Caught in the Middle

What ever happened to Good Customer Service ?

As a consumer and a patient, I am getting really tired of dealing with service people who don't put care into their service. I have experienced this several times over the past several weeks. 

The first incident I will tell you about occurred as we were getting bids to repair hail damage from a late spring storm. Wanting to get three bids to compare prices, we contacted several companies. One of them promised a bid by the end of the week but never delivered and never did come through with a bid for us. I guess they didn't really need our business. The salesman at the company we decided to use promised us new soffit and fascia as part of a replacement gutter package. When the crew came out to do the work, they knew nothing about this. When we looked back at the contract, there was no mention of replacing soffit and fascia. Lesson learned-if a salesman promises you something, make sure he includes it in your contract !


The next incident has to do with home delivery. One of the medicines I take for my arthritis comes from a specialty pharmacy. The medicine has to be refrigerated, so it is usually shipped in a sealed Styrofoam container filled with ice packs. Up until my most recent shipment, I have had no problems with this. When I received my July shipment of medicine, my husband went to bring the container into the house only to discover that the bottom had been broken out of the Styrofoam container. My first thought was, I'm surprised they delivered the container in this condition. I thought it would be a good idea to call the specialty pharmacy just to let them know that the Styrofoam container had been damaged. In doing so, I was told that the delivery person was not supposed to leave the shipment when this happens, but was to return it right away for a replacement. I assured them that the contents were unharmed, but I thought they should know about the damage. Who wasn't doing their job?

Hopefully now I was done with incidents. Not so. Last Tuesday I had a visit from a respiratory therapist who was supposed to bring me a new mask for my CPAP machine. First of all, although he did call to alert me, he was 10 minutes late in arriving. I had left work early that day to make sure that I would be home at the time he said he would be at my house. Next, he didn't bring the correct mask with him. He promised he would have the correct mask mailed to me and I should receive it within two days. It is now four days later, and I have yet to receive my new mask.


We don't eat dinner out at a sit-down restaurant too often. Last Thursday, my husband and I agreed to attend a dinner at Pasta House to participate in a presentation by RCI our timeshare company. The company was paying for our dinner. Mid-way through the presentation we were each given a sheet of paper with several menu items on it. We were to circle our choice. I know I had circled Past con Broccoli as that was what I decided to eat that night. When the waiter came with our dinners, he brought me a plate of fish with a side of pasta. This was not what I had ordered. I told him that I didn't order fish. He apologized took the fish back to the kitchen and eventually brought out the right order. To apologize, he brought me a double order, but this time my husband had finished eating, it was late and the pasta was too hot to eat. Wouldn't it be better if he had brought me the right dish to begin with. We don't visit Pasta House very often and definitely won't be going back there for awhile.


All of these incidents have left me with great mental pain and tired of being the customer or the patient caught in the middle of someone who doesn't care enough to do their job correctly or to realize when they haven't. I will continue to report these incidents to the companies and hope that this kind of thing happens less often in the future.


Do you have stories like these ? Please share them with me in the comments box or suggestions to keep this from happening so many times.


Until next time, Live, Think and Be pain-free,

**Joy**

A Life of Falls

Recently my coworkers and I were comparing notes on injuries we have had in prior years. Unfortunately mine have been many. The earliest one I remember (although I'm sure there were some before this) happened when I was in 6th grade. Our class was walking from our annex to the main school building for music class. All the girls were walking on asphalt.  All the boys were walking on ice. For some reason I was following the boys and fell and broke my wrist-my left one and I'm a lefty.


The next incident I remember happened  when I was a teenager. Having a mother who was a camp lifeguard and a great swimmer and water lover, we spent most summer afternoons when I was a teenager at our community swimming pool. One summer I had just learned how to dive from the side of the pool. I wanted to practice this newly learned skill, so I dove in. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention and I landed right on top of my younger brother's head. I think it probably hurt me more than him- I ended up with a broken (we think) nose. That was the end of my diving days.


Fast forward to 1982- I now had a new full-time job working for Southwestern Bell/AT&T in Material Management. Still living at home with my parents, one of my duties was to walk their Doby-Dane Daisy Duke.  On one of those walks I tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and fell face forward on to the concrete. As I fell, I put my arms out in front of me to brace my fall. OK, no problem, I got up, got Daisy and went home. I finished out the evening and went to bed. The next day I got up and took a shower. It was a little difficult washing my hair, but I managed.  I was getting ready to leave to drive to work and realize my arms were both stiff and it was going to be hard to drive. I told my Mother the situation and she shepherded me off to the emergency room. There I learned that I had broken both of my elbows.
A sling for each arm and a prescription for pain medicine remedied this. I pride myself on only missing 2 days of work-although it did take about 2 or so weeks with both arms in slings for the elbows to heal.


Advance the time clock again to September 1995. My job with Southwestern Bell/AT&T only lasted 41/2 years. I moved on to a series of temporary and short term jobs. At this time I was working through a temp service for Citicorp. I had been at the job almost a year (or maybe longer). One night I has leaving work on my may to pick up my husband Ernie. I pulled out of the parking lot at Citicorp and made a left turn onto the outer road. Apparently, I misjudged the speed at which a van was coming down the outer road and collided with him. This accident landed me in the hospital for a week with a broken right arm and a tibia plateau fracture of my right leg. Once home, I managed to fall again and re-fracture my right arm.


One would think by this time I would have learned to be more careful. Not so. Several years later I was walking the dog again (this time it was Honey-my husband Ernie & my dog)- We had an ice storm and the ground was still covered with ice. I was moving down the steps to walk the dog, tripped on a slippery spot and a loose piece of concrete and down I went once again. This time I managed to break my left foot !!!


This brings us up to date on the major falls/accidents that have occurred in my 55 years of living. Of course these are only the major ones- there are many more minor spills which are too many to name here.


I really like the Japanese saying, "Fall seven times, Stand up eight!" The most important thing in life is to continue to try and continue to pick yourself up when you fall. For sure
I have learned that lesson. 

How many times have you fallen? Have you ever stopped and counted them ? Please use the comment box to share your story.


Until next time do your best to think, live and be pain-free and please try not to fall and I will too !!


--Joy E Last