Rackin' Frackin'......

At the risk of sounding like an old fuddy duddy - i.e. the kind of person I used to roll my eyes at myself - I need to address a problem that I feel has become rampant among those working in the service industry:

As it turns out, they just really couldn't give a shit!

Yeah, so I'm in one of those "I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" militant moods. But really? If I work hard for the money I earn and elect to spend said hear-earned money at the retail outlets of my choice, shouldn't I be greeted, served and generally treated with care and appreciation?

Isn't it important to forge bonds with customers in the ever-increasingly competitive world of commerce by offering them the one thing that sets your business apart from the other guy - i.e. CUSTOMER FRIKKIN' SERVICE?!?!?!

Now let me preface this by saying that I am in Customer Service. I make my living at making my customer happy and doing everything within my power to make sure they get what they need, when they need it. I pride myself on being the go-to girl for the most gnarly, rotten, temperamental customers we have and I make it my job to turn them around and send them off with a smile. I take pride in what I do, I am damned good at it and I expect to be treated the same way as I treat all of my customers: I let them know they are special to me and that there is nothing I would rather be doing at that moment that serving them.

I am sick of walking into Loblaw's and busting my budget on the pretty red peppers and quality chicken breasts only to end up at the checkout, desperately trying to get the attention of the cashier who can't stop gossiping with the bagboy (or girl) about the latest employee affairs or complaining about how they have worked for three whole hours and not gotten a break yet.
Look at ME! Nod at ME! Say "hi there" to ME! At least acknowledge my presence for the LOVE OF GOD!

I am also sick of paying the price for the service person behind the counter who is in a bad mood. It is NOT my fault that your car wouldn't start this morning. It is NOT my fault you didn't get the raise you wanted. It is NOT my fault that the last three customers you served were bitchy to you. I KNOW it is hard to put on a smile and a brave face when you are really not feeling it. Hell, I'm so co-dependent that I even try to change their moods by being extra nice and smiling at them more and telling THEM to have a nice day.

FUCK!

I wish I was like my friend Kiki. She used to be like me and swallow the crap service; look the other way even when she felt she was being grossly mistreated. She attributes her new attitude to turning 30 and being too old to take shit from anyone anymore, but I have seen her in action and she's my hero.

But I am still dumb enough to look the other way. I feel bad asking to speak to an employee's manager and complain about shoddy service; it's like I would immediately and irrevocable turn into my mother. Or a NARC. Or "The Man".... I am too shy to interrupt the Loblaws cashier and her groupie bagperson and say, "Hi, I know you are having a conversation here, but would you mind paying more attention to your job and to your most important source of revenue: ME?"

After all, in the grand scheme of things, it is me paying their salary, right? So what if it's only minimum wage, does that give them the right to disrespect their job and as a result, me?

There would be no job for her if I didn't come in each week and pick the ripest, most pretty (and overpriced, by the way) peppers, right?

That's it. I'm not 30 yet, but I'm sick of paying to be abused.

I'm starting a revolution.

NO MORE CRAP SERVICE!

The Group Of Seven

So he tagged me... FUN!

Okay, here goes:

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they are any good, but they must be songs you are really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they are listening to.

"Better Together" by Jack Johnson (I'm with Lambic regarding Jack Johnson and this song in particular makes me smile to my toes.

"Ordinary Day" by Great Big Sea (the turn-my-mood-around song that never fails to brighten up my day).

"Black Betty" by Ram Jam (seriously, I play frikking air drums like Animal in the Muppet Show when I hear this song and CHOM is nice enough to play it often).

"Run" by Rex Goudie (the song he was thinking about and for all the same reasons).

"Breathe" by Anna Nalick (it's melancholy and just beautiful to listen to).

"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen (the best song on the face of the earth EVER and makes me sing out loud like a freak in the car).

"A Rush of Blood To The Head" entire album by Coldplay (it's my "what if you were stuck on a desert Island and had the choice to bring ONE CD ONLY pick).

Wow, when you start writing it down, 7 is so little..... I could keep going and going and going and going and going and going.....

TAG!

How I Feel About You

FULFILLMENT

"And lo, I have opened unto you the gates of my being
And like a tide, you have flowed into me.
The innermost recesses of my spirit are full of you
And all the channels of my soul are grown sweet with your presence
For you have brought me peace;

The peace of great tranquil waters,
And the quiet of the summer sea.
Your hands are filled with peace as
The noon-tide is filled with light
I am utterly content;

About your head is bound the eternal Quiet of the stars,
And in your heart dwells the calm miracle of twilight.
In all my being there is no ripple of unrest
For I have opened unto you the wide gates of my being
And like a tide, you have flowed into me."

***

Because there is little happiness in me without you.

Because wherever I am with you is Home.

Je t'aime.