Getting ready for a party this coming up Monday has proven to be a task. We are expecting about 40 people AT OUR HOME for a Memorial Day Pig Out! And what am I going to feed 40 hungry people? Only the best BAYBEEE… boneless country-style pork ribs! I’m not even sure our grill is big enough, but we will figure it out… we always do!
But I figure we aren’t the only peeps in town who had this same idea. So I didn’t want to wait until Monday to go shopping for ribs. What if I can’t find any? And if I do find any, who’s to say that I will find enough? Did I mention I need 25 pounds of them? So what do I do? I call around to every meat department at every grocery store in Rutherford County!
The first place I called pretty much laughed at me and told me that I’ve lost my mind! After calling four different Food Lion’s, four different Publix’s, Sam’s Club, WalMart, and three different Kroger’s, I finally reached a Kroger that said they were just about to put an order in for a delivery truck to deliver on Sunday, and that they will special order my 25 pounds of country-style boneless pork ribs! WOW! I was so excited!
However since my conversation on the phone with this Kroger meat department consisted of a little girl putting me on hold to go ask the meat manager every question I had and return to the phone with my answer, I decided I would call back later today to double check! Unfortunately the manager had already gone home for the day, and the jerk who answered the phone cut me off in mid sentence and told me to call back tomorrow. Can you say RUDE?
What ever happened to customer service? What ever happened to the idea of a business trying to please their customers? What about just some plain ‘ol kindness? Is it really that difficult to just BE NICE to people? So maybe he couldn’t help me. Maybe he couldn’t answer my questions. But did he have to cut me off in mid sentence and rudely tell me that I was going to have to call back tomorrow? Ummmm… hello! I’d rather cook burgers than to buy $150 worth of meat from a grocery store who can’t even let me finish my sentence! That one idiot just put that store into the same class that I had filed the previous grocery stores into, simply because he was mean!
And what about all the phone calls I get from telemarketers? I try really hard to be nice to people! I understand that everyone has a job to do, and I do not want to make it any harder for them by being ugly simply because they called me while I was in the middle of editing a set of photos or feeding my family. But I bet I’ve had at least 5 telemarketers call me in the past week who hung up in my face the very second that they realized they weren’t going to be able to sell me that medical insurance for the self-employed! Way to represent your company dufus! I doubt I will be recommending you to any of my colleagues!
The same principle applies to people in my industry! For the most part, I have been welcomed into the Nashville wedding scene by all. But there are a couple of people that stick out to me as being rude, mean, or spiteful. When it comes to needing to recommend a certain vendor to one of my bride’s, I’m pretty sure I will be recommending people who have shown common courtesy. The way that we treat other people is exactly the way it is perceived by others that we will treat a bride and groom.
There is one particular photographer (not in the Nashville area) who has totally surprised me! I was a huge follower of his until I realized how mean and hateful he was being to people on Twitter. It’s like he felt that HIS way was the best and ONLY way to do anything, and heaven help you if you tried to offer anything different! And it is always about stupid stuff too. Mac verses PC, Canon verses Nikon, etc. He makes fun of anyone who has a style that may be different that what HE views as properly exposed. I personally overexpose everything on purpose. That is my style. That is what I like, and what I feel makes me different than others. Not to say that my way is better. Just saying that it is different. And if a potential bride chooses someone else because they do not think that my overexposed images will fit their needs, then that is fine. There will be another bride who likes it. Seriously… Mr Unnamed Photographer… do you honestly need to belittle people just because they have a different view, style, or preference?
What ever happened to kindness?
I can assure you that I will never fall into this trap! I will never get too busy to be kind to others, even if I can’t help them. And if I do, I truly hope that one of you will put me in my place!
Sorry for the rant peeps! LOL! I feel better now.
Be sure to subscribe to the blog! And leave me a comment! What is your opinion about customer service these days? Is there one particular company you feel still delivers good customer service?
It is week week number 22 over at I Heart Faces, and this week it is all about raising awareness to a fabulous charity that is located right here in my back yard! Nashville is home to Soles 4 Souls, who collects shoes from footwear warehouses and people’s shoe closets everywhere, in order to distribute these shoes to people in need all across the globe. They have distributed in over 125 countries since 2005 and I Heart Faces is trying to help spread the word about them.
Soles 4 Souls is celebrating BAREFOOT WEEK, and wants your participation. What a great cause! And it doesn’t take much of anything from you to help out a huge amount!
by Wendy Cunningham
This is so amazing!!!
This is gorgeous!
Oh my! That is breathtaking!