Good Customer Service Does Still Exist

A couple of days ago, Ilana opened the wooden Animal Croquet set my sister sent for Christmas.


Unfortunately, some of the stands were missing. What to do? I contact the company that made it-- Anatex. I sent them an e-mail and told them what we found. I asked if we could get some replacement stands so the animals could once again stand up. They replied they would be happy to send me some. I would have been happy to pay a small fee but instead they are just shipping them off to me.

THAT is customer service.


It reminded me of a couple of other great experiences I have had.



Ilana received a Green Toys tea set for her second birthday. It is a wonderful little tea set made from recycled milk jugs and eco-friendly materials.

She LOVES it!

She loves it so much she decided to have a tea party with Ginger (our vizsla). She made Ginger a cup of tea and lovingly presented it to her on the plate with a spoon.

Guess what? Ginger loved it to. She promptly decided the spoon was her new toy and chewed it up. *Sigh* So I contacted Green Toys and asked them about getting a replacement. Again, I would have been happy to pay them. They said they would be happy to send her a new spoon. When the package arrived a few days later, I found not only a spoon but two more complete place settings so Ilana could have a bigger tea party. I also found a hand written note wishing Ilana many wonderful tea parties.

THAT is customer service!!!

A number of years ago someone gave me a Dress Me Up David Magnet set. It was the statue of David with various outfits you could put on him. I bet you remember them. It was made by a company called Caryco Magnets which I believe no longer exists.

When we opened the package, we realized David's t-shirt wasn't adhesed well to the magnet. So I contacted Caryco. I let them know that while David has GREAT abs, sometimes he needs to go out and many places have a no-shirt, no-service policy. I asked if it was possible to get a replacement shirt since his wasn't wearable. They said of course. They sent me an entire new set (including another David). No fuss. No muss.

Again, THAT is customer service.

I truly think it helps that when I contact companies, I do it with kindness and a sense of humor. I don't approach them with a feeling of "you owe me this" but "could you please help me?" Just as consumers don't enjoy crappy service, companies don't enjoy jerky consumers.

Sometimes all you need to do is ask. Open the door and maybe you, too, will experience GOOD customer service when something goes wrong.

Eavesdropping

Here's what I heard the other morning.

My husband went to get Ilana out of bed. I'm not sure what, but something happened she wasn't pleased about.

"Bad bad boy, daddy. Bad bad boy. Daddy away! Daddy other room!"

Yep. Bad bad boy. I had a hard time muffling my laughter so she wouldn't hear it. But inside it was uproarious! Bad bad boy.

She doesn't have a brother. And Bad bad girl isn't something we ever say to her. So it makes me wonder... what did one of the other kids at daycare do? I'm guessing that's where she learned bad bad boy. And who said it? One of the children? Someone who works there? When you spend your day working with young children, it can be hard not to say something along those lines...

For the record, my husband told her "Daddy is not a bad boy. I'm not going to the other room." and whatever they were doing continued...

So far I haven't heard "Bad bad girl" but I'm sure my time will come.

I'm contagious!

Uh-oh. It turns out I'm contagious.

Oh, not to worry. It's not deadly and you won't get it from reading. I'll be fine. We all will.

The thing is... when I'm grumpy and start melting down, so does my 2 1/2 year old Ilana.

Let the spiral begin!

I had an ok day today. Good if you count all the Girl Scout Cookies I happily devoured. I went to the chiropractor to try to get some help with my recurring sciatica and messed up body thanks to my jobs (you try lugging a massage table and then a 2 year old all day). I went to pick up Ilana at The Clubhouse. She had happily been teaching James how to throw toys. And didn't want to help pick them up. Because a movie was just turned on.

*Sigh* Begin meltdown now.

"Ilana, please pick the toys." "No Mommy"

"You need to pick up the toys." "No mommy. Watch movie."

"Ilana, this is your last chance." *Silence as she distractedly watched the TV that I couldn't turn off*

So I gently grabbed her, her shoes, her coat, and her bag and told her to "Say Goodbye." Out the door we walked.

OH! The agony! It's like I'd just stuck a hot poker in her eye! The tears! The screams! But I kept calm and just kept walking. I generally don't give a hoot what others think about my parenting since they don't actually live with me and know my parenting.

Into the stairwell to the parking garage. The tears! The screams! She wanted to walk so badly! It was obvious that I am the WORST MOTHER EVER! She wanted her shoes on. She wanted down.

I opened the car and put her in. She didn't fight this very much. I asked if she wanted tacos for dinner. *Sniff sniff* "Chicky tacos?" All tacos are chicken tacos by name for Ilana. Yes, tacos. Ilana likes tacos. It was already my plan to make tacos. The beast was calm for a few minutes.

Throughout the night we had various meltdowns. Not wanting to put away her coat. Pulling our vizsla Ginger's tail and being put in her place. (I admit-- this was scary it happened so fast but everyone is fine) Having a post-bath meltdown that I still don't understand.

The grumpier she got, the grumpier I got. And the grumpier I got, the grumpier she got. My poor husband came home to a lot of raging estrogen. And promptly left to play soccer after Ilana went to bed. Really, who can blame him?

I am blaming this day on hormones. Yep. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Tomorrow will be another day. I shall have to stay away from the cookies... maybe the sugar rush and crash threw me off. Or maybe today was just a grumpy day.

Role Playing

We went to Ikea today. We managed to actually leave spending less than $100.

Pick up your jaw. There's more.

So we got a piece of furniture for our daughter to store all her arts & crafts "stuff". Markers. Crayons. Paper. Other crafty things to come.

We got home.

Ilana was sound asleep in the car.

We brought everything in and immediately got to work.

Ori grabbed the chicken from the refrigerator to get it ready for freezing. He trimmed it. He washed it. He put it in the freezer bags and sucked out all the air. (Thanks Ziploc!)

I pulled out the screwdriver and put together the new Trofast shelf. I squeezed pieces together and used the allen wrench to hold screws tight.

And then I started to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm pretty sure in a lot of houses you'd be here building and I'd be in the kitchen with the chicken."

"Well," replied Ori, "I guess we know our places."

Enough said.

Springing towards my CSA

I can feel it. The excitement is building. Even in a ski town, spring is in the air.

I have crocus blooming. I have crocus, grape hyacinth, and tulips pushing up leaves. And I have confirmation that for the 6th year in a row we have snagged a share of the Ranui Gardens CSA.

The WHAT?

Ranui Gardens is one of the local CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) in the area. Each week they deliver our "share" of organic produce. Because of our cool temperatures, a majority of what we get is greens. Lettuces, spinach, arugula, mustard, kale, chard.... and some things I can't remember the names of and am never sure what to do with. In addition, we get potatoes, beets, tomatoes, herbs (some more familiar than others), garlic, garlic scapes (if you've never tried these, you are missing out), squash, and more. Each week we pick-up our bounty and split it with a friend. Each week we receive recipes from Deer Valley pastry chef Letty Flatt. Each week we can't wait to see just what we've gotten.


Ranui is run by John and Sue who "love punishment, that is why we became farmers. Although the hours are non-stop through the summer, we get all winter to ski deep powder snow. " They sell to local restaurants, stores, at farmers markets, and run the CSA. People can go help them on the farm, but it isn't required. It helps us support a small local business and eat more locavore. It encourages us to explore veggies we may not otherwise try. It creates a sense of community within the CSA group. It is amazing.

Many areas of the country have a CSA you can join. You can look for ways to support local eating and find a CSA near you at Local Harvest.

Then you, too, can have multiple reasons to be so excited for spring!

Welcome to Utter Momsense

I spend a lot of time thinking. This has become increasingly difficult since my daughter was born in October 2006 but I still manage to ponder quite a bit.

One of my "wonderings" is how other moms make "it" all look so easy. They seem much more balanced than I feel. Now I'm guessing that it's all an optical illusion, but still... that's my perception.

Of course, I also spend a lot of time sharing my thoughts and findings with other moms. And thus, Utter Momsense was born.

Utter Momsense will include musings, green living tips, how to entertain your kid, interviews with moms and business owners and especially business owning moms, thoughts on how to take care of yourself, reviews of products and books, and whatever else strikes my fancy.

Utter Momsense. Because we're all in this together.