July 2009

1. I am tearing through books like crazy lately – a very lovely thing, indeed.
2. I have paid ($410) for a parking pass at the college! But, um, $410? Ouch!
3. Moisturizer on my tattoo cures the itching..for, oh, 30 seconds.. but I’ll take it anyway!
4. The daisies in my front garden are enormous and beautiful and make me happy every time I look at them – which is often.
5. Seeing all of my courses listed on the computer screen. Soon I’ll be able to see my timetable! *shiver*

Before summer started, several weeks before school ended, we signed Oldest One up for a babysitting course that was offered through our local community centre at the end of June. It was to take place on a Friday evening and all day on Saturday and was sponsored by the Red Cross.

We wanted Oldest One to take the course so he could learn some good techniques for looking after his siblings. Having him hear the lessons from someone other than me, or Coffee, about what to do in an emergency or how to handle a minor problem seemed like a good idea. He was excited.

On that Friday afternoon, however, they called to tell us that the instructor was ill and was unable to teach and so they’d email me in “a day or two” to give me some options for rescheduling the class. I wasn’t pleased, really, but you can’t do much about someone getting sick, right?

When a month had nearly passed, I called the community centre to ask why I hadn’t heard anything. I had to leave a message on the “registration line” and was told my call would be returned “within 24 hours”.

They finally called me back today. Almost 2 weeks since I left the message.

The end result is that they aren’t sure when they’re rescheduling because they don’t have anyone to teach the course so, y’know, someone from the other section of the community centre will call me in a few days.

The woman seemed a bit perplexed as to why I was peevish about not hearing from them at all over the course of the month.

Here’s the thing: I get really insanely twitchy about bad customer service. I don’t care whether it’s coming from the grocery store or the community centre or a fancy restaurant – if your job is customer service, you need to do your job.

I understand that working in any sort of “dealing with the public” role can really and truly suck. Boy howdy, do I ever know that. But you’re getting paid for it which means it’s your job which means, y’know, you have to do it even when it sucks.

One important part of doing your job is to be accessible and accountable. It means that when I hand you money in exchange for a product or service, you need to provide me with that good or service.

If you accept my money, but suddenly realize that you are unable to provide me with that product or service, it’s your job to tell me when I can expect it. If you can’t hand it to me immediately, you have to let me decide if I’m willing to wait – a day, a week, a month..

It’s your job to keep me up-to-date on that product or service. If I agree to wait for “a week” and the week passes and you realize it’s not going to happen, well, then, you need to call me and update me.

And if you say you’ll call me the next day, or on Tuesday, you need to call me the next day or on Tuesday. I shouldn’t have to track you down.

If that product or service isn’t going to be available at all, or if it’s not going to be available within a time frame that makes me comfortable, you need to return my money to me in a timely and efficient manner. It’s not your money if you don’t deliver what you say you will.

Be accountable, for god’s sake, and don’t make me do the work of tracking you down and leaving messages. Do what you said you’d do within the time frame YOU gave me!

Sure, it was a $60 babysitting course – but how good do I feel, now, about signing up for other courses through that community centre in the future?

1. My mouth, inexplicably, tastes like honey. FAR better than the alternatives.
2. My headache has been half-migraine and half-headache all day and has not shifted fully into migraine-land. I am very, very grateful.
3. Rain. Big, fat, explody drops of rain.
4. We’re totally caught up on episodes of True Blood. This is also a bad thing, since it was nice to watch 2 or 3 episodes in a row each night.
5. It’s 3pm. That means only about 2.5 more hours ’til my favourite person heads home..

1. The sounds of Oldest One playing “Guitar Hero” to Guns N Roses songs.
2. No one from the camp has called to say that Middle One wants to come home. I hope that means he’s having a LOT of fun..
3. The cat, lounging on the window ledge, splayed out and looking like she hasn’t got a care in the world.
4. My tattoo, peeling, isn’t itchy (yet).
5. Oldest One and Maymo getting along wonderfully for long stretches of time, leaving me with beautiful silence in which to relax and read books.

If there’s one thing that I find most perplexing about my kids, it’s the fact that they will rat each other out in a flash.

Half the time they’ll interrupt what appears to be a greatly enjoyable game in order to run to myself, or Coffee, to tell us what their brother(s) did that was “against the rules”.

Or something they think might be against the rules.

Or something they think should be against the rules.

And then they’ll stand there waiting for us to mete out some consequence. If none appears to be forthcoming, they’ll expand on their complaint of the grievance in the hopes of turning it into something consequence-worthy.

They will also rat themselves out in the hopes of ratting out their brother worse. “I only broke X but he also broke X and Y!” is uttered with absolute glee, no matter their own consequence.

The thing is, they will all very happily play together – so it’s not that they’ve got some dark vendetta out for each other. They seek each other out and negotiate games and laugh heartily and.. then run to tell on each other.

I do not understand this at all.

Suffice it to say, getting the “truth” out of them when something has gone wrong is ridiculously easy as they all-but shout over each other to tell me what happened and who did it.

I do not understand this.

Kids are SO WEIRD.

1. Middle One is off to summer Cub camp this morning. I really hope he has a good time.
2. We had calamari for dinner last night. You cannot go wrong with calamari for dinner. No, sirree, you cannot.
3. The sound of a chipmunk chirping and chirping and chirping and chirping and chirping and chirping and chirping and chirping and..
4. The kitten mewing a “good morning” acknowledgement on her way past me.
5. Tank is healing nicely on my arm.. no much bruising, no huge scabs. SWEET!

1. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekend. Oh, sweet, precious weekend!
2. I’m down 10 pounds, so far, on The Plan.
3. There’s no better place on earth than being snugged up to my husband.
4. Kicking the kids out of the house for daily “outdoor time” so I can save my sanity (what’s left of it, I mean).
5. Seeing Oldest One grin a huge and authentic grin this morning.

You’ll have to excuse a few “issues” – like the fact that the colours are rather bloody and thus dull, and the gun in her right hand is scabby (and so you can’t see the awesome detail on it). But, here she is:

She’s about 7″ tall and now lives on my left bicep. I love love love love LOVE her.

Oldest One’s voice is changing.

I just read a blog post by someone else asking people to consider whether they’re providing “value” to their own blog readers.

Ha. Hahahaha.