Saturday, November 15, 2008

Complaints, Complaints

Remember - this blog has absolutely no order in its chaos! I will simply write about whatever pops into my mind at that particular time. Today it's complaints.. grrrr

Tony and I ordered pizza today for lunch. We ended up having it for "linner" - a term my children created to mean a very late lunch! All we ordered was two personal pan pizzas from a Pizza Hut 2 miles away. I placed the order online and was given a time of 2:11 to expect delivery. I finally called at 2:30 and was told the driver had left at 2:16. I said, "from 2 miles away?" and the person (read snotty young adult) told me, "well, he had a coupla other stops to make too." Our pizzas finally arrived at 2:50. Yeppers... room temperature at best. So I went online to lodge a complaint. Of course, I got a weird error message that I have never seen in all my years of computing. Left the site annoyed, still having lodged no complaint. So you readers get to hear it.

"Dear Pizza Hut, I understand that Saturdays may be a busy time for you. I utilized your website as you encourage your customers to do. YOU are the one who gave me a delivery time. In the futre, if delivery is going to be an hour, then TELL me that. Don't let me expect delivery at one time and then have that time totally ignored. And here's another thought - when I call to question your staff, perhaps they could be trained to be gracious enough to calm my anger down by being apologetic. If they don't understand that word, have them look it up in the dictionary."

I think that righteous complaining is an art my children have learned from me. They have certainly seen it in action. Number one rule: Don't waste your complaint on anyone who doesn't have the authority to do anything about it. Be polite but firm. And tell them what you expect to happen as a result of your complaint. If you want a refund, say so. If you want an apology, then say that as well. You can't keep your desires a secret and expect them to be fulfilled. (Funny - that works in relationships as well!)

Okay. I'm done. Pizza is gone.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

What the heck am I doing?

I really do consider myself to be a mild technophile, but I have resisted the pull to do a blog, despite enjoying Janie's and looking forward to seeing more of Meg's. I think I resisted because I didn't want another thing in my life that had a deadline or a time requirement. Anyone who teaches special education will understand why I resist timelines! But it was Meg who finally pulled me in. I really do enjoy hearing about the lives of my children, so I guess they will be at least mildly amused to hear about mine.

I also thought about what a small family we have. There is some responsibility on my part to tell my daughters all I want them to know about my history and our family. We have lost so many members. And my cancer scare certainly made me think about my mortality.

I have no delusions about the audience this blog will attract. It may not even interest the family as I write it. But I know that once I create it, it won't go away. So, girls... this one's for YOU!