2006 November

Nov 29, 2006

WFMW: Tricky Customer Service Maneuverings

It’s that time of year again. Time for baking and decorating and singing carols and… making phone calls to customer service departments. Okay, to be honest, it seems like I’m making those calls year-round, but shortly before and shortly after Christmas, they seem to reach a peak. Whether I need to change an order I made online, check on an order’s status, get more information on a catalog item or report a problem with something I’ve received, let’s just say I’ve become a pro at hunting down customer service numbers.

The problem is, you could be on hold for.ev.er. this time of year. Yes, they play pleasant Christmas music and a stranger’s voice says “Thank you for continuing to hold. One of our customer service agents will be with you as soon as possible. Your call may be monitored to assure quality.” at regular intervals. But really, who has hours (or even half-hours) to spend on hold, waiting for someone to help you? Or worse yet, what happens when you listen to all the options, but none of the numbers on the phone’s keypad seem to match up with what you need? Then what do you do?

Here are two little tricks I’ve learned that help me: 1) Find a real person to talk to, and 2) Talk to that person sooner.

1. The magic zero key. When none of the options match up with what you want, press 0. Usually, this will take you to an operator – or at least some human being who works at that company, even if it’s the janitor. There are a few annoying companies that don’t allow this little trick, but I’d say 80% of the time, it gets you to someone who can actually connect you to a useful person.

2. Talk to the sales department. Last night, I spent over 35 minutes on hold, waiting for a customer service agent. I put the phone on speaker, cleaned the kitchen, emptied the garbage, and cleaned the litter box (you know things are bad when I resort to cleaning the litter box). Still no human. I had placed an online order earlier in the day, but later realized a mistake I had made and just wanted to modify that order a teensy bit. No go. Finally, I hung up, redialed, and this time, instead of requesting “customer service,” I chose the “place an order” option. Ta-da!! Instantly, a real live person answered the phone and asked how she could help me. And she did. It took only 2 minutes, they get to keep my money, and I have everything straightened out. In my defense, let me assure you that I only take this route after I have given the customer service department an honest try, and if the very existence of my order is at stake. If my choices are talk to a person or cancel my order, I’ll use this method and figure it’s a win-win situation, since they are still making/keeping a sale.

Visit Rocks in My Dryer for more tips – just click the graphic below!

Filed Under: Works-for-Me Wednesday 13 Comments

Nov 28, 2006

Holiday Meme

written by katrina · 18 Comments

I’m taking advantage of Dianne‘s open tag and participating in this Holiday Meme. Although I have not even attempted to locate and open my boxes of Christmas decorations yet (and I know I won’t even get close to doing that until next week sometime), I’m still getting into the Christmas spirit a bit. I’ve already bought a bunch of presents, wrapped a few and am gathering my cookie recipes so I can eventually bake up a good variety.

If you’d like to do this meme, consider yourself tagged and let me know in the comments that you’ve done it so I can come see your answers!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hmm… this is tough. I guess I’d have to say Hot Chocolate, although like Dianne, I prefer a Peppermint Mocha!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa usually just leaves one gift per person or one gift for the whole family. Wrapped, definitely. C. doesn’t believe anymore (a little girl informed the whole class of the truth when he was in Nursery School – at only 3 years old! I’m hoping we get a little more Santa-lore enjoyment with L.), but we still see a present or two from “Santa” every year.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White. And we’re an artificial, pre-lit family during this season of our lives. Simplicity is key for us right now!

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope. But I make sure my boys get lots of kisses from me anyway!

5. When do you put your decorations up? It’s different every year. My goal is to do it the first week of December, but that doesn’t always happen.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? I think that would be my mom’s cranberry-applesauce. The holidays are the only time she makes it, and I look forward to it every year.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: I was a very bad and sneaky child. My mom always bought our gifts fairly well ahead of time, and hid them somewhere in the house. We lived in a large, rambling old farmhouse, so there were lots of hiding places, but the most common by far was in the attic. However, she’d also hide the key to the attic, and finding one key in a big ol’ house was quite a challenge. But many years, I was up to the challenge! When both my parents were working at the ice cream store or were occupied elsewhere in the house, I’d sneak into their bedroom (which contained the attic door and most often the key as well) and get to work. I clearly remember finding it quite a few years and discovering my gifts well in advance of Christmas. But I’m a good actress – I always acted very surprised on Christmas morning.

My most amusing memory was the year I got chicken pox right before Christmas. I was 12 and my parents had to work, so after the initial days of the illness were past, I was left at home alone for several hours at a time. Naturally, I found the key, found my gifts… but that year, I also opened and played with one of my gifts (it was a Hobbit computer game for my Commodore 64 – did anyone else have one of those?). Yep, I loaded it on the computer, played it, put it back… and they never knew. I told you I was a bad, sneaky child.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I honestly don’t remember. I think I believed until I was 8 or 9, and I bet I heard “the horrible truth” at school.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, usually we each open one gift. This year, though, we’ll host my family here on Christmas Eve, so we’ll exchange all our gifts with them that evening.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Well, it’s pre-lit, as I mentioned. Our ornament collection is very eclectic. Crafts from preschool and Sunday School that C. has brought home, blown-glass ornaments my mom has given us over the years, ornaments picked up on vacation. No real rhyme or reason, but lots of memories.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? If we have nowhere to go, I love it. C. sleds, and I curl up with hot chocolate and a book. But if we need to be somewhere or if there’s school or if Chad’s on a business trip and driving a lot… then, I could do without it.

12. Can you ice skate? Um… no. Not one bit.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? This question is too hard!! I’m going to have to be a cheater and skip it. (I’m really horrible about picking “favorites.”)

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? At this stage of our lives, I have to say that sharing the wonder of the season with my kids is right up there. I love the music and the lights and the beauty, but most of all the opportunities to talk to them about God’s love and the incredible way He has shown it to us.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Again – too hard! Homemade cookies are always one of my favorites, though!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I’m going to sound like a broken record, but I think it’s our present-opening in the morning, followed by our Holiday Morning French Toast, fresh from the oven. I have such clear memories of my family having breakfast together after opening presents when I was a little girl, and I’m glad to be continuing that tradition in our family.

17. What tops your tree? Ugh! Can you believe we do not have a tree-topper? I looked and looked last year but couldn’t find one I really liked… C. was not pleased, so he made a construction paper star that we put up there. This year, I am determined to find a tree-topper!

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving. One of my all-time favorite things is finding just the right gift for someone.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Argh! Another “favorite” question. I love O Holy Night. And I also love Do You Hear What I Hear (I particularly enjoy Third Day’s edition of that one). But honestly, I love tons of Christmas songs!

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?? Yum. But only a couple… Then yuck. I can only take so many. (Peppermint Mochas, however, I can consume without end!)

Filed Under: Bloggy Stuff 18 Comments

Nov 27, 2006

10 reasons I would never survive…

written by katrina · 12 Comments

I’m not a huge reality TV watcher, but I do admit to loving The Amazing Race. And if you were sitting in my home with me when an episode came on, you’d realize that I know exactly what each team should do. And when. And where. And why. And how. And I express ~~those opinions~~ that knowledge regularly.

“Oh, come on. Get a grip. Just eat the stupid crickets and stop complaining.”

“Would you please stop yelling at her? She’s carrying her weight on your team and you, my friend, have no room to criticize.”

“If you would just stop talking, you’d realize that you could scale that cliff much faster.”

See – I know it all. Okay, actually I don’t. And truth be told, I don’t think I’d survive more than a day on The Amazing Race. Here are ten reasons why:

1. I am an unbelievably light sleeper. If conditions are not exactly right (quiet, dark, no movement or snoring from the other side of the bed), I’m awake all night. Sad, I know. I could never sleep in airports, on sidewalks, or next to historic landmark entrance gates like those ~~crazy people~~ contestants on TAR.

2. I get very, very grouchy when I am running low on sleep. Seriously. I’m not a fun person to live with when I’m sleep-deprived. Combine that fact with #1 up there and you realize that the lucky soul I’d be paired up with for the Race would be running for the hills by day 2.

3. While I can swim, I can’t dive and I don’t do well under water. And there are way too many tasks that involve water on that show.

4. I have this thing about wearing makeup on a regular basis. As in, every day. Not because I have to be all “glammed out” or whatever the phrase is these days. But because I have fairly blotchy skin and frequent blemishes, and I just feel the need to protect the world in general from the frightening appearance of me-without-makeup. And TAR is not very conducive to consistent makeup-wearing.

5. Um, I’m a picky eater. I don’t eat mushrooms, olives, or most versions of seafood. Let alone fried crickets, huge bowls of caviar, or four pounds of meat in one sitting. Not gonna happen. Just send me home now.

6. I have approximately zero sense of direction. Now, I’m great at reading and following maps. But as far as actually having some understanding of which way North is from where I’m sitting? Forget it. Spin me around twice and I’m lost all over again.

7. I can’t drive a stick-shift. ‘Nuff said.

8. I don’t like being too hot. Or too cold. Or too wet. And when I am, I sometimes complain. A lot. Now, if they restricted TAR to locales that are perpetually 70 degrees and sunny, then I’m in for sure!

9. I don’t deal well with large bugs. And I learned from this blog post that some countries have large bugs. Remind me to tell you one day how I dealt with the bumblebees that used to get into our old house. Then you’ll understand that I would not respond rationally to anything larger than, say, a firefly.

10. I have to read every night before I go to bed. Every night. It’s how I transition into that helpful thing called sleep. Yes, this might seem like a petty thing, but I assure you that without a page or two from a good novel, I lay there tossing and turning, sleepless, miserable. So if I did get dragged into TAR, I’d be bringing my little reading light, a good book or two, and plenty of batteries. And I just don’t know if Phil would approve.

————–

So in light of all that, I should probably stop criticizing the Race contestants so much, shouldn’t I? Okay, I’ll try. But honestly, if they would just listen to me, they’d do so much better.

Filed Under: Fun 12 Comments

Nov 27, 2006

Book review & giveaway: Generation NeXt Parenting

written by katrina · 14 Comments

I mentioned in this book poll that I have somewhat of a “collection” of parenting books. It’s true – every time I see a new parenting book on the shelves of the Christian bookstore, I have to check it out. And I’ve brought more than one or two of them home. It seems like I’m always looking for advice, input, and encouragement on how to do this parenting thing “right,” how to raise my boys to follow God and live lives of integrity. I know that much of it is just taking it day by day, praying without ceasing, and doing my best, but I’m always looking for that good advice, those nuggets of wisdom I can (hopefully) incorporate into my parenting style.

Imagine my relief when I learned that I’m not actually crazy for being addicted to parenting books – I’m just a normal Gen Xer. Tricia Goyer’s book, Generation NeXt Parenting, explores every aspect of parenting from the unique perspective of Generation X parents, and she’s assured me that it’s “normal” for Gen X parents to have a drive to get parenting “right” which leads us to seek out all kinds of advice and information from the experts. Her research shows that parents born between (roughly) 1963 and 1983 face similar challenges, have similar parenting “issues,” and are reacting to similar childhood experiences of our own.

That’s not to say we’re all identical. For example, I don’t struggle with the common Gen X tendency to have my kids involved in tons activities. But our outlooks are similar enough to warrant a look at Gen Xers and how we’re raising our kids. Tricia’s book covers everything from our outlook on education (and the quickly-rising trend toward homeschooling) to “family time” to discipline. And she writes in a way that is encouraging and affirming to parents everywhere. She reminds us that the key in parenting – as in life – is making sure that we are grounded in God. And she reassures us that we can do it, we can survive (and thrive) in this adventure called parenting.

Generation NeXt Parenting is loaded with quotes from other Gen X parents, providing added confirmation that our little “quirks,” insecurities, and questions are shared by others. One of my favorite aspects of the book is that every chapter title and sub-head is a reference to an 80′s song (complete with a snippet of the lyrics). It was definitely a trip down memory lane, with reminders of songs like “Walking on Sunshine” (Katrina and the Waves) and “Livin’ on a Prayer” (Bon Jovi, anyone?).

—————————————————

And now for the giveaway. I’ve got — sitting right here next to me — an autographed copy of Generation NeXt Parenting, just waiting to be mailed to one lucky winner. If you’d like to be eligbile to win, just leave me a comment on this post and include your favorite 80′s song (or one of them, if it’s too hard to pick just one favorite!). I’ll keep the “contest” open until Friday, and then I’ll draw a name randomly.

UPDATE, 12/1: The winner of the drawing is Dawn. Congrats, Dawn! And thanks to everyone for sharing some of your favorite 80′s songs!