Summarise my month – January

Today being 31st January, I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be good to jot down a quick summary of what I managed to do/not do?  Key things of course.  Going forward, I think this may serve as good practice to plan for the next month.  So, here goes.

Chocolate – How do you eat yours?

I guess this often happens, you are sitting in a meeting with some colleagues, who are eating chocolate.  You discuss preferences and the conversation moves onto this is how I eat mine.  No?  Ok, we must be the only ones then.  Anyway, over lunch last week we started comparing our stories, some were similar, some very weird, which I cannot discuss due to violation against respect your colleague and his chocolate eating habits.  So I thought I share some of my chocolate eating habits……what’s yours?

A future full of pre-written conversations

How many times have we heard the phrase Political Correctness Gone Mad.  Everyone seems to use it and with some frustration.  I recall talking to a friend whose wife is a pre-school teacher and they were asked to alter certain phrases which would now be deemed as offensive.  For those living in the UK, you would have recently heard of the sacking of a high-profile sports broadcaster over sexist comments about a female linesperson, who had been officiating a game of football/soccer.  Don’t get me wrong, there is no room for comments such as that but once again it does emphasise how careful we need to be about what we say.  Some years back, I jokingly said that a time would come where we would all be carrying pre-written conversations with us just to ensure we don’t cause offence.  I am now seriously thinking this could be a possibility.  It would also mean a world where banter was strictly outlawed in the working place and in public.  Are we therefore in danger of being a society where it’s always important to play it safe and not have any fun? 

I am now in the process of constructing a list of all words that have been identified as politically incorrect.  Just like the old (can use that word anymore) American Express advert, Never Leave Home Without It.

Image of weird chap courtesy of breadwig

Will blogging give birth to a new generation of writers?

As far back as I can cast my mind, I always liked to write, regardless of what it was, a story, poem or an experience.  Most of what we wrote sat motionless in a folder, piled beneath other folders, to remain there forever.  Then came the internet, then came blogging and our minds once again exploded with the urge to share our thoughts and feelings to others….but are we all budding writers in reality?

Just When I Thought Customer Service Was Dead

In the past 12 months (maybe longer) I have been at odds with various experiences regarding customer service.  Not so much call centres, but the cold face, retail.  I have lost count of the many occasions when I walked into a shop, enquired about an item size and be told its whatever’s out there sir.  I tell myself, so what you’re telling me is you can’t be bothered to go and check.  Don’t get me wrong for saying this, but this lacklustre approach is more common amongst the younger demographic, where, I guess retail is not their full-time job.

Anyway, getting to the point, I was shopping with my little one in Bluewater last night and we decided to pop into Leon for a take-away.  Leon is a chain of restaurants offering cooked, local produce procured food.  I had a few bags on me when I got to the counter and a young chap took my order.  As we waited, he started up a conversation asking me how my shopping went.  Then my little one started playing up, so he came around the counter and offered to get him a balloon, divert his attention.  Following that, he brought out some crayons with paper and some Leon badges, while I took a breather.  Food was packed for me, balloon tucked away and crayons placed in a sturdy bag with handles.  We regularly eat at Leon and the customer service is good but on this occasion I was impressed how this person took the initiative to help me out.

Credit where it’s due, I called the Manager and told her what great service this chap provided, smiles all round.