what I had done with the bike since purchasing it.  Finally he said you buy the tube and we’ll install it for half price and then he said for nothing, I suppose in response to the look I gave him.

What frustrates me the most is that the Organization I work for absolutely works day and night to give the best customer service possible.  One of my responsibilities is to help coach our staff on customer service.  Do we make mistakes?  Sure but we also work hard to fix the problem and do our best to not let it happen again.  Doing what it takes and going the extra mile when something (not even your fault) goes wrong to satisfy the customer is what is missing so often today.  So because we live and breathe customer service where I work it really irritates me when I do not receive exceptional or even marginal customer service.

On the flip side the optical department of Medical Associates simply rocks.  I bought a pair of rim less glasses  from them a few years ago.  I hated them.  I tolerated them for six months and finally decided that I was going to get a different pair.  I called the optical department to see if they had my prescription and could I pick it up.  Sure come on in was the response.  So I stopped in and the guy asked me why I needed the prescription.  I told him that I didn’t like the rim less glasses and I was going to shop around for another pair.  He said we’ll replace them for you for no cost.  Huh?  I said I picked these out.  I insisted on the rim less glasses even though the technician suggested they were not possibly the best frames for me.

Doesn’t matter was the response.  But I said, they are over six months old.  doesn’t matter was the response.  They gave me new frames for no additional cost to me and I was a happy camper.  Guess where I’ve bought my last three pair of glasses.  Have they made mistakes?  A couple but they apologized profusely, and most important they made it right without excuses.  That is the difference.

Okay, done.  If you’re still here thanks for letting me vent.  I hope you have a fantastic Friday and a great weekend.  Thanks for stopping by and be careful.