for the love

"We French are not as fiendish about finding shortcuts as Americans are. Perhaps it is why we are no longer a great world power, but the trade-off is that we are not fat." - Mireille Guiliano French Women Don't Get Fat

In a world where there are cat-people and dog-people, I am the latter-people. I love dogs, but my present living situation is not conducive to nurturing a loving canine relationship. So what's a dog-loving girl to do? She loves other people's dogs when they are out of town. No, I am not a dog-stalker. I am a dog-sitter. I don't lie in wait under the backyard deck waiting to hear the garage door open and close, and then rush the backdoor for a glimpse, yeh, a rendez-vous with another families' dog. No (even though that probably sounded creepily possible), people actually pay me to watch, water, and walk their dogs while they skip town to do things like Nascar races, in-law visiting, summer vaca and the such. Be not misinformed, this is not my full-time job. It's not even a hobby. I like to think of it as my personal service to the dogs of the world and their families. I would do it for free, but they keep paying me. My latest gig was sweet. I got to stay in the coupl...

A few months ago I was stopped at a red light on White Bridge Road. I looked to my left and read the Walgreens marquee that advertises daily specials. It said this: Chicken Poop $2.99 It's all true. Although I was alone in my car, unable to share this hysterical mystery with anyone save the strangers in their cars surrounding me, I laughed out loud anyways. I immediately thought that some punk high school kid making minimum wage at Walgreens intentionally sabotaged the marquee in order to 1) get fired because he hated his boss and 2) wanted to humiliate his boss by making him publicly remove a sign that his punk ex-employee put up. When I heard the real story, I felt remorse, yet surprisingly pleased, at my ability to make up such detailed imaginary incident. Two days later this sign made the local evening news. The explanation was much better than my fantasy. Chicken Poop turned out to be chap stick. $2.99 chap stick. The woman who invented and marketed it grew up on a farm and na...

My job revolves around customer service. Everything I do is for my customers. Every form I complete, every paycheck I cut, every bill I audit, every report I run, is for the convenience of my customers. We have an endearing flaw at work that "we don't know how to say no". We spend 40+ hours each week making sure our clients are happy, satisfied, and coming back for more. I think it's because I work so hard at this, that I recognize instantly when, as a customer, I am getting a bum deal, being lied to, or worse, not being treated like my business matters. From time to time I may feel compelled to write about the unbelievable treatment I recieve as a customer (good or bad). Watch out Nashville, I'm taking names. Computers Rx Specialists - Franklin Rd, Brentwood These kids may know how to fix computers (I wouldn't know - they couldn't do anything for mine in 3 weeks), but they definitely have no idea how to treat their customers. I was told I would be called ...