Lessons Learned: 3/23/09

Lesson #1:
After two hours searching in the dark, a lost cell phone will not be found on the two miles of greenway near your apartment. It will be found in your couch.

Lesson #2:
Sprint's "parents can spy on the kids" cell phone tracker is worth the $5 if you haven't yet learned Lesson #1.

Customer Service Gladness

Later that night…

The tiny pocket of Hilltopper alumni within the sea of UT Orange all met up to watch the 14-seeded Toppers and pray for upset. Surprisingly, for a bunch of heathens, the prayers were answered. (We just busted your bracket, Mr. President!)

Since Buck Buck^* and I had already suffered a miserable experience earlier, we chose to meet up at what had been our second choice at lunchtime. For all my lamenting on the poor service at Restaurant #1, Restaurant #2 was a customer service redeemer. We asked if they would mind to put one of their many TVs on the WKU game. The manager came to our table and put every monitor within earshot on the game and gave us some volume (a big deal in the din of a sports bar). Then, he tuned a few monitors to the other game feeds for us, too. He was everything a professional in retail should be. He earned a big tip for his server, and a few loyal customers.

So, yes, the power is with the consumer after all. Restaurant #1 just got the boycott, and guess where we will watch Round Two on Saturday? Restaurant #2 gets to watch Gonzaga go down.


^*Name changed to protect his bracket embarrassment.

Customer Service Madness

My co-worker, Buck Buck^*, is a huge sports fan. I am a moderate sports fan, but the NCAA Tournament is fun to watch. So, I am willing to be a team player and head out for a long lunch and watch a game. After all, the daytime tournament games only happen on two days per year.

So, we left the office in search of a place that would have all of the games on via satellite. We settled on a spacious, non-smoking restaurant I had been to a few times. I recalled it having a zillion TVs in the bar-area.

"Oh yes, of course, we are showing all the tournament games," said our server as we followed her to an empty table. "What can I get you to drink?"

Looking up, sure enough, there were a zillion TVs gleaming in brilliant high-definition. And, all of them were tuned to a version of ESPN: ESPN 2, ESPN U, ESPN News, ESPN Kitchen Sink! (For the uninitiated, CBS has covered the NCAA Tournament since 1982.)

"So, are you guys going to switch these?" Buck Buck asked when she returned with his Diet Coke. "Because the LSU game is already three minutes in," he said looking at his iPhone "and the Memphis game is starting." (Did I mention that he's a huge sports fan?)

"I'll check on that. I don't know what's going on."

While we waited on her return we perused the menu, knowing that we'd pay for the sodas and head to the next restaurant down the street if the TVs weren't switched soon. I could have saved the cash and used the office microwave; watching a game was the whole point.

I glanced around the place. A number of other customers were getting antsy. Fifteen minutes go by (and much apologizing from the server) and one television in a corner finally switched channels. Very few customers could see it from their tables. "I asked the manager what was going on and he kicked me out of the office," the waitress explained.

Politely getting up, we deduced that the manager was experiencing some technical difficulties. I understand; it happens. Still, if you have a zillion expensive TVs and your restaurant is in a bustling shopping district and you hang a giant banner reading "Watch All 64 Tournament Games Here!" shouldn't you be checking your technology a hour earlier?

I know it's not surgery. I know it's not life or death. But, it's customer service, dagnabit! And it seems epidemic. When did we consumers lose all of our power? Or am I just being cranky?

(Oh, and don't get me started on my duels with the cable company!)


^*As always, for the sake of privacy, real names are substituted.

As Time Goes By

My uncle is a Fox News watcher. He's a old, white conservative of the standard Kentucky issue. (Just as a frame of reference, he joined the navy in 1946.) He's as right-wing, pro-'Merican as they come.

So, I was shocked when I visited Aunt and Uncle not too long ago, to find the tube tuned to PBS. Bemused (after the shock wore off) I asked, "Whatcha watchin'?"

"Summer Wine," he said. "My show's next," my aunt added, "I love that Hyacinth." Not only were they watching that pinko, lefty station, they were watching a British sitcoms on PBS! They were referring to The Last of the Summer Wine and Keeping Up Appearances; the main character on the latter is Hyacinth Bucket (she insists "Bucket" to be pronounced "bouquet"–great name!).

Now, I adore a certain britcom that I discovered via PBS. Though I'm sure I am thirty-plus years younger than the target audience, I have always loved As Time Goes By. The acting and scripting amazed me from the first time I saw it. The writing was so unlike sitcoms in the U.S. The scripts were tight and clever but very patient. The characters were well drawn and realistically quirky, and they are performed so believably. (I suppose having a true actor–Judi Dench–starring helps; we Yanks tend to cast stand-up comics in the lead roles…)

Seeing that I rarely have a topic of mutual conversation available, I seized on the moment. I said that, yes, I enjoyed both of their shows. The lady that plays Hyacinth is very funny, I agreed. "The one I really like, though, is As Times Goes By." Aunt immediately says, "that's because you are a romantic."

Screaming through cyberspace, I can hear friends' squealing at this thought. TonyN, a romantic! Ha!

You know what, though, Aunt was dead-on. Though I can rationalize my love for that show (writing, acting, etc.), the truth is that the story touched me. The story wasn't sappy or sachrine; it seemed real and beautiful and hopeful. Everyone needs a bit of hope.