In an age of automation and call centers, customer service seems to have gone out the window. But, I had the most wonderful experience this evening and I want to share it with you.

They opened a RaceTrack gas station right down the street from me and when I saw them clearing the land to build that gas station, I wasn’t the most pleased person in the world. I couldn’t understand why they needed to build a new gas station when there was one across the street, another one down the road and another one and so on and so on, why do they need a new one. I didn’t say that I wasn’t going to patronage the gas station,they usually have some of the lowest prices and it would be convenient, but I still couldn’t figure out why they cut down trees and cleared land for this.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, we have been in the middle of “snowgedden” as they have been calling it and I needed to get out of the house and get a few supplies, most specifically toilet paper and cat food. The roads were still icy and the ground of the gas station was almost a solid sheet of ice. I had problems with the credit card processing at the pump and slid my way inside. When I got in, there were about 6 people working and 2 customers. They all greeted me, asked how I was fairing and the manager offered me a cup of coffee, cappuccino and when I said I didn’t drink coffee, they offered me a hot chocolate, with marshmallows, no less! I said, are you sure? He said, “Baby Girl, go for it! It’s cold out there, have something!” I thanked him immensely, it was such a treat. Everyone was in a great mood, especially for people that had to be at work on a cruddy night like tonight and there were so many of them, they couldn’t all have been busy, but the store was clean and well stocked and welcoming.

As I was walking out, they reminded me stay warm and don’t forget to pump my gas before I left. I thanked them all for being so kind, the hot chocolate and warm wishes. Go Race Track Go.

Today was a snow day! Well, it was a stay at home day for almost everyone in the state, and it is looked at so differently by different people.

Let’s start with kids. A snow day is a wonderful day, no school, stay up late, sleep in, playing outside in a snow suit, building a snow man, snowball fights, sledding, hot chocolate, cookies, games, movies, naps and then do it all over again! What could be better…can we go back and be a kid again?

Parents…a chance to play with the kids, watch them wonder at snow, sometimes for the first time, especially if you live somewhere that it’s a rarity. Bundle the kids, go outside, play in the snow, snowball fight, help build a snowman, take pictures, keep them from hurting themselves, wipe their noses.  Back into the house, unbundle them, get them to the potty, put on dry clothes, wipe their noses, clean up the wet, make hot cocoa, set up the games and movies, start the fire, get the blankets out, cuddle with the kids.

Teachers…a day off, they can’t work from home, no one to teach, no work, a chance to play with their kids. On the other hand, this just means a day they will tack on somewhere or, if there are more snow days and school closings, tack on to the end of the year, double edged sword.

Business owners and employees who get paid by the hour… If the business is closed and can’t open, a day off, but that’s money lost, not being made. If the business stays open, risking your safety to get there and what if no one comes in?

Truck drivers…it’s dangerous, they have to drive to live and survive, if they hit a patch of ice, could be over. They have to not only watch out for themselves, but every other driver out there, so much responsibility!

Delivery drivers…if people stayed home, they might be persuaded to order in and if the restaurant is open, they take their lives in their hands, stay home! We already made the run on the store for bread and milk!

Personally, the company I work for has been open, there are jobs that cannot be done remotely, but they did send e-mails out indicating that if it was not necessary for you to get on the road, please don’t but if you did, use extreme caution and whatever you decide, talk to your manager and there were some managers at the company who called their teams and told them to work from home on Monday and so on. I am quite lucky that I can work from home and get things done, I don’t know what I would have done if I had to get out and drive in this.

A few weeks ago, when we had a snow storm Christmas Day, everyone was excited, a White Christmas, hasn’t happened in over one hundred years in Georgia! We were snowed in, what fun! Then a HUGE snowstorm hit NY, how exciting! Day two was still fun, day 3, we could drive in Georgia, but in NY day three turned into four, then five and people were beginning to get a bit of cabin fever. I saw a number of postings on FaceBook, “Why couldn’t this have happened next week, when we have to be back at work?” Well Georgia, we are in the middle of some serious winter weather, a serious storm, 5-8 inches in a few places, can’t go into the office, some peoples homes are spotless now, what else can they do but clean, I’ve unpacked some boxes, but the cabin fever has started to set in… I see people playing outside, some people had to get to the store, just to have something to do. I went for a walk just to get out of the house. It’s one thing to work from home and not go into an office, but you can still go out and get places, it’s entirely different to be stuck with no way out… cabin fever.

The more difficult thing in Georgia, we are not equipped to deal with all this snow and ice! But, conversely, apparently, neither was NYC the week after Christmas! I would leave if I could, but the ice is not melting and I am not risking my neck, I might be walking to the store for something to do this week!

So many different perspectives on this glorious thing mother nature has dropped on us, what do you think?

I just got home from a fun night. I was at a show opening at a gallery with some friends and then we went together to get some dinner. The first place we went was going to have a three hour wait, because of a football game, uh…no thanks, easy decision. Luckily we were in an area that boasts lots of restaurants and we qucikly decided on another.

There were several empty tables, problem solved! The waiter came up to us, offered us menus, took our drink orders and asked if we were going to play trivia, we shrugged, wasn’t our intention coming in and the first thing out of all our mouths, “I don’t know squat!”

Well, most of the time, even if everyone thinks they don’t know squat, usually each person in the group knows something about something, thereby contributing. Now this is generally true in cases where the group is not an actual trivia nite team, just friends who happen to end up at a bar that is having trivia nite.

Those nites are fun, like tonight, because none of us took each other or the event too seriously, we were just having fun. We knew a few answers, got a bunch wrong, but… we were never in last place and… we won two free pitchers of beer! I know I don’t drink, but some of my friends do and we won! Once it was a random name draw and the other because we were in last place. Now I know I said we were never in last place, but at the moment we won, the other teams that were worse…had left the bar!

What I love is to see a team get excited because they know an answer together or just one person knows the answer with conviction! That was us!

All in all, a good time was had by all and even if we’re not going to win any trivia nite championships, we won two free pitchers of beer and had a great time, as it should be!