Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

tomterm8

PasturesNew wrote: »

And usually it doesn't happen. So, where am I going wrong?
!

Er, you are on the moneysaverz board, if you go to richcapitalistdude.com and ask there, you might have better luck?:

I wonder if that URL is actually available... it's a pretty good one. LOL.

SingleSue

Finally watched the Mary Portas secret shopper, very interesting especially as I have a customer service background (not in retail though).

Watching it, it reminded me of a meeting we once had with a junior member of staff on how to handle disgruntled/angry customers on the phone. The other senior member told him to just put the phone down, I was telling him to placate the customer, be nice and under no circumstances, shout or swear at the customer or put the phone down.

The other senior member did not agree and we ended up having a one hour 'discussion' about the merits of being nice over getting onto the next call!

The junior member took my advice and the complaints about him stopped and he kept his job.

It was also my cheery exterior and high standards which saved me from the jobless queue when a whole host of us were being made redundant...a dock runner remembered me and recommended me to another company as I was always so nice and polite to him (dock runners were always seen as the lowest as the low around the dock by others and were dealt with others as that - I saw them as external customers)....I was offered a job by the other company without even an interview as after that original runner had spoken about me, the managing director asked other runners/forwarders etc and got the same response.

A smile costs nothing.......but the rewards of that smile can be huge.

lemonjelly

GDB2222 wrote: »

Got in the car this evening, and just as we were about to set off, a black kid wandered round the corner wearing a hoody. At exactly the same moment, my wife activated the central locking. As it happens, she always does this when she sets off, but all the poor kid knows is that honky goes ker-klunk as soon as we see him. I know how I'd feel if I were the one wearing the hoody. Or am I being too sensitive?

My colleague with whom I share an office, & is black responded thus when I read out your post:

"Ya woman dyam racist bumba clart!"

vivatifosi

lemonjelly wrote: »

Can I ask for a review of this from anyone?

I found it a bit disappointing. I really wanted something very tongue in cheek like TDT with Chris Morris, but instead got something that was a bit like a Brit version of The Daily Show with John Stewart.

I didn't find Jimmy Carr believeable as anchor and Charlie Brooker's trying to make jokes on the spot fell flat. I found one of the most interesting segments the interview with Bjorn Lomberg, who I've met in real life (he visited my old uni as a guest lecturer) and was stunningly good looking, but looked unattractive on TV. I'll give it ago again next week, but without the excitement. It may take a while to bed in.

vivatifosi

lemonjelly wrote: »

Interested in Oliver Sacks. Have his Uncle Tungsten book to read. I do find some of his books a little dry, but am keen to read Uncle Tungsten as it is autobiographical.

You might want to give Harold L Klawans a shot then as I think his books are a bit more readable. Fascinating subject matter though. Unfortunately Klawans died about 10 years ago and most of his work is out of print but well worth keeping an eye open for. I managed to get a signed copy of one of his books for my husband a few years after he died. Now the unsigned copy sells for about £90...

vivatifosi

PasturesNew wrote: »

Isn't the Internet funny... well, I am always surprised and confounded when people seem to be running a successful business and yet fail to appear whatsoever in any search results. I'm known among friends as "Queen of Google" for my ability to dig out information - yet I have spent 60 solid hours googling the hell out of my latest subject, building the world's biggest resource list that I can dip into.... and suddenly, at 3am, I discovered that not only is there a shop I'd have been interested to know about just 35 miles away, but they also have an entire warehouse just 28 miles away and two further shops - one of which I have been within 200 yards of since I took up my new interest .... and they have managed to build a mini empire of a warehouse and 3 shops in total, quite close to me, without appearing in Google or Yahoo or Bing once in any of my searches. And when I've searched and found 20-30 pages of results for every search term I was seeking, I religiously went through every returned website for my list. These people do not exist online in search engine terms. I am staggered.

I can feel a shop/warehouse trip coming on .... perchance to purchase some shiny things.

What would happen if you went in and offered to set up an online store for them? It's something you're interested in and we can feel your passion for it. I'd go have a chat.

ETA: sorry, noticed that tt8 has posted something similar. I try to read chronologically so hadn't got to that post when I posted.

lemonjelly

vivatifosi wrote: »

You might want to give Harold L Klawans a shot then as I think his books are a bit more readable. Fascinating subject matter though. Unfortunately Klawans died about 10 years ago and most of his work is out of print but well worth keeping an eye open for. I managed to get a signed copy of one of his books for my husband a few years after he died. Now the unsigned copy sells for about £90...

Thanks for this Viva.
Nail on head, a lot of Sack's stuff isn't the most readable. Though the subject matter is fascinating, the style isn't the most engaging. I am hoping that the autobio is a little free-er, & relaxed.

I'll have a look into Klawans.

vivatifosi wrote: »

ETA: sorry, noticed that tt8 has posted something similar. I try to read chronologically so hadn't got to that post when I posted.

I do this all the time. Hate it when I post up a proper funny & then find someone beat me to it by a few days...):o

NB - before a flood of replies come back about the comedy value of my posts, form an orderly queue...:D

Wheezy_2

lemonjelly wrote: »

NB - before a flood of replies come back about the comedy value of my posts...

As this is a nice people thread : :silenced:

GDB2222

Why do ordinary people just put up with things?

Let me explain the circumstances. I own a flat a few miles from my home, which I let out, but I don't get to visit it very often. I jut visited it and I found the whole road awash with mud from a big development going on next door. Drains blocked, road partly flooded - the works. It's like a swamp.

So, I got back home, phoned planning enforcement, and they are going straight onto it - they expect an improvement by Monday. It's a normal planning requirement to have wheel washing for contractors' vehicles leaving the site, but that's not being done. My guess is that this has been going on like this for months, so why am I the only one to complain? It's not just that I evidently have too much time on my hands; I was really offended by the lack of consideration from these very large builders.

Wheezy_2

GDB2222 wrote: »

Why do ordinary people just put up with things?

Let me explain the circumstances. I own a flat a few miles from my home, which I let out, but I don't get to visit it very often. I jut visited it and I found the whole road awash with mud from a big development going on next door. Drains blocked, road partly flooded - the works. It's like a swamp.

So, I got back home, phoned planning enforcement, and they are going straight onto it - they expect an improvement by Monday. It's a normal planning requirement to have wheel washing for contractors' vehicles leaving the site, but that's not being done. My guess is that this has been going on like this for months, so why am I the only one to complain? It's not just that I evidently have too much time on my hands; I was really offended by the lack of consideration from these very large builders.

It's typical. Everybody expects someone else to take action/complain....and in the end nobody does.
We had a similar case, we live in a row of three houses with a shared drain for the toilet to the main sewer under the street.
We are furthest away from the street, so any blockage downstream gets noticed last by us.

So one day toilet flushed really lazy, we go talk to the neighbours and they say "oh yes, it's been like this for weeks" Why don't you do anything about it then. It does my head in