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Dec 11, 2008
Customer Service ReportRecently I started working, as I think I mentioned. My main job is working as a cashier in what is, let's face it, a gas station. It's on base, so they call it a "C-Store" (convenience store), but it's a gas station. Briefly I worked as a waitress in a poolhall, and that is also a customer service job. At any rate, I now notice things I didn't before about other cashiers and people in similar job positions. It's easy to notice when someone isn't doing their job very well, or has an attitude. But can I just say one thing, to all of you customers? Did you ever consider that our attitude is a reciprocation of yours? It's a very tough, thankless job. So let me give you a few pointers, some tips, just little things to remember the next time you're in line at the checkout at your local grocery store, Wal-Mart, Sears, or any line in any store. We are ALL people, with feelings, just trying to get through one more day. Without further ado, my list of things that aggravate me:
- TALKING ON THE PHONE! Folks please, put the phone down, ask your mother/sister/friend/boyfriend/cousin to HOLD ON. Aside from being rude this also breaks down communication and we cannot do our jobs well. You're talking to someone else, not to us, the person who is trying to assist you. We don't know what you are saying to whom. Just...don't do it.
- Reaching across the counter to grab your bag. We'll hand it to you, we promise. We know you're in a hurry. There is usually a reason that it's not been moved toward you. Also, you're coming into my personal space when you do this.
- Try to have your ID ready/easily accessible if you are buying something you know you'll be carded for or using a credit card. You will probably be asked for it, if not, oh well, at least now you don't have to fumble for it. (Part B of this...put your ID in the same place and stop cursing and looking through your purse/wallet for it as if you don't know why we asked you to show it.)
- Smile. We do this for you, despite having bad days. Well, some of us do. If you see a cashier smile, just return it. Everyone has a rough time, doesn't it feel better to smile than frown?
- Yes, you have to wait in line. It doesn't matter who you are, what you are buying, how many things you are buying or where you need to be in 10 minutes. Everyone else is waiting in line, common courtesy dictates that you wait too.
This last one is particularly aggravating when it comes to the gas. People assume they can just pay for their gas and leave, or just throw some money at me and I can prepay the pump. That's not how it works. Oh, and take your receipt if you prepay. Just in case you don't fill up your tank and there is money leftover. Also...we don't turn on the pump. Seriously. We can prepay, we can approve, but we don't turn it on. Sorry.
I think that's it for my rant right now. Clearly it hasn't been a marvelous day today. But I will be back tomorrow, smiling. Life is too short to be unkind to other human beings. Just remember that. Good day.Labels: life, working, writing 15:49 | | 
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Mar 12, 2007
Composition on Knitbloggingcom·po·si·tion [kom-puh-zish-uhn]
–noun 1. the act of combining parts or elements to form a whole.
2. the resulting state or product.
3. manner of being composed; structure: This painting has an orderly composition.
4. makeup; constitution: His moral composition was impeccable.
5. an aggregate material formed from two or more substances: a composition of silver and tin.
6. a short essay written as a school exercise.
7. the act or process of producing a literary work.
8. an academic course for teaching the techniques of clear, expository writing.
9. the art of putting words and sentences together in accordance with the rules of grammar and rhetoric.
10. a piece of music.
11. the art of composing music.
12. Fine Arts. the organization or grouping of the different parts of a work of art so as to achieve a unified whole.
13. Grammar. the formation of compounds or derivatives: the composition of “aircraft” from “air” and “craft.”
14. a settlement by mutual agreement.
15. an agreement or compromise, esp. one by which a creditor or group of creditors accepts partial payment from a debtor.
16. a sum of money so paid.
17. Printing.
a. the setting up of type for printing.
b. Also called pagination. the makeup of pages for printing.
18. Mathematics. the process of making a composite function of two given functions.
That is quite a definition, however, in this case I'm using (loosely) the ninth definition (which I underlined for you). Be gentle, I wrote this very early in the morning. Also, it contains personal information that is hard for me to share. There is no knitting content in this post, so just don't read it if you aren't interested.
Where do I begin? I've said it before, but have never fully expressed my love of the knitblogging community. My husband took the good computer with him over the weekend and I though, "Well, good. Now I'll really get some knitting done". I had no idea what effect being with that link to the internet would be like.
First, a bit of background, to understand better my response to the community blogging provides. When I first moved to North Carolina, two and a half years ago, I was very lonely. We had one child, no cable or local television, one care and I was miles away from everything familiar. Things were not very good, it's rough to be a young mother married to a Marine. Ask anyone who's done it. Moreover, the therapists were telling me I had hypo-manic-depression, my husband and I were going through marital counseling after only six months of marriage...I had never felt so alone in my whole life. At one point I was so desperate that I attempted suicide, it's hard for me to talk about even today. Still, as I stated previously, I want to tell you all of this so that you can see what all of you and knitting have meant to me. This was all in the summer of 2004.
There is about a year gap between "the bad time" and the point when I began to knit. In that time my marriage progressed, we had a second child, I got a job...things were looking up. My husband was always supportive of my creativity and love of crafts, he was always encouraging me to look outside of myself and find friends. With time I made friends who had similar interests to mine and became less closed off. Life was getting into a comfortable, happy groove. Shortly after Heather's second birthday and Kyran's first, we received some unexpected news.
I was pregnant again.
You can imagine how we felt. My body doesn't handle pregnancy well, not to mention the negative effects the hormones have on my already unstable emotions. As Justin likes to put it, I get psycho. lol At any rate I felt a real depression coming on. I was looking for any way to distract myself. Most of my free time was spent aimlessly surfing the internet. Even though I was doing "something" it often felt like nothing and was boring. On one of these occasions I turned up a picture of this ultra cute knitted hat...with kitty ears! Which I now know to be the Kittyville hat, of course. Having ever been the crafty type I said to myself, "Self, you can make this!" Thus began my introduction to knitting. My first attempt (a pair of legwarmers in Lion Brand Homespun) came out a miserable and hideous failure. I've since thrown them away, even though I am the sentimental type, they were depressing me.
Now, had it not been for my discovery of The Tail Spinner, I might have given up entirely. But I was not to be thwarted. In March of 2006 I walked into my first yarn shop, and a part of me has never left. It was awkward at first, I felt a little uncomfortable and afraid to be laughed out of the shop on account of my age. Though I had never felt reserved before about going into a craft shop. The owner, Linda, was kind and helped me to get my bearings. She set me up with the materials for making my first hat. I am still of the opinion that hats are better first projects than scarves, however that's not what I'm writing about here.
Being the internet junk I am, I Googled many things knitting related: patterns, techniques, actually that was how I found The Tail Spinner. So, it only seemed natural to begin a blog. Never did I realize how big this would all become for me. Knitting is the best drug in the world, and yarn junkies are some of the coolest people out there.
Many of you have never me me "in real life", still I feel that you might know me better than some of the people who have. We are all so different, different paths, homes, personalities, this one overlapping interest is enough for us to reach out to one another. In knitting, we have a common bond. I feel as if I could call you up to get together for coffee or tea (though I drink neither), or perhaps we might take our kids to the park for a play date. My knitblogging friends feel more real to me than the "friends" who live around the corner. People that I don't even bother to call, despite that my husband was gone for five days and I was alone with all three children. Our community is strong. We help one another out with knitting problems, support and encourage each other in our knitting ambitions. I've received many comments and emails of praise and inspiriting words when I've felt down. You are all so kind, I look forward to checking my bloglines every day and reading your updates. Some day I do hope to meet some of you in person, maybe we could get a slice of pizza? Without my internet, I felt truly lonely again. The knitblogging community has helped me to connect with people and given me friends. A new sense of self worth that I could find previously has been instilled by those of you who take time out of your day to read what I write here. It might sound silly to some, but not me.
What am I trying to say? Simply that I appreciate each and ever one of you, you all mean something to me. I consider you my friends, even if this is our only correspondence. Thank you for reading my blogs, hopefully I am as good a knitblogging friend to all of you as you are to me.Labels: blogging, gratitude, life, rambling, reflections, writing 11:01 | |
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