I was in America on the weekend and of course found myself in a shoe store. I spotted an interesting looking pair of heels to try on--just to try on, because surely I wouldn't fall in love with them. Surely on my feet they would look just awful or be terribly uncomfortable. Surely.
The guy who grabbed my size for me was the same skater boi who helped me out the last time I was there. He sat down in the chair beside me and said, "hey, weren't you in here a while ago and you bought those grey Rocket Dog heels?"
"Yeah," I laughed.
"Whoa, that's crazy that I remembered that. Kinda creepy I guess," he laughed too but I thought it was nice. It's nice to be remembered. I mean wow, he even remembered the shoes I bought.
He helped me pull the tissue out of the "never-been-tried-on-before" shoes (it always gets me a little excited to know that no one else's foot has been in that shoe I am looking at taking home).
"I don't know how these work," he said, trying to figure out if he should undo the buckle on the side or the zipper on the top.
"It's okay," I told him. "It's not meant for you to understand." I guess I was seeing him as this friendly guy who wanted to help me out with a pair of shoes, not as a kid making four bucks an hour whose job it actually is to understand these things. There is something to be said for a sales person who can make you forget your are supposed to be playing the role of the customer.
"Oh yeah, those look good," he said as I checked myself out in the mirror. Then he called over to the girl who was working in the store with him, "hey look, she's trying on those shoes."
The girl came over to see. "Oh, those look good. When we got them in we didn't think anyone would like them. They just looked funny."
"They look good on," the guy said. I always knew I had a gift for spotting a good shoe. I felt so special. So of course I had to take them home. (Better image here)
Later I met up with Amara and Christian who were in town for the day. We had dinner together at the Boardwalk Bar and Grill which was not terribly busy but surprisingly impressive. They give you free bowls of homemade potato chips. I asked the girl, "do we get refills on the chips because I see here that one of the side options for the wrap is chips."
"Yes," she said. "I can bring more chips. We serve them whenever people order drinks." Yum. Amara was also happy when they left snack sized chocolate bars with the bill. No cheapo mints here!
Back home on the range after a wonderful weekend of rest and retail therapy...
I had called the U of W Department of Continuing Education last week to get more information on that New Media Marketing program I was considering throwing my life away for. The contact people listed were on holidays or out to lunch so I talked to the janitor or whoever it was that answered the phone that afternoon. He told me he would leave a message for someone there and that I would hear from them shortly. Shortly--does that mean in the next 15 minutes or the next five days? I wasn't sure and I didn't bother asking for clarification. The guy was helpful enough though to tell me that the program would not be starting in the fall 2009 term as they didn't get enough people signed up. I didn't take this as a slight against the program at the time as it hadn't really been advertised much as far as I could tell. It only appeared to be on the website, not in the information booklet I received earlier this summer.
Today I got a call back not from the New Media Marketing contacts or even the janitor I spoke to before, but from someone else from their Public Relations program wondering if I would like more information on those courses.
"No thank you," I said. "I already have a diploma in public relations. I was calling last week because I wanted to talk to the person in charge of the New Media Marketing program to get more information about it."
"Oh, so you were only interested in the New Media program?"
"Yes." Yes. That is why I called the two people listed as contacts there only to have some other dude answer the phone and promise me a call back from one of them when they got back to the office. If I had been interested in the PR program, I would have dialed the number for the PR program contact person. Passing my number on to some other person so they can call me about something I did not request information on is a little close to being phone solicitation. I believe we have privacy laws about this kind of thing.
"I can transfer you to the person you need to talk to then," the woman offered.
"Hello, Ashley speaking," the next person to take my call greeted me.
"Hi, I am looking to talk to someone about the New Media Marketing program."
"Oh sure, let me transfer you."
Seriously?
I immediately recognized the name of the final person to greet me as being one of the two listed on the information page on the website. Good, I had finally made it through. I found out that the program wasn't being offered this year as planned because not enough people were interested in the theory classes, they just wanted the technology classes, so they decided to just offer those as individual classes starting in the winter term. Completion of the set of individual classes would likely result in a certificate instead of the diploma. The full diploma program may be offered next year. This appealed to me because it would mean I could take the courses and not have to quit my life as I know it. Sweet.
I then got into my questions. I wanted to know who they were aiming the program at--people who already work in the industry or people who want to get into it? I am not about to take a $15,500 program just so I can start at the bottom again. The woman told me it was targeted toward people already in the marketing field looking to develop more practical skills in the world of e-media. Good, this sounds like me. Then I asked about the work placement program and who they consulted when developing this diploma program. This is where she started getting a little vague. She mentioned one place that was interested in the program--the Chamber of Commerce--but she wouldn't give me any other places. I explained to her that if I was going to participate in the program I wanted to know who would be ultimately offering jobs at the end of it. Yes, there were certain names I want to hear on that list, but she wouldn't budge.
I asked a couple other general questions but hung up from the conversation not feeling very excited at all. I don't know if the person I was talking to was some summer lackey just answering phones or if she had a real invested interest in the program's success, but shouldn't she have been trying a little harder to sell me on it? I figure she should have been telling me how this is where I want to invest $15,500 in the name of my future and meanwhile I got the phone runaround and a half-interested sounding contact person who cannot or will not give me key information to help me decide to go through with this. Um, people, Customer Service? Promotion? This is Marketing 101. Even I know that and I haven't paid a single penny for your fancy pants classes yet. Don't try to tell me you don't need to market the program, you already told me you couldn't fill your quota to hold the class. You also apparently built an entire curriculum without doing your market research first. Gawd people, really? Will I be getting a charitable receipt for that 15 grand you want from me? Yes, I realize I am probably expecting way too much out of a post-secondary educational institution that is somewhat notorious for this kind of thing.
I'm starting to re-think this going back to school thing though. I don't think education is ever a waste of time or money, and yes, there are definitely some things I want to gain practical skills in. However, do I need to spend big money on school, or just get more practice with being interviewed and presenting myself well? Maybe just do some networking? (She waves now to her potential employers who can't help but fall in love with her as a person and a talented writer...)
I wasn't in a good mood on Thursday night when I got to my mom's and dad's for Tracy's birthday dinner. I had to fight traffic to pick up my grandma who then nattered on about an accidents she saw earlier in the day on her way to the church. Tracy is really good at listening to her but I usually can't even fake interest in the random stories she sometimes shares. I feel awful about this, so on top of general crankiness I was also battling guilt pains. When I got to mom's and dad's I didn't say hi to my mom and I didn't even greet Elmo like I usually do. I just headed for the back door to stand outside and take a few deep breaths of fresh air. My dad was out there barbecuing and taking work calls on his cell. He was in between calls when I stepped outside.
"I'm grumpy," I told him. My dad is the only one who seems to understand what I mean by this. I think it's because we have the same temperament, though I have often cursed that fact and do everything possible to try to control it better than he does.
"How come, Kid?" he asked.
"Traffic, Grandma nattering," I mumbled with my arms across my chest. Dad gave me a hug. It truly was the only answer I was looking for. I never tell him this. I never say thank you when he makes me feel better or does exactly what I need him to do to fix things. If he in some way asks for feedback to know if I am feeling any better I might mumble, "yeah, sure," and completely avoid eye contact. I can only laugh at my ridiculous attempts at being an emotionally reserved man. I have no idea why I am like this with him, but I think he forgives me anyway.
My dad is pretty happy these days because he is a bit over 200 days away from retirement. Yes, he counts every day. My dad isn't unhappy with his job though. I do believe he enjoys what he does, even when he's crazy busy and it cuts into his holiday schedule.
I've been admiring my dad as a career role model for some time now. He has been with the same company for over 30 years working his way up the ladder. He didn't have any prestigious paper diplomas to move him along though. He got where he is today because of who his strong work ethic and who he is as a person. If you think I'm a hard ass about customer service you just have to meet my dad to get a sense of where that comes from. I get annoyed with him a lot because it is impossible to take him out to dinner anywhere. Bad service plus Dad's temperament equals an unpleasant evening for all at the table. Maybe he expects too much some times, but I know that he always gives 110% to his customers so he only expects the same out of everyone else.
I want to be like my dad. I want to be recognized as someone who is knowledgeable not from a book but from experience. I want to be known as the person to go to to get answers and to get the job done. I want to be commended for my dedication to excellent customer and client service. So yeah, I can pay $500, $5,000 or $15,000 for some profs to lecture me, assign me some reading, test me, and then give me a pretty piece of paper with my name printed on it in script, but I know that the best lessons I've learned have come from personal experience. It's a different world now than it was when my dad was building his career, but surely there's still some value in life experience.
The guy who grabbed my size for me was the same skater boi who helped me out the last time I was there. He sat down in the chair beside me and said, "hey, weren't you in here a while ago and you bought those grey Rocket Dog heels?"
"Yeah," I laughed.
"Whoa, that's crazy that I remembered that. Kinda creepy I guess," he laughed too but I thought it was nice. It's nice to be remembered. I mean wow, he even remembered the shoes I bought.
He helped me pull the tissue out of the "never-been-tried-on-before" shoes (it always gets me a little excited to know that no one else's foot has been in that shoe I am looking at taking home).
"I don't know how these work," he said, trying to figure out if he should undo the buckle on the side or the zipper on the top.
"It's okay," I told him. "It's not meant for you to understand." I guess I was seeing him as this friendly guy who wanted to help me out with a pair of shoes, not as a kid making four bucks an hour whose job it actually is to understand these things. There is something to be said for a sales person who can make you forget your are supposed to be playing the role of the customer.
"Oh yeah, those look good," he said as I checked myself out in the mirror. Then he called over to the girl who was working in the store with him, "hey look, she's trying on those shoes."
The girl came over to see. "Oh, those look good. When we got them in we didn't think anyone would like them. They just looked funny."
"They look good on," the guy said. I always knew I had a gift for spotting a good shoe. I felt so special. So of course I had to take them home. (Better image here)Later I met up with Amara and Christian who were in town for the day. We had dinner together at the Boardwalk Bar and Grill which was not terribly busy but surprisingly impressive. They give you free bowls of homemade potato chips. I asked the girl, "do we get refills on the chips because I see here that one of the side options for the wrap is chips."
"Yes," she said. "I can bring more chips. We serve them whenever people order drinks." Yum. Amara was also happy when they left snack sized chocolate bars with the bill. No cheapo mints here!
Back home on the range after a wonderful weekend of rest and retail therapy...
I had called the U of W Department of Continuing Education last week to get more information on that New Media Marketing program I was considering throwing my life away for. The contact people listed were on holidays or out to lunch so I talked to the janitor or whoever it was that answered the phone that afternoon. He told me he would leave a message for someone there and that I would hear from them shortly. Shortly--does that mean in the next 15 minutes or the next five days? I wasn't sure and I didn't bother asking for clarification. The guy was helpful enough though to tell me that the program would not be starting in the fall 2009 term as they didn't get enough people signed up. I didn't take this as a slight against the program at the time as it hadn't really been advertised much as far as I could tell. It only appeared to be on the website, not in the information booklet I received earlier this summer.
Today I got a call back not from the New Media Marketing contacts or even the janitor I spoke to before, but from someone else from their Public Relations program wondering if I would like more information on those courses.
"No thank you," I said. "I already have a diploma in public relations. I was calling last week because I wanted to talk to the person in charge of the New Media Marketing program to get more information about it."
"Oh, so you were only interested in the New Media program?"
"Yes." Yes. That is why I called the two people listed as contacts there only to have some other dude answer the phone and promise me a call back from one of them when they got back to the office. If I had been interested in the PR program, I would have dialed the number for the PR program contact person. Passing my number on to some other person so they can call me about something I did not request information on is a little close to being phone solicitation. I believe we have privacy laws about this kind of thing.
"I can transfer you to the person you need to talk to then," the woman offered.
"Hello, Ashley speaking," the next person to take my call greeted me.
"Hi, I am looking to talk to someone about the New Media Marketing program."
"Oh sure, let me transfer you."
Seriously?
I immediately recognized the name of the final person to greet me as being one of the two listed on the information page on the website. Good, I had finally made it through. I found out that the program wasn't being offered this year as planned because not enough people were interested in the theory classes, they just wanted the technology classes, so they decided to just offer those as individual classes starting in the winter term. Completion of the set of individual classes would likely result in a certificate instead of the diploma. The full diploma program may be offered next year. This appealed to me because it would mean I could take the courses and not have to quit my life as I know it. Sweet.
I then got into my questions. I wanted to know who they were aiming the program at--people who already work in the industry or people who want to get into it? I am not about to take a $15,500 program just so I can start at the bottom again. The woman told me it was targeted toward people already in the marketing field looking to develop more practical skills in the world of e-media. Good, this sounds like me. Then I asked about the work placement program and who they consulted when developing this diploma program. This is where she started getting a little vague. She mentioned one place that was interested in the program--the Chamber of Commerce--but she wouldn't give me any other places. I explained to her that if I was going to participate in the program I wanted to know who would be ultimately offering jobs at the end of it. Yes, there were certain names I want to hear on that list, but she wouldn't budge.
I asked a couple other general questions but hung up from the conversation not feeling very excited at all. I don't know if the person I was talking to was some summer lackey just answering phones or if she had a real invested interest in the program's success, but shouldn't she have been trying a little harder to sell me on it? I figure she should have been telling me how this is where I want to invest $15,500 in the name of my future and meanwhile I got the phone runaround and a half-interested sounding contact person who cannot or will not give me key information to help me decide to go through with this. Um, people, Customer Service? Promotion? This is Marketing 101. Even I know that and I haven't paid a single penny for your fancy pants classes yet. Don't try to tell me you don't need to market the program, you already told me you couldn't fill your quota to hold the class. You also apparently built an entire curriculum without doing your market research first. Gawd people, really? Will I be getting a charitable receipt for that 15 grand you want from me? Yes, I realize I am probably expecting way too much out of a post-secondary educational institution that is somewhat notorious for this kind of thing.
I'm starting to re-think this going back to school thing though. I don't think education is ever a waste of time or money, and yes, there are definitely some things I want to gain practical skills in. However, do I need to spend big money on school, or just get more practice with being interviewed and presenting myself well? Maybe just do some networking? (She waves now to her potential employers who can't help but fall in love with her as a person and a talented writer...)
I wasn't in a good mood on Thursday night when I got to my mom's and dad's for Tracy's birthday dinner. I had to fight traffic to pick up my grandma who then nattered on about an accidents she saw earlier in the day on her way to the church. Tracy is really good at listening to her but I usually can't even fake interest in the random stories she sometimes shares. I feel awful about this, so on top of general crankiness I was also battling guilt pains. When I got to mom's and dad's I didn't say hi to my mom and I didn't even greet Elmo like I usually do. I just headed for the back door to stand outside and take a few deep breaths of fresh air. My dad was out there barbecuing and taking work calls on his cell. He was in between calls when I stepped outside.
"I'm grumpy," I told him. My dad is the only one who seems to understand what I mean by this. I think it's because we have the same temperament, though I have often cursed that fact and do everything possible to try to control it better than he does.
"How come, Kid?" he asked.
"Traffic, Grandma nattering," I mumbled with my arms across my chest. Dad gave me a hug. It truly was the only answer I was looking for. I never tell him this. I never say thank you when he makes me feel better or does exactly what I need him to do to fix things. If he in some way asks for feedback to know if I am feeling any better I might mumble, "yeah, sure," and completely avoid eye contact. I can only laugh at my ridiculous attempts at being an emotionally reserved man. I have no idea why I am like this with him, but I think he forgives me anyway.
My dad is pretty happy these days because he is a bit over 200 days away from retirement. Yes, he counts every day. My dad isn't unhappy with his job though. I do believe he enjoys what he does, even when he's crazy busy and it cuts into his holiday schedule.
I've been admiring my dad as a career role model for some time now. He has been with the same company for over 30 years working his way up the ladder. He didn't have any prestigious paper diplomas to move him along though. He got where he is today because of who his strong work ethic and who he is as a person. If you think I'm a hard ass about customer service you just have to meet my dad to get a sense of where that comes from. I get annoyed with him a lot because it is impossible to take him out to dinner anywhere. Bad service plus Dad's temperament equals an unpleasant evening for all at the table. Maybe he expects too much some times, but I know that he always gives 110% to his customers so he only expects the same out of everyone else.
I want to be like my dad. I want to be recognized as someone who is knowledgeable not from a book but from experience. I want to be known as the person to go to to get answers and to get the job done. I want to be commended for my dedication to excellent customer and client service. So yeah, I can pay $500, $5,000 or $15,000 for some profs to lecture me, assign me some reading, test me, and then give me a pretty piece of paper with my name printed on it in script, but I know that the best lessons I've learned have come from personal experience. It's a different world now than it was when my dad was building his career, but surely there's still some value in life experience.
6 comments:
Those are uber hot shoes. So... is the skater boy hot? ;)
I'm relieved you've come full circle on this back-to-school thing. Reminds me of all the "social media" courses and diplomas floating around these days. Most of these things you can learn on your own with some tenaciousness and thirst for knowledge, both of which you already have. If you're interested in it, start reading up on it in your spare time and yes, definitely network. Twitter is great for that. ;)
Just to clarify: it's not the back-to-school thing that was iffy but the courses offered. This post just confirmed my suspicions. Sometimes going back to school can be great but too many think it's a magical key to a whole new world, which it isn't, in itself.
I'm sure someone from the U of W's Con Ed department - the Director maybe? - would love to hear of your experience.
The whole thing is quite ironic isn't it?
DL
Again, I lurved that restaurant. Need to go back for more Fat Tire beer and chips.
@Tales:Skater boi was sweet and fun but only for shopping with. I should have given him my name though to see if he'd remember it next time I am in ;)
@Kasia: I understand what you mean. I was looking at three programs but the full time one seemed to be the most practical and offer the most relevant classes. I haven't abandoned totally the idea of more school, but you are right, I could first just invest some time into some self-led studying.
@Doug: What, you think the director of the U of W DCE would want to hear about my shoe-buying experience in Grand Forks? :P Yes, the school story is beautiful in its perfect irony. I may share it with someone there.
@Amara: I will go eat chips with you at the Boardwalk any time! I may even drink beer if it means we'll get more!
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