Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Satisfied

So, today's been interesting. 

We had the day off of work.  We don't have a safe, dry, place to wait on a pickup.  Lots of cold rain and thunderstorms.  We need the rain, but it will make the grass grow. 

I slept very well.  I did wake up at 4 AM with a desperate craving for Orange soda.  I've been wanting that lately.  Happily, I have some.  It's diet of course.  I drank some and went back to bed, sleeping another 4 hours. 

When I woke up I did my God Time.  I also decided I am not going to cower on the floor "Please don't beat me!".  What did I do when I got mugged?  I fought. 

So, I'll fight.

What can I do to fight?  Well, I have a better product lineup.  I don't have deceptive practices like a candy bar labeled at 80 cents but really charging 90; a honeybun labeled at 90 cents and charging a dollar.  Yes, I told the supervisor about this, months ago.  They're still doing it. 

Now, you're a customer.  You buy something labeled at one price, but it's higher.  What are you going to do?  You're going to go to Ron and Heather.  You're going to have animosity toward the company that ripped you off.  You won't give the rip-off company any more money, that's for sure. 

I also stock the LSS bags of chips (the larger size) on the TOP row only - that's the only way the customer will get them.  If I stock them in the middle row or lower, they hang up and piss off the customer. 

I want my customers to walk away satisfied.   Nothing is more important to me. 

I hate cheese puffs, for instance.  However, when I go to Sam's Club all the big vendors come in at the same time.  I see what they're selling, and one thing they've been buying are these jalapeno cheese puffs.  I ask them, and they swear the customers love them.  Right now my customers are on a hot and spicy kick, so I got them. 

I realized they are as tall as the LSS bags, so I changed one coil on the top row in each of the machines and stocked them so they'd fall properly.  This doesn't take brain surgery.  I also made Ron eat a bag to ensure it's a quality product. 

I don't buy what I want (another flaw I see in the other vendor), I buy what they want.  About 40% of the population is black, another 30% latino, and the rest mixed, including white.  They don't want salt and vinegar! 

I've identified us.  The other vendors had a fit when I told them I had put a photo of Ron, in the wheelchair, in each of our snack machines.  Now the customers can literally see who they're "feeding".  Ron also looks pretty tragic, the kind of guy you want to help.  My favorite photo features Ron in the wheelchair, laden down with merchandise, right outside the front door of the building.   He's laughing at me as I take the photo. 

The other vendor went on about unfair competion.  [snort]  It's a good thing I taped the photos inside the machines or I think they'd have gone "walking". 

I can also fight via social media.  I'm not going to run down him or his business (rather, only here), but I can promote ours.  So, I made a Facebook page.  The customers can like it and get updates about new products, put in a prayer request, etc. 

I think it's a good start. 

About the rest of my day: I watched "The Lucky Ones" while I made Ron some rice dressing.  It involved cooking a pot of rice, then taking it out of my pot and bagging it.  Then I heated up the rice dressing mix (seasoned cooked meat).  Once it had thawed, I cooked it for 15 minutes.  The last couple minutes I added the rice to it so the rice would soak up the juices. 

I found the movie interesting.  I didn't feel like I'd wasted my time, but the poor thing got HORRIBLE reviews. 

I took a nap, and had a wierd dream about George Harrison.  I have never been a Beatles fan and couldn't pick him out of a lineup.  That's what I found the wierdest.  He was encouraging me to dance.  Oh-well.  Time to get up. 

Then I heard the heater - trying - to turn on.  [bad word]  It's working now but I wonder for how long? 

Now, I'm sure some of you might be thinking "Heather, you are always kissing God's butt, and this is how He rewards you?"  Well, I don't know what He's doing, but if it needs a repairman I pray it is cheap.   We at least know a reputable company: Action Air Conditioning and Heating. 

A good list of repair guys is worth it's weight in gold.   

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