Customer Service & Bad Economy

I think I've been hearing less about the economy, but with unemployment still high, it's obvious that we haven't recovered. As a student in a graduate program, I'm not only a graduate assistant in my school's music department, but I'm working in retail. Again.

This time around, I'm actually enjoying it more than in my younger years. I was a book slave at Barnes & Noble for almost five years in four cities. Let's just say it's a nicer place to go to rather than be employed with. It's not the company, but the customers aren't exactly the most pleasant. Surprising, huh?

So you would think with such a bad economy, customer service would be the priority of companies and employees. Both desiring to make money, right? I was surprised to see that it's not necessarily the case. I work for a small, local consignment store where the people I work with are great, as are the customers and when they're not; we do everything we can to make it right.

I can also say that at Barnes & Noble, Best Buy and Starbuck's (amongst others) I have received exceptional customer service. There's a reason certain places are still in business. It's probably a combination of service, product and happiness of the employees themselves.

I walked into a certain department store that has been around for decades. It's not JC Penney's and it's not Macy's, but a similar retailer (I'm sure many can deduce which one) that I think has been struggling in this economy. Well, I thought I was buying two towels at $5.99 a pop. So I told the cashier...she was tired, but walked over to the section and did in fact find a stack next to the sign.

She said she couldn't do anything so I asked for the manager and explained to him that I should not be penalized for their mistake. Not only did he mumble about how I couldn't "read the sign" (I have a Bachelor of Arts in English and am pursuing an MFA in Writing), but he also said "whatever" when I said he had to validate the posted price.

I got my wish, but what was the cost? Do bad economy and bad customer service go hand in hand? And is it always the fault of the company or is it sometimes the fault of management and employees?

The Sisterhood of Travel

I went on vacation to Miami recently with expectation in my eye that this would be a great trip with my friend of fifteen some odd years. I was disappointed to learn the truth. When someone is a certain way in everyday life; they're not going to change suddenly because the locale changed.

She and I apparently have different ideas of what's fun and what's not. Although I had told her my intentions (and she agreed on the terms) for our time there, it seemed like when we got there; suddenly she was tired. She got way more sleep than I did. I think I slept all of twenty hours that week.

I tried to do the things she wanted to do, drink and eat the things she wanted and tried to be as entertaining as possible. But it was to no avail. This was not what I imagined and suddenly I was having a not so great time. The energy (or lack thereof) a person can sometimes determine how you feel too.

Sufficed to say, it wasn't my favorite trip ever. The last time I went on vacation with a friend it was to California and it was awesome. We didn't eat, we stayed out late and we laughed a lot. But she's a completely different person than the friend who I recently went with.

So what's the deal with traveling with a friend? Make sure you're on the same page. Drill them and get to the bottom of it. Because whoever they are in daily life is who they will be on vacation. Eventually you have to trust them, but my advice is that if you have fun with them in your normal environment; you'll have fun out there: wherever that is. What do you think?

Justice for Trayvon Martin

By now most people have heard the story of of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teenager who was killed by a self-appointed neighborhood watch "captain" George Zimmerman. Zimmerman was not arrested although he fatally shot the young man because he looked suspicious to him.

Reverend Al Sharpton has planned a protest rally for later this week in central Florida where the boy is from and a support website for justice can be found here: http://www.justicefortrayvonmartin.com/ I am personally saddened to hear that a boy lost his life because of the obvious crazed suspicions of an armed man who has not been brought to justice.

Broken American Dreams

Whether you want to blame the economy, politicians, war or price of oil; everyone agrees the American landscape has changed in the last few years. As a formerly full-time employed worker who has been on unemployment in the past, I can say from experience things aren't what I expected once I graduated college.

People across the country from all socio-economic backgrounds are facing the same struggles with earning and spending money. Some of us can hide out for a time in grad school, but what are we going to see when we finally get out of the protection of school?

I just heard a story about a young professor I work with who was beat out for a tenure position to a sixty-something professor who should be ready for retirement, but apparently had the connections to get the job. The scale seems unbalanced to me.

Everyone has heard of the American Dream: Get married, find a stable job, buy a house and have 2.5 kids. But is that still happening? What are the changes that are coming with the advent of social media and jobs being redistributed overseas? Are we working more for less money?

I've found in the last few years that I've been having to do several projects just to have what would be considered a normal "salary". Is this the norm these days? What's the opinion out there?

Limbaugh's Apologies for Fluke Comments

Huff Post posted in an article today that Limbaugh has lost some sponsors thanks to his comments about Sandra Fluke, but LifeLock (anti-identity theft company) said that he apologized and that's good enough for them! Some experts are even suggesting that sponsors stay on the show as advertisers so when people watch for the next (inevitable) slip-up--they'll get more exposure.

Is it just me or does everyone think apologies will make up for the stupid things they said? Kirk Cameron hasn't apologized yet, but it seems like whenever there's a racist comment, a threat made or a "slip-up", people just apologize and it's all forgotten!

Who can forget the following gems of saying or doing the wrong thing and later apologizing for it:

• Imus apologizing for his nappy headed hoes comment
• Chris Brown apologizes to Rihanna
• Mel Gibson apologizes to Jewish people

This is just a cowardly way to do something you actually think or believe and then later back out from it with an apology.

This is Alabama and we speak Southern!

Tim James is probably going to get a lot of votes this election year. That's because in Alabama, they speak English! The recent commercial released by the candidate talks about making it so that there aren't so many accommodations made for non-English speaking residents. Tim James is singlehandedly going to rid his state of diversity.

I know all of the Patriotic and average Americans who don't really think about this stuff will stand up and shout that as Americans we should speak English and if people don't want to learn our language, well they can just get out! But here's some points that I think people should really examine before they start getting angry.

First: People say "Well, when you go to Russia, you don't speak English there!" Actually, how many Americans GO to other countries not knowing the language and still manage to get around at restaurants, hotels, and different sightseeing destinations? Why is that? Could it be because in most countries, people DO speak more than one language? Maybe it's not so far-fetched to think that our lack of language diversity is something that's restricted to us.

Second: The last I checked, when the British didn't know how to speak the language of whichever native tribe was here, they didn't try and learn. There were hundreds of tribes massacred for their land. The only reason we speak English is because of the British. If anything we SHOULD be speaking Spanish, since the Spaniards (Juan Ponce de León people) was the first documented European to arrive here.

Third: As far as I can see, we're probably one of the most diverse countries in the world. That means that we have people from ALL OVER the world coming and living here. And guess what? That's how it has always been. If the United States is changing, it wouldn't be the first time. And we're not the only ones that "accommodate" to this change in our country.

And most importantly, in the long run, seeing more than one language isn't really hurting us. If you look around the world, most people KNOW more than one language. People were surprised by how well my parents spoke English. Well, it's because we're taught it in Pakistan since childhood. And guess what? Studies show that bilingual and trilingual children are usually smarter than those who only speak one language.

Maybe, just maybe, it would've helped Tim James to know another language.

In God We Trust

This country is a place that has freedoms other countries don't. Most people don't choose to practice their faith outwardly, but if you're Muslim and a woman, you might cover your head or if you're a Jewish male you might be seen donning a skullcap. As for Christians, I believe they should submit to a different standard.

A couple of weeks ago, Trevor Keezer of Florida said that he was fired from Home Depot because of his "One Nation God" pin which he said he wore to support his brother in the war overseas. While the sentiment seems noble, when I think of his life as a Christian, it comes across a little bit below the mark.

The former cashier began to bring his Bible to work and while the news portrays this man as more of a patriot rather than a religious person, I have to question his and the Christianity of Americans today. More than any other major faith including Muslims and Jewish people, Christians are called to lead a life that few follow and a path that's difficult and filled with persecution.

Unfortunately, the line between secular and religious has been skewed in this country thanks to the rights we have. Christians are probably one of the most prominent groups that voice the wrongs which have been done to them. I won't lie, the majority of people are turned off by Christians and their faith. But instead of embracing a life of humility, some suffering, and thankfulness that we have a God who loves us--we fight for our "rights".

In Somalia, a Christian was KILLED because they refused to wear a veil, while in my native country of Pakistan a man was killed because he "desecrated" the Qur'an. To this day people are stoned to death and even crucified in the name of Christ. These people take John 15:18-21 literally when it says “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you...If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you...because they do not know Him who sent Me."

The bottom line for American Christians which they forget when they fight for "rights" in this country is that they're not called to be loved or even apart of this world. The issues of this country which are law are not ones they have to follow or even live by, if anything what they do on their own and in their lives speaks louder than taking away the rights of those around them.