A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 36

Happy Monday to All!

So I was a little offended by a customer...

Customer: What is your name, again?

Me: La Tache

Customer: Spell it

Me: L.a.T.a.c.h.e.

Customer: Where are you? You must not be in the United States. You must be in India, or somewhere...

Me: We are in Los Angeles, how can I help you today?

What a buffoon!

Why would you assume I am in a different country by my name?

Isn't the US a melting pot?

Oh because your name is is Bulgarian does that mean you are in Bulgaria?

I mean, obviously...!

And furthermore, don't be rude to me.

I understand that there are a lot of people who have a grudge against big businesses who have outsourced the call centers overseas, I get that

There is still no reason for you to be rude to the people who answer the phone!

Anyway...

That was my rant

Thanks for reading :-)

I wish you all a Happy Happy Monday!

A Couple of Interesting YouTube Videos..

Some great viral videos on YouTube!

Enjoy the rest of your Monday!

This is my favorite!

Ha!

How I feel Right Now...

If you are offended by profanity, please divert your eyes!

At work I have been working on all kinds of projects and am learning how to prioritize and how to stay focused - so it's a good thing - and also exhausting!

It is great and I am so glad that I am getting new projects!

It makes the days go by much faster!

I saw this and it made me feel so much better!

image

Does any one else want it to be the end of the day so you can get home and relax for the rest of the weekend?!

20 Things to Avoid in your 20s

One of my most favorite gals (you know who you are) posted this on Facebook and I thought it was amazing and had to share!

Check out the link!

Some of my faves:

A Low Ranking on your priority list

Relying too much on your parents

Grudges

Relying too much on Technology

Wasting your time on romantic relationships that don’t contribute to the person you want to become

Microwaving your food in plastic

Ok... who am I kidding?

I thought they were all perfect!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 35

This one happened a while ago and I just thought of it and forgot to share

Customer: How much is facebook?

Me: Oh, sir, it is free, all you have to do is go to the site and sign up.

Customer: No, how much is the stock?

ha!

I am sure that I turned bright red (even though it was a phone call!)!

Of course he was calling in regards to the price of the stock...!

What was I thinking?!

Ha!

In my defense...

1) Facebook had just filed papers to IPO, so we didn't know the price of the stock...duh!

2) We just launched a Facebook marketing campaign where if you liked our page you would get $25 off of a home study kit or a workshop - so I thought he wanted to like us and was worried he had to pay to join Facebook

ha!

I don't know where my head was... haha

Happy Wednesday!

Doppelganger ...

I saw the doppelganger post here and had to play along to see who I look like.

So from the blog I went straight to the site and got a little carried away...

Picture 1.

 I get Reese Witherspoon often..

Picture 2.

Really, my best match is Bruce Willis?

And Dwayne Johnson?

Who on earth is Madeline Albright?! She is old...how do I look like here?! 

 Picture 3.

 Picture 4.

Beyonce? Wow!

I don't see it in almost all of these!

ha!

That was fun, even if they were so out of left field! 

Happy Tuesday!

24 Hours in Minneapolis, MN

For work this past weekend I went to Minneapolis, MN for a workshop.

My flight left Friday morning at 8:15am and we landed in MN at 4:45pm (local time) and we left Saturday at 4:45pm and landed back in CA at 9:15pm.

Yes, we were there for exactly 24 hours! 

It was insane!

There were 6 of us on this trip and one of our team got to MN on Thursday night.

We had a layover in Denver and I got my boots cleaned! I was very reluctant, but I gave in and I am very pleased with the results!

Before

After

We landed and we took a taxi to the hotel. Unloaded our stuff and gout the ballroom ready for the workshop on Saturday morning.

We went to dinner at a restaurant called Seven. 

We got dinner and drinks on the roof top next to this beautiful fire.

Our dinner was delicious! It was nice and relaxing!

We headed back to the hotel bar and had a night cap or two ;-) and headed off to bed.

We woke up early the next morning, worked the workshop, packed up our things and left the hotel.

We decided we want to go to the Mall of America and on our way we stopped at a Minneapolis Historic site, the Stone Arch Bridge.

It was so picture-perfect!

After the bridge we headed to the Mall.

This place is unbelievable!

There are over 500 stores in this mall AND there is an amusement park!

There is also a lego land with incredible sculptures!

We ate lunch at Bubba Gumps and then headed to the airport to head home.

My first business trip with my job and I would say it was a fun, success!

I will leave you with the beautiful sunset that I saw on the plane headed from Denver to LA.

Happy Monday to all!

A Day in the Life: Education Services Day 5

So, as you know I work for a newspaper. We have 5-day a week subscriptions and we have 1-day a week subscriptions.

The 1-Day a week subscription is for the Monday paper and it is delivered the Saturday before. (i.e. Monday 4/16 paper was delivered to customers on 4/14 -- most of the time and depending on their delivery route, Saturday is the earliest it would be delivered.

Now, in my new position I process email complaints about people missing papers etc.

Someone submitted a complaint that they missed the Friday, April 13 issue. I looked up his account and found that he is a 1-day a week subscriber, which means he, of course, missed the paper because, well he only gets the Monday paper.

I responded to his email and told him that we couldn't process his request because he is a Monday Special Subscriber only and this is the response I got (verbatim)

"The Monday special edition comes out on Friday night and is delivered on Saturday. Are you brain-dead? Change the request and give me credit for the Monday edition, please. "

WHAT?

Am I brain dead?

Really?

THAT was unnecessary!

I had to wait a moment, or 10 before I could reply to his email to make sure that I didn't get myself fired.

How rude!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 34

Customer: I'm on the website, and it says that I need to sign in to access?

Me: Did you log in?

Customer: No.

Me: If it is telling you to sign in, you need to sign in.

Customer: Oh, ok. Well I am always already signed in?

Me: I understand, I am not sure what happened on your computer, but all you need to do is sign in.

Customer: oh, oh! Thanks for your help!

So, you are telling me that you waited on hold for 8 minutes for me to tell you to do something that the computer actually told you to before you called me?

And you didn't even troubleshoot?

Sheesh!

Easter Week

My mom, brothers and uncle drove down the weekend before Easter for the entire week to be in the Southern California Sunshine for Spring Break.

They arrived Friday night, we made Mexican and Margaritas and had a great evening.

We woke up the next morning and Rich took Sam and Daniel (my broskies) camping while mom, my uncle and I got ready and headed to the Dessert for the weekend to visit family.

We were welcomed in the Dessert by these amazing cupcakes:

Totally vegan and absolutely delicious!

I frosted them...

This is my moms cousin and my second cousin. 

I walked in and we realized that we matched!

How gorgeous is this sky?!

On Sunday we went for a walk and enjoyed the beautiful views

While we were enjoying our time eating and relaxing...

Rich and my Broskies were hiking 7 miles and setting up camp.

Sadly, they ended up having to go home early and not actually sleep at the campsite because it stormed...

Boo!

-----

My family spent their first weekend of Spring Break with us, and then headed to San Clemente to visit my Grandparents and my other Uncle.

I will not lie, it was nice to have our little apartment back to ourselves...imagine having 6 people in an already small apartment...

We drove down on Saturday to San Clemente to visit my family and spend Easter with them.

We got there right before noon on Saturday, said hello to my grandparents and walked to the pier where my uncles and one of my brothers were fishing.

It was the most beautiful day! 

The boys headed back to the house and Rich and I decided to get something to eat on the pier.

We got Pulled Chicken BBQ sandwiches and they were AMAZING! 

I think they tasted better because we were in the warm sunshine, drinking cold beers and enjoying our time together

After lunch, we headed back to the house and Rich Read while I played cards with my Broskies

We were hanging out enjoying the sunshine when Rich decided to start teaching my brothers how to do head / blood lock ...So kind of him...

We decided to head down to the beach before the sun went down and we played smash ball

It was gorgeous outside!

Not a very good shot because of the sun - but it was fun!

We went back up to the house and cracked open some champagne...obviously!

The broskies and I :-)

So cute..

Too bad we were missing Poppa D!

We had a nice visit and the weather could not have been more beautiful!

I hope you all had a fun Easter Holiday!
Where has April gone?!
Can you believe it is already mid-April?!
Wow!

Friday's Letters

I saw this here and she got it here and I just had to follow along!

What a fun post idea!

Dear Friday, Wow, you snuck up on my fast!

Dear Friends, Thank you for calling ;-)

Dear Coffee, well Chai Tea...thank you for being sweet and tasty!

Dear Life, slow down! Let me enjoy you to the fullest! Where has 2012 gone?!

Dear Husband, words cannot express how wonderful you are! I am proud of you for all of your accomplishments! 

Dear Self, You are awesome! Keep it up!

Happy Friday!

A Day in the Life: Education Services Day 4

So with my new position, I am required to process emails.

No Papers, Address Changes, Vacation Holds, Product Questions, Technical Difficulties

Whatever you think, that is what I answer...(or at least that is where I will be shortly! - Right now I am focusing on Address changes and vacation holds, we are short on staff)

Because I am constantly going through emails, I have seen my fair share of crazy/silly/totally inappropriate email addresses.

This one takes the cake...

RAW_WEINER@*******

Um...?

Is my mind in the gutter?

Or is this totally, absolutely, utterly...

INAPPROPRIATE?!

2 things:

1) Do you email your grandma with that email?

2) Tell me, please tell me, is that email address on your resume?!

Get a real email

period. 

end of story.

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 33

I had a frustrating customer and my buddy said this to me

And I think it is genius!  

My Buddy: "My grandma used to say: 'don't worry about it...they are just confirming their reservation...'"

Me: "Confirming their reservation?"

My Buddy: "Yeah, confirming their reservation in hell"

Remember that the next time some one is rude to you!

:-) 

Happy Hump Day!

11 Questions

The Lovely Adrienne over at AOG Daily tagged me in a blog post! I haven't done one of these in while and I thought her questions were great!

Here is the deal:

I answer the questions 

I ask questions

You answer my questions 

and so it goes

So...here we go!

(Whenever you say "here we go" do you want to just break out into NSYNC "Here We Go" 

I do! I am singing it now...!)

Alright, Seriously now...

1. If you could bring back one TV show that's not on anymore, what would it be?

No Question, Hands Down: Friends

I miss Friends!

2. What's your favorite hair product?

Good Question...um...I use Joico. It all smells AMAZING!

Each product has a different fruit scent

I love it!

3. What's your number one dream vacation spot that you haven't been to?

I would love to go to Peru and see Machu Picchu

Or Spain, That is a must

I want to travel the world!

Now who has a money tree who wants to share a branch?!

4. What's your least favorite book you've read in the past year?

Sadly, I haven't read a lot recently. I am reading the Bible now and to break it up a bit, I just started reading Malcolm Gladwell's new book "What the Dog Saw"

5. Describe your perfect Saturday.

Sleeping in, riding my bike with my sweet man to our favorite coffee shop, eating lunch at our favorite Italian Deli, drinking wine, making a yummy homemade dinner together and ending the night with Cheers or a movie :-)

6. What is one food you really hate?

Olives - Ick!

7. Show a picture of any room in your dream home.

Our dream house will have the most amazing kitchen

Rich and I love to cook and spend time in the kitchen

So, this is beautiful!

image

8. Who is your best friend and why?

This is a tough question and I am going to cop out of it with my answer

I would, first, like to say:
I have many great friends, even many best friends

All of my friends bring a different part of me out and I lean on each of my friends in different ways

My best friend is my husband :-)

He is my best friend because he knows me the best

He knows me inside and out

He makes me laugh, he makes me smile

He brings out the best in me

He supports me

He is my biggest fan

He is the one person who doesn't need an explanation, he just knows and accepts

He is simply wonderful and brings an unbelievable amount of joy to my life

9. Crayons, markers or colored pencils?

Crayons!

10. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

I am very social, friendly and outgoing

However, I would consider myself and Introvert
It is exhausting to be "turned on" all of the time

I enjoy being at home, alone or with my husband, and relaxing

11. How old will you be on your next birthday?

25

My 11 Questions for you:

1. What is your greatest Success?

2. In a perfect world, what do you want to be "When you Grow Up"?

3. 

Do you prefer sweets or salty?

4. If you could live anywhere, where would you live?

5. What is the first memory that comes to mind when asked: When were you last the happiest you have ever been?

6. If you could go back to school(or go to school), what would you study and why?

7. If you could get married again, would you have changed anything, knowing what you know now?

8. What is your favorite feature about yourself?

9. If you have read the book, What is your love language? If you haven't read it, READ IT!

10. 

What makes your heart smile?

11. If you could change one thing, what would you change? (Interpret it how you want :-))

Crazy Shenanigans

Sincerely Sara Cate

Lindsay Alexis

Griki

Heart on Homestead

Lacey in the City

The Presutti's

Sunshine.Life.Love

Thankful for Second Chances

Everything Girly & Beyond

A Monkey in the Navy

Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 32

It's customers like these who will never fail to make me smile!

Customer: You are a great person.

Me: Well, thank you, Sir!

Customer: Do you have a boyfriend?

Me: I have a husband, sir.

Customer: I bet he knows that you are a great person.

Me: Oh yes he does! I remind him every day :-)

Customer: Oh, I bet you do!

Me: Yes I sure do.

Customer: Do you have kids?

Me: Oh, no, not yet.

Customer: But you want them, right?

Me: Yes, just not for a while.

Customer: Well, congratulations for when you have them.

Thank you for telling me that I am great! I needed to hear that today.

When you are polite and nice to people, you never know how much of a difference you make in someone's day.

Smile at a stranger.

Say Hello to your neighbor 

Hug your favorite pet

Kiss your sweetie

Have a great day!

It just might someone else's all the brighter :-)

Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 31

I get all kinds of crazy calls...

This, by far, is the craziest I have ever experienced!

This customers wife called me. 

She told me that her husband just subscribed on Friday

He got his first paper and she told me that he had a nervous breakdown over the paper...

She said he didn’t understand the content of the paper and he started to say that he didn’t know how he graduated college etc. 

She proceeded to tell me that he is in the hospital on a 72 hour hold because he, basically, went bazerk over our paper!

What?!

I told the customer's wife what the refund would be on the account and she asked me how many papers she is paying for.

I answered her question and told her that we couldn’t stop the paper until Thursdays edition, that is how our system works, and she flipped!

Customer: Oh my gosh, I don’t want him to see it in the trash when he gets home… Is there anything you can do? He asked me to cancel it  {blah blah blah}

I told her that I could send a request to the carrier to ask them to stop delivery ASAP, but I couldn't guarantee it

WHAT?!

Apparently our paper drives people insane?!

And their wives, too?

Oh. Boy.

!

Happy April

Happy April!

May this month be full of family and cozy Saturday!