Keep the customer satisfied

Before I go and indulge myself in some Pride and Prejudice - because I feel like it, and before I start entertaining any thoughts of taking a blogging break to get all my uni assignments done, I might as well say something about today as it was full of interesting moments. My wake up call was Dad yelling at me to do the dishes, which I slightly stupidly left last night. Not the worlds most pleasant way to get up but I took it slow and managed to grab another 20 minutes of snoozing. By that time I was in a thoroughly decent mood, had some breakfast, put the new CD on (Youth Alive one that Jas endowed me with). I'm really not one for live music as it always comes with copious amounts of cheering which sets my teeth on edge - however if you disable the few disaster tracks, 90% of the CD is really not bad. I am more impressed with WA Youth Alive music than I thought I'd be, couldn't stand it all the time, but a dose now and then is fine and was quite enjoyed. So I did the dishes slowly as I was in a lesiurely thinking, listening mood. Why can't doing the dishes always be such a pleasant experience! I ended up driving to work after intending to get the train as I got distracted and basically ran out of time to make it. Petrol is so horribly expensive. Dave came into work about 20 minutes after I'd started and drifted nearby and we talked for quite a while, as much as I dared anyway. Needless to say, my manager wasn't around or I wouldn't have hardly acknowledged him. There is absoultely no problem that I can see if I can still do my work. I was made to multitask. Dusting shelves and checking orders and giving the occasional customer help is not worthy of high concentration. I was helping a guy looking for a book on the Commonwealth Games, we didn't have any, so I suggested a place on Swanston St. I think he was slightly not quite all there and he followed me when I came out of the registars area and started telling me he was going to the footy but not into that part of the city etc. I really don't like it when my personal space is invaded, he was far too close and it took a bit of moving and some go-nowhere responses for him to get the picture. We get a few strange people in the shop. Mr. I'll wait until the very last minute to leave was there again as Susan and I were closing, he's creepy. I'd been helping a lady (teacher) in looking for a very particular lot of books - something about a fussy Yr.8 reader who needed factual (but not too factual), action, modern, strong language (a bonus), not too small text, not too large a book, not too dumbed down... and on and on went the list of specifications. I was suggesting things as I came across them and doing a fair bit of guess work. You usually only spend about 5 minutes helping someone, occasionally you apprehend an exception. She was reasonably nice, but very direct. She ended up with about twelve books on the counter 'choosing'. Simone stepped in for a moment as I had to help someone else and the woman was writing down the majority of the titles in a notebook. Simone pretty muched asked her what she was doing. She picked three and told Simone quite rudely to her face that she'd go and find all the others through some other place. You just don't do that when you've basically used a lot of a staff member's time (mine). I wasn't too bothered about the time/difficulty of my interaction with her, but the other two were fairly indignant and I can see why. She did come up later and say thank you to me, that still doesn't deride from the fact that what she did wasn't exactly right. Around 2:30pm we had chaos errupt in the form of conciding complications. The same woman paid through an account and while Simone was putting it through one computer entirely locked up (there are two for the registar). So both systems had to be rebooted, Susan bought out a batch of bags that were very faulty, not a huge drama, it pretty was busy... and we ran out of change. It did keep us on our toes. I got my break an hour later than I should have. Half an hour break is a luxury sometimes. I went and found Dave where he was discounting coleslaw :P and talked for a bit then went off and got myself some Mrs. Fields coffee. Tried some of the chocolate we are giving anyone who spends over $40 over the Mothers Day period at Dymocks - Lindt Creme Caramel. Not bad, a bit rich. Some males are inbuilt with the know-how of how to give compliments without appearing to be sleasy. I let some older guy know he was getting some chocolate and he said something about me not looking like I ate it, I confess I totally missed what he was getting at, then realised and smiled at him. He joked about if he spent over $80 that he'd get two and then grabbed another book to add to the 4 or so he was already getting. It made it over $80. I snuck in the extra block, but I think he saw me. I love cheerful people. To top off the interesting customers. A lady tried to return three kids books, they can't have totalled more than $45 because she needed the money back on her credit card. People can try to look desperate and serious but it does them no credit (hehe). If they are foolish enough to abuse their finances in that way, they shouldn't own the piece of plastic in the first place. We don't give refunds ever unless maybe it's on the same day. Her's was definitely not. "Can I talk to the manager?" "No she's not here" "When will the manager be here?" "Monday" "How late?" "Probably until about 5:00pm" "Can I have the number to the Dymocks head office?" (I look at Susan) "The head office has nothing to do with it, this is a franchise." She walked away dissatisfied and still clutching her books, but hey, what can you do? There was a girl in the shop with her boyfriend and another guy and woah, if the majority of the world had personalities like hers it'd definitely be a better place. I like seeing people getting excited about buying books, I like it when they treat you as if you are doing them a service and you matter. She mentioned she'd met Zuhal the other day and how lovely she was and just genearally a smiling and pleasant person. Smart guy I say for picking her! The were all really hohum, lets use an old word, amiable it suits perfectly. Wonderful customers! Susan and I did the close and in the last ten minutes she asked me if I was interested in potentially house sitting for a friend of a friend - she's done it in the past but can't do it this time. Sometime in May or June. The unit is in Nunawading and walking distance from the station. This is close to uni! 8 whole weeks, no rent! I'd be there to feed the cat and keep the place clean. I am sorely tempted, but have to get a few more details, see if it's still available, work out how much it'll cost me food wise and if I can live without internet access for that long :P How pathetic. If I can ring in someone else, that'd work too. Worth some thought and some more investigation. It'd be utterly glorious getting out of this house for a while. Conclusio.... it's gotten a bit late to indulge, but why not!