You should try this sometime...

Tonight I didn't feel like cooking, I didn't want leftovers, and Wendy's just wasn't callin my name. Thanks to my big sis, we had a little leftover on a Macaroni Grill gift card she gave me for my birthday and that seemed to be just right.

So we get there and are promptly greeted by our friendly server. We took a ridiculously long time trying to figure out what the heck we should order and whatnot, but the server was prompt with our bread and water and not at all pushy or invasive about when/what we should order. The food came out quickly and the server was really nice the whole time. I must note that nothing was out of the ordinary, just plain old good service.

So here's the part you should all try. As we were leaving we stopped at the host stand and I asked to speak with a manager. She got that terrified look in her eyes and went to fetch him. He came out a minute later with that "I'm ready to put out the fire" look in his eyes and asked what he could do for us. I told him who our server was and that he had done an excellent job and that we were very pleased with our overall service tonight. He was grateful, relieved, and entirely thrown off. Let's face it, we live in a time when people are silent when things are fine and throw fits when anything is wrong. Having worked in restaurants, I know firsthand that it's a big deal when a customer talks to a manager about your service. When it's negative, you are in the dog house. When it's positive you are praised and rewarded. At one particular restaurant I worked in, the rewards were often more than just a "good job." They'd give prizes like gift cards!

Anyway, so the next time you go to a restaurant, take the time to tell the manager that your server did a good job. It will definitely make the server's day and it will be fun to see that terrified look in the face of the hostess because she assumes you will complain. And you'll feel good about yourself too. If the service is bad, let's just try to remember that those who work in customer service are people too. Regardless of whatever sleight you may have received, it's not the fault of the worker in the call center at your credit card company, the cashier at the store, or the deliverer of your plate. They are people too and we all have ropes that fray and sometimes we find ourselves at the end of. So let's do more to tighten one another's ropes instead of making them fray more, shall we?

There's my soapbox for the night. Maybe it was inspired by the lady who nearly drove my coworker to quit today and made another girl in a different office cry because she was so rude. She was furious because she had misunderstood directions that said: Send one copy of your portfolio to this office and another copy of your portfolio to that office. Because she had sent 2 copies to one office instead of one to both, it then became everyone else's fault that her life was now ruined and she'd never graduate. At that point name-calling and belittling ensued. Interesting. I find it interesting that when we make errors, we blame others instead of swallowing our pride, admitting our error and working out a new solution. I've definitely been guilty of this before, but the longer I work in customer service fields, the more aware I am of this occurance.

So let's be nice to each other and compliment strangers at any opportunity! Happy holidays and happy shopping. And best of luck all you customer servers out there!

Tagged, eh?

Alright alright alright. I'm new to this whole BLOG thing... A lot of times I feel awkward blogging because I never take pictures and I don't have kids to gloat or complain about and for the most part my life involves the same boring thing every single day. It bores me most of the time, why would anyone else find it interesting? Well, all that is about to change. Well, I'm not sure necessarily about ALL of it changing, but the kids part definitely will. I've been sick for a few months now, so I went to the doctor and they found a heartbeat in my abdomen. I wondered if maybe my heart had shifted down a foot, but they say it's a BABY!! So I guess technically I'm already a mom but I'll have real proof of that May 22. (And hopefully not a day later. Or a day sooner really, because I don't have enough sick days at work...)

So there you go. The news is out. People who read my blog probably knew anyway but now you all have free reign to tell your friends and talk about how many people are pregnant in Provo.

Back to this tagging business. Let me quote from my loving sister's blog:

PS--I blog tag LadyCarma, Staci (because she NEVER blogs and she's lame), Brittney, and Jenny.

I didn't know you were allowed to tag multiple people, but apparently I'm the only one lucky enough to get called lame. :)


Tag Rules: Go to the 3rd folder of your pictures and select the 3rd picture in. BLOG!

Wow, I can't believe I actually followed the rules. What a weirdo picture. I'm kind of dissappointed, because when I went into the My Pictures folder a different way, the third pic in the third folder was this really cute engagement picture of Eric and I. But when I went to upload the picture to the blog, they were in a different order. So here you go. And because it is only one pic in a pair, I'll post the other to be fair.

So here's the scoop. This is when Eric and I were dating when he was first back from his mission in Russia. We were at Cameron and Makena's place in Orem, where we were often in the early days... I think this picture was taken in March when Eric surprised me by coming out to visit with only 20 hours notice. :) He had come home in February, so he was still very post-mission skinny!! He had this GIANT chapka-- Russian hat, that I think is his most prized possession to this day. He just wore it for Halloween, actually. He thought the picture of me in that enormous hat was just the cutest thing ever. So there you have it.



And because I thought I was going to get to blog about this pic originally, I'll post it for you too:

Thanks to Gwen for taking all these cute engagement pictures for us. We felt a little awkward about the whole photo shoot, but it was still fun. My reactions to this picture: Awww, we're so cute and giddy! Eric's hair was kind of long... So was mine for that matter. And HEY!! Where the heck is that shirt!?!? I seem to have lost both that t-shirt and the undershirt... 2 of my favorite items. Don't you hate that?? And also, it's different to see me wearing just the engagement ring without the wedding band.

So there you have it all you blog critics. I have BLOGGED!

Oh yeah, and I blog tag: Erlynne, Brittany, Allison and Makena!