Help Wanted, Help Found

I am not cool enough to work at Starbucks, but I love them anyway!  Starbucks is my longest relationship to date...we've been making each other feel good for almost thirty years.   My first Starbucks mocha happened when I was looking for my first Chicago apartment.  Walking the city streets in the Gold Coast, sipping this weirdly wonderful mix of coffee and hot chocolate and feeling dirt blow against my legs is forever ingrained in my soul.  I applied to work there when I was at my coolest; a Chicago actress with an Oprah commercial under my belt.  I'd heard they offered even part time employees health insurance, and I wanted in!  I didn't even get an interview, but I kept sipping that precious brew all my life.  One of the best things about Starbucks is the people they employ:  edgy, warm and friendly.  People uniquely interested in making YOUR day with their products. I was de...

The Apple Computer Store: Heaven or Hell? Some of you see this modern technology store as a holy place worthy of a pilgrimage. Well let me tell you, I pilgrimaged and it isn't Heaven. Maybe Hell is a bit harsh...but let me share the customer service experience I had this week. My husband has turned me into a Mac person more because he knows a lot more about these sorts of things than I do. I think the branding of Mac as hip and cool is super effective. As a Mac user I feel ten years younger and twenty pounds thinner not to mention MUCH smarter just because I use a Mac. But here is where I am not thrilled: The customer service at the telephone level. I had called a few days earlier and set an appointment at the Apple store at University Park Mall in Mishawaka, Indiana for 12:15pm Thursday June 30th to have our iMac G5 looked at. It was NOT performing whatsoever despite my hubs efforts to do all the stuff we can do to make it work usually. They asked my name and maybe my...

NOTE: This is a review of the OLD BUCK"S Shoe Repair. As of Fall 2011 new owners have taken over and the store looks great and the folks are attentive and personal...I cannot wait to have a reason to go in there again! Help WANTED: Buck's Shoe Repair, Valparaiso IN Sharon Angelina, Guest Blogger & commentary by Heather Curlee Novak This one came in to me loooong but so good and painfully bad I just have to keep it intact. Enjoy PART TWO tomorrow! It all started in fall of 2003 with the fake snakeskin boots. They were trashy, had chunky 5 inch heels, and were found in a bin at a resale shop. I couldn't pass them up. They spoke to me. What can I say, I was going through a phase, that's another story. But after I got them home and snuck upstairs past my kids to try them on in private with my plaid mini skirt, I discovered the heel on the left boot was wobbly. I knew they were too good to be true. I immediately regretted the six bucks I had spent on them, t...

Today's guest George Garner shares some simple ways we as customers can help those in the service industry to help us more effectively. ("Help me help you help me..." anyone?) Garner has worked in the retail industry for seven years and bought stuff from it for over thirty. Help, Wanted? By George Garner I’ve been in the working world for about sixteen years so far, and roughly seven of them were spent in the glorious world of retail. During those seven long years I’ve learned one very important thing: I cannot read minds. No really, it’s true. Yet, in my store on any given day, streams of people walk in and out expecting me to instinctively know what they need and when they need it. I’ve spent a lot of time behind the counter offering help, but, like every service employee, I’m often on the other side of the counter seeking help. And those of us who spend time behind the counter have a unique perspective on how to the find help we’re used to giving. So to you, dear reade...

The standard HELP WANTED sign is black and white and hangs in a shop window. It implies a need or desire of one human being for the assistance of another. (Usually paid, or underpaid as the case may be.) We do not have to own a business to hang out a HELP WANTED sign. Without regard to our business ownership, social status, age or profession we are all looking for help. It is a simple thing, a need that drives our daily lives: Help with our homework, help in the kitchen, help doing our work smarter, making our lives simpler, our fun bigger and our days more joyful. What does your HELP WANTED sign look like? In my daily life I see so many opportunities to give and receive help that are missed, or at the very least done badly! Customer service is something we each offer and receive every day and it impacts more than just our work life. How we are served and how we in turn serve others affects everything we do and who we are as people. We may be looking for help but we also display ...