People these days Archives - Trinkets of Thought

Ummmmmm…You can’t do that…..

July 11, 2007 by Maren 5 Comments

So today, I’m helping a customer on the phone. The conversation went something like this…

Me: What’s your name, please?

Customer: Jenni.

Me: Could you please spell that?

Customer: J as in John. E as in Easy. N as in New York. N as in New York. I as in I.

Not that I’m a spelling expert, but you can’t do that! that’s like saying the definition of definition is a definition. Just doesn’t work. What if I thought she were saying “Eye” and substituted an “e” in it’s place? In this case, it wouldn’t have mattered much, BUT in other contexts, the changing of a letter could make a drastic difference! There’s one word I can think of for this: DUMB. That’s D as in Dumb. U as in Ultra Dumb. M as in More Dumb. And B as in Badder Dumb.

Happy Wednesday!

Graciousness for the Clueless

July 10, 2007 by Maren 8 Comments

This weekend, Michael and I headed to a nearby Home Depot for a fabulous experience with a clueless individual. You see, we’ve got this project on the back burner of our minds, hoping to complete it soon or “get around to it”–You know how these types of projects go– it’s a domino effect of things to do, and frankly can be overwhelming when it comes down to getting the actual task completed. So, there is a washer smack-dab in my kitchen. To hide the eyesore, we plan to buy a compact washer and dryer, keep them in the kitchen, but enclose them in cabinets so they look relatively normal and avoid being such an eyesore. Our first stop on our estimate-making journey was to stop at the counter tops section to get estimates for replacing our kitchen counters (which look like a gigantic cutting board.) Let’s just say that I have overly expensive taste, as I love the granite. Now granted, Granite is nice (sorry couldn’t help)…BUT, putting granite in our small home would be a dumb decision because installing them would about double any asking price we’d eventually need to sell our house and break even! Okay, kidding, but it’s still WAY steep. After making our way to the counters, we meandered up to the washer and dryer area where we were quickly pounced upon by a eager salesman. I’d been helped there before, but by another individual. I told the salesman what I was looking for–and since I’d been here before, I knew they had it available to be ordered. He got out his little catalog books and started searching. Soon, he was telling me that what I wanted didn’t exist. I gently tried telling him that I’d been helped here before, and I know they exist AND in fact, at one time they had a model on display. But no, of course, I was wrong. I continued to insist there was a front-loading washer smaller than the one he was showing me, but he said that washers that small are not front-loading. After a few minutes of getting nowhere, I thanked him for his help, and left (muttering mean things under my breath about salespeople who don’t know what they are talking about). Returning home, and searching for the item on the Home Depot website, I quickly found exactly what I was looking for. Sigh.

I couldn’t help but stewing about how useless some customer service people are– how they speak like they know everything, when in reality, they don’t know much. But then, the tables turned, and I thought about my job. I’ve recently received a small promotion, and it requires much more technical knowledge and lingo that I’m still learning- Realistically, it will take me about a year to feel comfortable in my current position and about the same time to gain the knowledge that I need to handle calls (and not ask for help on every call…). I probably sound to my callers like the goofy Home Depot man sounded to me. Definitely something for me to think about and to learn from: I want people to be gracious to me while I’m learning, so I should be the same to the clueless salesman. But perhaps I can also learn from this experience by realizing, too, that it’s okay not not have all the answers and to humbly admit it when I don’t.

Life, Gotta Love It!

Signs that your neighbor is nosey…

May 1, 2007 by Maren 10 Comments

Recently, I had this conversation with my neighbor. I think it’s indicative that she’s like the nosey neighbor, Gladys Kravitz from Bewitched, if you remember that show…

Ellie: I saw you painted your kitchen red.

Maren: YEAH! Come in and see it!

Ellie: No need (smirk on face)! I already peeked in the windows!

HAHAHAH! Our neighbors are the best neighbors anyone could ask for, and I truly am thankful they are our neighbors. The husband “patrols” the street, walking up and down throughout the day. They have lived in their house for over 50 years and keep a watchful eye on the goings-on of the neighborhood. I know if anything suspicious would happen, they’d be on top of it, and I feel safe to have neighbors that care. Still, a conversation like the one above has to make one chortle!

ALMOST WEDNESDAY!

This isn’t the pros, Mister

April 24, 2007 by Maren 7 Comments

Sunday evening, we went to see a Cub’s game–well, not actually THE CUBS, but a little league game of a friend who plays on the Cubs team. He is in 6th grade and has been playing little league for many years. The reminder of how serious some parents can be about their little munchkin’s sports came about as fast a baseball smacking me in the face. No sooner had we taken our seats on the bleachers when a parent begin to YELL at the coach–Apparently, the father didn’t want the coach to coach his son. Interesting, as this is what the entire argument was about. The debate became heated until all the players on and off the field, all the parents, the parents from the other team, and the umps stopped play to look at the dueling pair. What didn’t help matters to any degree was that both umps were no more than seniors in high school, so their attempts to break up the fight were ignored and the war of words continued. One of the umps cleared his throat again, probably to keep his voice from cracking, and said in the most manly voice possible, “Hey, let’s get back to the game.” The fight fizzled, and to the credit of the parent who started the fight, he seemed truly remorseful, and apologized to those around him.

Fast forward an inning or so, and a chubby kid steps to bat. He’s known for striking out. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice an older man in a purple shirt watching the boy intently. The count is 3 balls 2 strikes. The ball is pitched, and the boy doesn’t swing–He’s out. His countenance drops drastically as he heads for the dug out, but he is outran by several strides of the man in the purple shirt. “It was 3 balls, 2 strikes, and when it’s 3 balls, 2 strikes, you swing?!?!?!? What !?!?@?@ are you !?@!?@#?? thinking??!@??!#@” His words are infiltrated with cursing, and the volume of his yelling is enough to quiet a true Cubs stadium. Now the question I want to ask the purple shirt man is WHAT ARE YOU THINKING???? Do you think it does the boy any good to receive this type of ridicule? Do you think your grandson will be able to hit the ball BETTER the next time at bat because of this little EPISODE? Maybe the man needs to screw his brain on his head correctly and realize that the next time the boy gets up to bat, this situation will replay like a video tape in the little leaguer’s head… and he will be far less likely than ever to hit that ball! Come on now, I mean REALLY (as sarcasm is just dripping off my computer right now), doesn’t every young adolescent boy hope for this type of grandfatherly relationship? Isn’t it every sixth graders’ dream to be humiliated by his grandfather in front of peers, parents and coaches! The boy looks as if tears are about to spill and turns away from his grandfather. The grandfather, then, turns and attacks the mother for “enabling the boy’s behavior.” Whatever that was supposed to mean.

These were the two major (even though it was little league! haha) things that happened, but throughout the evening, as parents yelled at their players and coaches questioned the calls of the umps, I just wanted to scream, ” This isn’t the pro’s, Mister!”