Ellen's large feet

I just got off of work, and I'm basically debating on whether to go to bed (it's 8pm by the way) or do some laundry. I just polished off the better part of a box of Mac and Cheese (I added a can of green beans, my mother would be proud), and almost immediately regretted eating that much. While I contemplated the insane amount of pasta I had devoured today (I finished off some vegan leftovers from last night for breakfast: noodles and vegetables pan fried in Tai peanut sauce...very good); I decided to sit down and rest for a spot. Ellen's Somewhat Special Special was on. First thing I noticed was her sweet 3 piece suit. she is, after all, a sharp dresser. Next I look down, and what do you know, She's got some decent sized dogs! I mean, her shoes looked really long. not quite clown like, but definitely bigger than her small frame would suggest. I didn't dwell too long on her feet, however, because I got to thinking to myself "self, Ellen's got a pretty sharp hairdo going on...maybe you should get yourself an Ellen haircut!" I just wonder what the reaction will be when I go to the Great Clips down the street and tell the stylist "I'll take The Ellen." I would think it could be quite embarrassing, but hey, this is me...

"Time Flies on Wings of Lightning"

Dallin H. Oaks referenced this quote from a Hymn in the April 2001 Conference. It was evident tonight as I looked at some pictures of Blake.

How did this little tyke

turn into this little Man Child in less than 2 years????

He still makes the same face when he sleeps though. I love it.

We're letting his hair grow out a bit. I want to see how it looks. If it's horrible, we'll have to get him a trim before his 2 year photo, but until then, I say grow baby grow.

I think he's getting a little big of a Samson complex though. He's been a little bit of a tyrant recently. We had a little chat though, and he's going to work on it (If only parenting were that simple :)...

Customer Service

Most big companies have customer service departments. You know them, they take the returns, faulty merchandise, and all your complaints. Well in my line of work, the Front Desk is the Resort's customer service desk. You have a problem with Housekeeping...tell the Front Desk. Restaurant service was slow, get up from your table, walk past the Restaurant Manager and the three hostesses, and come to the Front Desk. Spa doesn't have any availability- they have several managers who are happy to talk to you, but nope-call the Front Desk. It's very interesting. I understand this is the case, and I'm OK with that for the most part. I understand that a big part of my job is to deal with Guest problems. Where I start to take umbrage, however, is when people who aren't guests, call to complain to me. It's like I'm the Chloe of Complaints, sans the accent (although I've got some great Jamaican associates who are teaching me their lingo...stay tuned for that).
This afternoon I got a call from this irate lady who wanted to give her friend (who had a future reservation to stay with us) a $100 credit to use as she wished. She was ripped because we wouldn't take her credit card over the phone. Marriott requires a credit card authorization form to be filled out and faxed/emailed to the property to allow third party charging. This is to protect the company and the guest. It's pretty standard in most hotel chains. Well this lady wasn't having any of it. She just went off about how I should be ashamed to work for a company that would make this so difficult for her. She then said that it wasn't to protect her at all, it was just to protect the company and that I was a liar for telling her different. And for the first time in a very long time, I started to lose my patience. She continued about how she is a Gold Member of Hyatt and they never ever asked her to send a credit card authorization, they always take her card over the phone. Amazon. Macy's. They all take credit cards over the phone. "All I want to do is give my friend a gift, and you are ruining her birthday!"
I was astonished. I'm very good at taking a verbal beating from guests, because I understand the associate/guest relationship. But this lady wasn't even staying with us! I basically cut her off. I told her that though she thought I was a liar, the credit card authorization was just as much for her benefit as ours. "How so??" she asked.
"Well Ma'am, lets say you tell me over the phone you want to pay $100 on your friends bill. I take your credit card over the phone, but instead of charging it $100, I charge it $1000. You see your credit card statement in a few days and call us to complain that we overcharged your card. But then it's your word against mine, thus our problem. However, lets say you were to send in a quick little form which the written amount you wanted charged and your signature. Then there would be no chance for confusion. Does this make sense to you?"
Then she gave an analogy of her own about calling Amazon to pay for something, and asked if what I said was similar to what she said. I checked out of the conversation 3 minutes earlier, so I just said yes.
Then she asks "Well, what should I do then?"
Well, you could write your friend a poem, give them a car wash, or shoe shine...maybe babysit her kids while she got away for the weekend...Or maybe...just maybe...you could email me back this credit card authorization filled out, and give your friend $100 like you planned. Holy Smokes! this conversation is worse than me sticking thumb tacks into my knuckles!
Eventually I ask her why she doesn't give them a Marriott Gift Card. Well I tried, but someone at your hotel gave me the wrong website.
http://www.marriott.com/? yes that is a tough one to remember. So I walked her through the process, even going to the website as she was, and clicking on everything before I told her, so I knew it worked. She said she wasn't seeing the same thing I was. Eventually she found the right site, but then asked how she's going to print off the gift card. I told her it wasn't a certificate, but that Marriott would actually mail her an actual gift card. "but the party is today, will it get here today?"
"No ma'am, it probably wont be there for a few days, since it's already 12pm and it won't leave the warehouse until TOMORROW!"
"well, what am I going to do then?"
So then I told her about the final option. "you could try Safeway or Fry's. They often have Marriott gift cards, or at the very least, they have visa and American express gift cards, which we accept here at the resort.
"No, I don't remember seeing any gift cards at Safeway."
"Trust me ma'am, they are there."
"Well, I don't know. This whole process has been very frustrating, and I feel certain people at your resort misled me. I've never experienced this with Hyatt."
Anyone that has been in customer service long enough, knows when a person is trying to get something for free. They're just fishing around, and you know exactly what they're doing, it's insane. It's like a five year old that wants something, so he goes to his mom and he thinks he's being so clever and sly, but he's a little kid, and his mom isn't stupid. She sees right through him! That's how I felt with this lady. Did she honestly expect me to say "Ma'am, I am so sorry for this trouble you've had giving your friend a gift. Tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to put $100 credit on your friends account, and tell her it was from you. that way, you get out of giving her an actual gift!"

Seriously?? I'd rather get kicked in the face by a donkey then give you anything!

It's people like this that really make it hard for honest guests who have experienced problems to get proper compensation. Amazing!!

awkward...

So, being somewhat of a blogger novice, I sometimes hit the "next blog" button on accident, when I'm actually trying to post something. It's a little awkward. Here I am, sitting comfortably in my own living room, trying to pen the inner most languishings of my heart (while USA v Australia plays on the DVR)...when all of the sudden, one mis-click of the mouse, and I'm transported to someone else's world, someone else's languishes of the heart, on a blog, not so ironically called "languishings" It's a little awkward being thrown into a stranger's blog. I don't know this person, I feel like an intruder. It's like freshman year of college when you walk into the classroom, sit down, look around, notice that "Welcome to Issues of the Womb 202" is on the white board, and suddenly realize, you're sitting in classroom RB242 instead of RB142. Just as you get up to leave the professor walks in...so you have to sit down so as to not draw too much attention to yourself. You think you can get through one class, unnoticed, and then never return again, but by about the 5th minute, you realize you're just not going to be comfortable with the subject matter, and you book it out of there. To parallel, I accidentally came across this other blog, I want to get out of there, but feel weird automatically clicking the back button. Almost as if this person would know that I came in, and left as if I had just noticed I walked into the women's restroom. (wow, maybe the women's restroom analogy works better than the drawn out "issues of the womb" class analogy...I'm not even sure BYU offers that course, oh wait... yes they do... Marriage Family and Human Development! ha ha, just kidding Friends and Sister who may or may not have such a degree ;)
anyway, I did find myself starting to read this person's blog, but had to stop after 3 or 4 lines because I just felt like such a home invader... I'm sure it's a very nice blog, written by a very nice lady, but I couldn't hang around uninvited long enough to find out.