I know.  This has been in every major media outlet.  Everyone you know has written about the demise of the customer service industry.  Well, I have had it.  I work in the customer service industry.  I return my customers call promptly.  I find the answers to their questions if I do not know them.  I pass the questions on to someone who can help if I cannot.  But what about the rest of the world?

My daughter wanted an MP3 play for Christmas.  Well, since auntie works for a major electronics producer – an international corporation – she said fine and bought a great one – while it worked.  Three weeks into January and the MP3 won’t charge, won’t load new songs, won’t turn on.  A call to the customer care line was a rather lengthy exchange.  Daughter was on the phone for about an hour.  Call resulted in an RMA number and an address in Arkansas to send the damaged electronic piece to for repair.  Suggestion was made that the item be shipped some way that could be tracked. 

So I pack up the item – which on sale before Christmas cost about $150.  I decide that I will ship it USPS as I don’t have time to get to a UPS store but I will insure and get tracking.  It will fulfill all the requirements the company asked.  I log into the USPS site to print a label and type in the address daughter has written.  I get a message back that this is not a valid address.  Since auntie works for company, I send her a quick email figuring maybe she can look in a directory or something.  I should have known better as this is most likely an outsourced facility.  She didn’t know anything was returned to Arkansas.  No biggie!  I will just call back that customer care number and ask for the address again.

Well, there was my first mistake – thinking I could call and just ask for the address.  No one would just confirm an address.  Then came a bigger surprise!  The address daughter had put down was correct.  “We don’t get USPS shipments here.”  Well, let me talk to someone else.  I ended up on the phone with a woman in Canada who couldn’t tell me anything about said address in Arkansas other than DHL delivers there.  She couldn’t tell me why the address was incorrect because, of course, it wasn’t but the United States Postal Service says it is.  It took three hours on the phone and absolutely NO resolution.

Needless to say, I will NOT ever encourage auntie to buy items from this company, whether she works for them or not, again!! 

My smarter move was to then call the toll-free number on the receipt of the purchase location.  Daughter went to local store, fully expecting to get store credit, and received a cash refund.  Wal-Mart is customer-oriented.  Unfortunately, there was not another item in store that could be purchased to replace but the MP3 has now been replaced with one from BestBuy.

Move on to about three weeks later…. I live in a community where a huge, new indoor sports facility has just opened.  The cost to build was enormous and I am sure that the utility costs associated with it are staggering.  A “partner,” I think, in the venture is doing some of the scheduling.  I call and leave voicemail as I want to get indoor tennis time for son during week of school break.  No return call.  I call again and leave a message.  No return call. Well, third time is a charm, they say.  Finally, I get a return call and tennis time.

I am also team manager on daughter’s soccer team.  Well, things with soccer practices are not running smoothly.  We are using this new facility which is grand.  Unfortunately, the cost is a lot.  We did manage to secure a half hour of full field time so that two teams could scrimmage each other and get set to move outdoors – always a challenge in upstate NY in February.  The first night went fine.  The second night we didnt’ get our full field at all. 

On top of that, I called and left several messages about wanting to secure a two hour time slot for a friendly with a team from out of town.  I was basically ignored.  I had to physically track down someone to get information.  At which time, I was given faulty information because I was not important enough of a customer for the man to take time to check.  I had had it.  I was unprofessional on the phone but the man deserved it.  He is not someone I will ever deal with again.

I admit it.  I am on an Olympics kick.

Let’s talk about the “controversy” in speedskating.  It doesn’t matter that there is a new event in the Olympics – where, by the way, are people coming up with these new events like team pursuit?  Speedskating is an individual sport.  Get over trying to make it a team event.  The only “team” in speedskating, especially here in the states, is the fundraising mechanism for monies for training arenas and such.

Now, the “controversy.”  Every athlete that makes an Olympic team is there to win.  I don’t care if it is Chad Hedrick or the US Women’s Curling Team.  An athlete wouldn’t have spent years training, months in competitions to not want to win once at the Olympics.  So, it is no surprise that Chad Hedrick was unhappy the US didn’t go further in this new event – speedskating’s team pursuit.  No one likes to lose.  No one likes to travel thousands of miles to lose either.  But, that having been said, I go back to my theory that speedskating is an individual sport.

The media keeps playing up this irritation between Hedrick and teammate Shani Davis.  If the media would let it drop, it would go away.  It is a media dream, especially since there is no “big” name in figure skating.  Keep the controversy going.  Maybe throw in a “racial” question.  Work people up about the “problem.”

There is no “problem.”  There is a disappointment about losing.  There is a disappointment about losing to a teammate who didn’t help the team.  There may even be a little anger but there is also the anticipation.  There are more events to skate.  There are more events to win.

Someone should tell the media to move on.  Move on.  Talk about the other skaters.  Until this morning, I didn’t even realize Derek Parra was in Turin to skate.  Do the human interest stories on people like Joey Cheek.  Take the spotlight off the imagined and focus on what might actually get US residents to watch the Olympics.

I was all set to look for a jpeg to put up here.  You notice it is lacking.  Maybe I will find one.

Ever since the Winter Olympics of 1980, I have been hooked.  I dream, and some day will make this dream come true, of going to another Winter Olympics.  You see, I was at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.  I remember the Raybrook Correctional Facility as an Athletes’ Village.  I remember the streets of Lake Placid being closed to motor traffic and walking around like I imagine in a village in Europe.  I remember the small, sometimes high school bands playing at the medal ceremonies.  The Olympics, then, were so different than they are now.

What makes life so different that all the musical talent at Turin cannot be like the young Italian girl who sang the Italian national anthem?  What makes it necessary for professional athletes to close down their professional season for two weeks so that they can play in the Olympics?  Why is the Olympics more a marketing tool now than ever before?

I think part of the problem with the current Olympic set up is that the summer and winter games are not in the same year.  In February of 1980, the winter games opened in Lake Placid.  In the summer – I think it was July or August – the summer games opened in Russia.  The summer games, due to distance from where I was and the fact that the US boycotted them, are more of a blur.  Now that the Summer Olympics are two years off from the Winter Olympics, there are more of them.  They are not as special.

Well, as I said previously, the best laid plans ….

Revised Menu Plan

Feb 2 – Five Spice Burgers
Feb 3 – Walnut-Parsley-Rosemary Pesto and Linguine
Feb 4 – Shredded Beef with Onions and Peppers
Feb 5 – Super Bowl – Bread Bowl with dip, Sweet and Sour Cocktail Weinies, chips, etc.
Feb 6 – White Pita Pizzas
Feb 7 – Sweet Chicken Sausage Patties
Feb 8 – Chicken, Corn and Black Bean Stoup
Feb 9 – Indian Tofu and Spinach over Almond Rice
Feb 10 – Macaroni and Cheese
Feb 11 – Leftovers
Feb 12 – Ginger-Soy Chicken over Rice
Feb 13 – 30 minute Chicken under a Brick
Feb 14 – Southwestern Pasta Bake
Feb 15 – Saucy BBQ Chicken Sammies
Feb 16 – Bacon-Makes-It-Better Corn Chowder
Feb 17 – Baked Sole and Roasted Asparagus with Sesame
Feb 18 – Veggie Fritters and Asian Salad
Feb 19 – Leftovers

Well, since January was a bust for goals, I am about to post February’s.

• Walk 20 miles this month.
• Do Pilates 4 times a week.
• Read 2 books.
• Read Simple Abundance daily.
• Set up menu plans for the month, taking into consideration when the college kids are home, sporting events and practices, Odyssey of the Mind practices.
• Pay off any small debts (under $50) that are possible.
• Make final payment on Susan’s European soccer trip.
• Get Susan to PO to get passport.
• Work on art for a magazine.
• Join three swaps for February and make items and mail.
• Finish taxes for all kids and myself.
• Do FAFSA for all four college-aged kids.

Seems very similar to January but adding taxes and FAFSA.  Hopefully, it will work.