E.A.U.P.E.N.I.N.G

Evolve~

Appreciate ~

Understand~

Participate~

Energize~

Nourish~

Inspire~

Namaste~

Gratitude~

Customer Service is NOT Just a Department!

It is very important to know that… we Don’t know…what we Don’t know! This applies to everything from why someone may have cut us off on the highway, or why someone may be known as “the grumpy old man” , or what a person was doing just moments before returning an item.

WE don’t know..that perhaps the ‘rude’ person that cut you off in traffic, may be on their way to deliver a baby. The man that everyone refers to as grumpy, may be that way because he lived a very hard life, perhaps his pension fell through and he has to work as a crossing guard to pay his rent.. because he just lost his house. Or perhaps this elderly person had his drivers license taken away because his eyesight is failing, so every morning he rides his mobile cart across the bridge rain or shine.. just to get out of his house…or to go to the cemetery everyday without fail.. to visit his wife who passed away 15 years earlier.

My point with all of this is… our perspective makes all of the difference. When we see the entire picture and all of the events as a whole, our educated response will more often than not be completely different than it would have been when we only held partial information. With a different perspective, we would be able to show more compassion, love and understanding rather than rudeness and abruptness.

Saturday morning, my husband , a couple of our kids and I were at the retirement home in the city to visit his grandmother. She turned 90 in January and is holding on to this life until we are all ready to let her go. She was suffering from cardiac failure; she was still holding on. We visited for awhile even though she can no longer speak, we touched her hand, looked at pictures, sang to her and all held her probably for the last time. With tear stained checks we left about an hour later.

Since we were in the city, we went to a couple of stores to get ready for our son’s 5th birthday. While we were there, we brought some things back to the store for our sister in-law. The box was so heavy that my husband had to carry it in from the truck. We had the receipt, the cashier circled the items and rang it into the till. When she asked for the credit card that the items were purchased with.. we never had it, since the items were not bought by us… so I suggested applying it back onto the card (since they have the number on the receipt)..or store credit. The cashier called her supervisor to ask if that was alright.. she told her supervisor what was happening…and then she turned her back to us and whispered something in the phone. After hanging up the phone, she said…”we just can’t do it…it is store policy!”

Store Policy… what happened to the days where the customer is always right. When did corporations grow this amazing sense of entitlement? Without customers… there would be no corporation….so why are customers treated like cattle. The process of returning items is already inconvenient…now this time…it means that our sister in-law is going to have to make another hour long trip into the city..with her 2 – 5 year olds…and her 1 year old… while packing a box that is too heavy to carry… and start all over because she has the credit card that matches the receipt…all for $16.00.

Perhaps knowing that I was just visiting our dying grandmother may have made the difference .. in creating some compassion. Or knowing that we drove an hour to get to the city… or that my sister would be packing 3 little children after diving another hour to get to the store may have helped. Having retail management experience in my background, I know that there is always something that can be done to please a customer…. Because word of mouth is really everything, it is in the ‘stores’ best interest. How do you ever measure the implications of a person’s actions..or non-action. This $16.00 could cost the company the thousands and thousands of dollars that I would potential spend in this store over my lifetime… or perhaps the hundreds of thousands that my family might have spent… not to mention the millions of dollars of my readers.

Maybe this perspective would have made the difference. Perhaps looking past my glasses to see the tears that I held back for our Grandmother… What if..everyone that was in an industry of service..treated the customers like they had all come into the store after saying their last goodbye to someone they loved. What if..we ALL interacted with compassion, love and understanding?

Since we just don’t know, what we don’t know..what if we made “Customer Service” the attitude of gratitude… appreciation for the customers that come into our stores because without them… we would not have a job to begin with!

Most Humbly,
Marcia
President..Stock Harmony


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Removing Your Own Limits...by Marcia Johnson

Removing Your Own Limits
As a child, I had childish beliefs; they were my own truths that I carried with me for many many years, beliefs that limited my own experiences. For example I hated to eat tomatoes, zucchini, nuts, spinach, chicken and even gravy. As I have matured, I removed my own childish limitations and beliefs that denied me the opportunity to try new things.


Growing up, I stopped myself from exploring new places because perhaps there might be snakes. Silly because 10 times out of 10, no snakes were found by any of my friends; however, they were able to have fun, while I sat on the sidelines. I had built up a fear that created a wall that stopped me from having lots of enjoyment. Somewhere in my childhood, I picked up the false belief that all snakes were dangerous. (I still think they are yucky, but I am no longer a captive to my own fears.) I know now that F.E.A.R. is only False- Evidence- Appearing- Real.
Along our life paths we pick up “truths” that placed limits on our own experiences. They may come from our parents, friends, television, religion or teachers. We carry these beliefs with us throughout our lives. Since truth is only relative to our own life experiences; perhaps we looked up to someone that was prejudice, then usually unknowingly, we carry this false evidence with us throughout our lives. A great example of this can be found in the following story:


When my kids were younger, my oldest son was making fun of his younger brother because he was born with 100% hearing lose in one of his ears. In order to stop the abuse, I told the older one that he had no room to talk because he was not born perfect either. I told him that he was born without a belly button. The only reason that he had one now was because I did not want him to be made fun of so I paid for him to have one implanted.


So for about 5 years he believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was born without a belly button. Until the day he was sitting in grade 5 health class hearing his teacher describe the purpose of an umbilical cord. Colten raised his hand and asked how his teacher explained how he was able to receive nourishment without having a belly button. Well long story short, let’s just say he was none too happy with his mother when he got home from school that day. A quick story that at the time never meant any harm turned into a belief that he carried with him for years…because it was a “truth” that he had learnt from someone that he trusted.


There was a time that everyone on earth believed that the earth was flat, then along came Christopher Columbus and proved otherwise. If it weren’t for Henry Ford, everyone will still believe that horses were the only way to travel. Thanks to Tomas Edison’s mind stretching inventions, everyone today has the gift of light. These men are great examples of why it is so important not to deny ourselves the chance to nurture our personal development. When we hold on to limiting beliefs, we deny ourselves the chance to grow and experience opportunities to learn.


If we can set aside our own limited beliefs, we can open ourselves up. The Tao Te Ching, teaches us to remain flexible and open to change. When we hold onto past beliefs that make us firm and unbendable, we are unable to grow. It is like planting a seed in a container with a lid on it, yes the seed may grow, however it will only grow as big as the container allows. This is the same as if we deny ourselves the experience to grow by holding onto our own limiting beliefs. We place a lid on our own life experiences.


What if, we suspend everything that we were to previously believe to be true as we approach a new situation? By doing this, we are able to see things from a new perspective. This gives us the opportunity to see things clearer and expand our own learning. When we remove our own limitations and false evidenced that appears real, we grow like never before!


Unless we have had the opportunity to travel the globe and experience new cultures and understanding, most enlightenment has been in the blind spot of our life experience. That is the reason we are building the EAUPENING (opening). In order to bring to light all that is GOOD in the world and in ourselves....The EAUPENING provides a place for everyone, any age, race, religion or background to fill their cup with all things positive. It is a place where content is monitored by the users. People can drink from this virtual Mecca of positive conversations and information then come away feeling refreshed and better for the experience. Our EAUPENING Family sincerely invites you to join the EAUPENING. We encourage you to share your own stories and experiences with the World!

http://groups.to/eaupening/

With Love,
Marcia