Bad for Business

I know that I can be stubborn sometimes, but my wife is more stubborn when it comes to getting nice family pictures taken.

A few weeks ago while shopping at Kmart, she was approached by Olan Mills for free photo sitting in the store. The only contingent they made was making an appointment and giving a $10 deposit.  Courtney decided that was a great deal and made an appointment for a nice Saturday afternoon, figuring the kids would be cooperative.

Courtney received a call two days before reminding her to be there at 3PM. We showed up on time for our appointment, and they said it would be about 10 minutes until they were ready for us. We waited patiently as they took two families ahead of us and our 10 minute wait stretched to almost an hour. 

Waiting for an hour to do something is bad enough when it is for a roller coaster, when it is waiting to sit still for another twenty minutes for pictures with a 3 year old it's a total nightmare. Once Austin started to run around the store screaming we decided that there was no way on earth we were going to get good pictures that day. 

We went to cancel our now hour past due appointment and ask for our deposit back.  I took first crack at it, and they tell us that they are ready for us now. I tell them no, we have a now cranky 3 year old and a couple of unhappy older children who's afternoon just got wasted. They said that they have good people and can work with the kids, I had to hold back laughter while I told them I am not a new parent and I know better.

Having failed in my endeavor, Courtney decides that she wants a shot. She argues that we have been sitting for an hour, waiting patiently with 3 kids. However they are now very antsy, and they still try to tell us that they can work with the kids.  Courtney's loud reply of "Are you kidding me?" was met with a blank stare and then a simple "It's against our policy".

She tells them to forget it and she just wanted her deposit back because they were unable to  honor our appointment.  On the way out of the store, she decides that they are not going to get off the hook so easily. Courtney stopped at Customer Service and asked for the store Manager.  She explained the situation to the manager, who offers to talk to Olan Mills and try to get our money back.  

Unfortunately he was given the same answers that we were. He decides that Olan Mills wasn't going to prevent him from making a customer happy, and generously gives us a $10 gift card for the store.  He let us know that he was not happy with Olan Mills, and that they were well aware of it.

Obviously we will not be using Olan Mills in the future, and will encourage everyone we know to find another studio for their portraits. But you should shop at Kmart! They care about their customers and understand what Customer Service means.

So who out there thinks that keeping our $10 was worth; losing a customer, all the bad word of mouth from us, annoying the store manger of the place you are renting space from, and having a blogger post about the experience for all the world to google?

Huge thanks to Courtney for the timeline and Rough Draft for this post!

Depositing to the Blood Bank

On Thursday I went to donate blood for the first time. I originally told myself to start doing so three years ago after Courtney needed a transfusion and their was no matching blood type available.

While I am a procrastinator, three years is far longer than normal for me. Looking back, I know that part of it was me not wanting to reflect on the events that prompted me to make that decision. So I put some things on the back burner, giving blood being one of them.

Two weeks ago I remembered my promise to myself, and after a bit of web surfing I came across givelife.org. It provided a list of blood drives in the area and a way to sign up for an blood donation appointment. I found a drive at a local school and signed myself up. It only took a couple of minutes to set an appointment for 4pm the following Thursday.

It took about an hour at the school to give blood, but that was due to a large walk in crowd and a few first timer forms. The actual donation itself was relatively painless and only took about 5 minutes. The people there, including the nurses, were talkative and friendly even after 7 hours on the job.

I have already made an appointment for my next donation. You can give blood every 56 days, so I signed up for about 60 days out. By then I should know my blood type and have my Red Cross card. I encourage everyone who can give blood to do so, you never know who's life you may save.

Running again

After a bit of procrastinating due to the cold weather, I finally started running again this past weekend. I had forgotten how sore you get for the first week or so, but it is well worth it for the benefits.

This morning Josh went running with me, so I decided to run at his pace. It wasn't so that I didn't push him too hard, it helps me not start off too fast for my current fitness level. Josh kept a steady and reasonably fast pace, and at some points I swear he was slowing down for me. I was certainly sweating more than he was once we got home, so I think next time we need to go more than 1.5 miles.

There are several reasons I started running again, getting in shape being a major one. I have slowly put on weight over the years, and cutting back on how much I eat only does so much. Plus it only works for so long, I love food and tend to eat whatever is available. I hope to be back to an average BMI and normal blood pressure by my next physical.

I am also running to improve my level of "happiness". As much as I hate to use the phrase, studies have shown that exercise can help improve your mood and decrease the symptoms of depression and anxiety. During exercise the brain releases endorphins, adrenaline, serotonin and dopamine. That is a lot of feel good chemicals to add to the sense of accomplishment.

And last but not least, it seems that exercise may also improve memory and learning. This is still under study, but recent research indicates that exercise may help newly formed brain cells take hold in our brain. Though this is a much smaller factor than using our minds for difficult tasks, I'll take all the additional help I can get!

Contests are fun

I enter contests on and off depending on what I come across and the level of free time I have. I haven't sat down and entered a bunch at once for a long time, though that is usually the best way to win something. People who do it all the time say you can expect to win once for every hundred contests entered.

The last time I won a contest, it was just a random entry due to a contest listed on the Slurpee cups at 7-11. I won an Xbox 360, a major win and very unlikely due to the size of the contest. I haven't entered many contests since.

Yesterday I entered a new contest at a site that I belong to, Hokage's Room. I received an email about a new Naruto game that was going to come out so I dropped by the site and did one of the "missions" that they have. You earn points from doing the missions, I save them and sometimes use them to buy things off the site. The last time was a video game for my nephews, but I have gotten posters and statues before.

Not ten minutes after I completed the mission (that took about 30 seconds to do), I received an email saying that I had won a "Surprise Pack" for my participation. No word on what is in it, but some of the things mentioned were keychains and a t-shirt. If I'm really lucky I'll get another video game to give as a present.

Love Dare - Day 9

This is another step that I have already been working on. Not just greetings, but goodbyes as well. While I have already made a lot of changes, it never hurts to take another look.

Love makes good impressions 

Think of a specific way you'd like to greet your spouse today. Do it with a smile and with enthusiasm. Then determine to change your greeting to reflect your love for them.

I added flowers to my greeting when I got home from work, not that I can do it every day (though the florist would love me) but it was something additional to my already cheerful hello.