Emotional

Eating crow.

/ Codefreak / Leave a comment

I posted last about a news store that upset me. Now I am, in turn, going to try and do something different. I said some negative things about an article (and I still feel right and justified) but I believe that I need to change gears. I want to ask you, dear reader, a question.

When was the last time you talked about, or heard someone else talk about a positive customer service experience?

I can find ALL kinds of stories about horror stories of “XYZ” company that absolutely hates me the paying customer personally and does everything to make the customers life miserable. I can go on and on about the employee’s side of a store, about bad corporate decisions, or a dozen other things.

But.

When is the last time you had a great customer service experience?

Have you even thought about it?

Do you remember what happened?

If I asked you to remember the last time a retail or online store or service did you wrong, do twelve stories come right to mind? All of them ready to let me know not to use a company for ANY reason?

I know mine.

I was shopping for Christmas about to go into a 12 hour retail shift and not really looking forward to it. I go into a Kohls and am picking up some pillows for my wife. I go to the (long) check out line and patiently wait my turn. I listen to all the people complain about the crowds and how long it is taking (all the while thinking to myself “IT IS CHRISTMAS PEOPLE!!”). I step up to the counter with my goods, ready to pay and I greet the cashier. She responds with a hello and asked if I found everything. I said I had and the items I had were all I needed.

I then commented on how I saw on the way in, Kohls was going to be open 24 hours a day for the week before Christmas. I said I felt that was horrible and as a retail employee myself, I felt so sorry for them. The woman gave me a tired smile and said it wasn’t so bad but it was going to be rough the closer to Christmas it got. She asked were I worked and we made a bit of small talk as she bagged my items. I was about to pay when she told me to wait a sec, punched some things on her computer and then told me to swipe the card. I worked the pinpad, confused at why I had to wait but finished, Thanked her and told her to try and have a decent rest of the day and left. When I got in the car, I noticed that I had received the employee discount on my items!

Saving money like a boss!

Seriously though, she did not have to do that. She could have rung me up and been on her way. Instead she saw a retail family member, going through one of the worse holidays in retail I have worked (or anyone that I talked to about it had worked) and she took the time and helped me out. I was beyond touched. It is something I will remember always.

Thank you dear for that.

Hug a pony my friends.

Daddy issues.

/ Codefreak / 1 Comment

I hate most media and news sites. This is strong coming from a guy who professes love and tolerance (A Brony motto, and it falls in line with my Christian faith). This story makes me so upset, I start shaking. I have held on to this story for a few weeks so I could calm down to write it.

Let me start with a link.

https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/fathers-controversial-photo-shows-him-just-being-104350839152.html

Read it? I hope so cause this is my soapbox and here I go.

WHY IS THIS AN ISSUE!?!?!?

This breaks my heart. As a father of 2 daughters, I find myself in the same scenarios as this good sir.  The hate that has been generated is beyond useless and completely unwarranted. People who are criticizing this father need to reevaluate what they are saying. This man is not ignoring his kids. He is not beating them, neglecting them or doing anything harmful. He is not binge watching Game of thrones, Honey Boo-boo, or Sex in the City in front of them. He is spending time with his kids, letting them paint his nails (I loved some of the comments made about “his homosexuality”), and not shooing them out of the room.

This is a father who is spending his time doing something he loves with his daughters doing something they love.

Why is it that because it is a video game he is playing he is such a terrible father but if it was watching a football game its ok?

I cannot stand bigotry and that is what this is pure and simple.

Leave some comments or share with your peers. Hug a pony my friends.

Stories

/ Codefreak / Leave a comment

I love stories. I have been an avid reader from the age of 6. I can read a 800 page book I have never read before in a 4-6 hour sitting.

I READ.

Stories are captivating. They are a warm summer blanket to me. I get engrossed in the characters of a good book.

Sam and Frodo are my friends.

I hang out with Han and Luke.

My heart broke with Katniss and her sister.

Stories play across my mind like a movie only better. I can hear the people talking. I can smell the burning of a camp fire. I can feel the breeze brushing my cheek. I have a tendency to get too wrapped up in a story. More than once have I been reading and got “in too deep”

One time I was working the graveyard shift at a factory. Work was done, and I was waiting on the next truck to pull up. I sat down to read a novelized version of a Wolverine comic. About 40 minutes later, I was rudely interrupted by a coworker who almost pushed me out of my chair.  I turned and glared at him about to shout out obscenities with a vengeance. He looked at me and told me that he had been trying to get my attention for the past 5 minutes. He said my name several times and even shouted it. I looked around and saw my other coworkers looking at me with a kind of awe. It was explained to me that they had said my name several times repeatedly and that they finally had to push me to get me to snap out of my book.

I guess I get too much into my reading.

It has its drawbacks, this reading too deep and fast. I tear through books so fast, I run out of books to read. I also tend to reread the books I have read a few hundred times ( I wish I was exaggerating more than I am but it is true). Also, I tend to let my emotions take me for a roller coaster. I have been known to cry over a section of a book. Not because I felt bad, but because the character felt bad. This was not my emotion but it was affecting me!

With this, I came across a story (ish) that one of my favorite web comic artist wrote. The web comic is “xkcd”. It is a nerdy, high thinking web comic, lost of math and science.  I have enjoyed the artist’s works immensely with a few stand out favorites. I found a new one today that was quite enjoyable.

http://geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190/

Now what is interesting is that this comic is not just one comic but many, many comics put together like a flip-board. The pictures he paints are beautiful, even with just stick figures. With minimal flair and panache, he draws you in and uses such subtle details that you find yourself going back to see what you missed.

I love moments that make my heart stop. Joy and sorrow. Beauty and profound. All that make my mouth drop and my hair dance on my skin with goosebumps. Nothing will be better than a wonderful, glorious book/comic/story/song that fills me with wonder.

Snuggle a pony my friends. Read a book.