Christopher Robin: November 2008

Last weekend we went to visit Chris' family for an early Thanksgiving dinner. One of Chris' Students was gracious enough to take us on the 3 hour flight home. We had a really great time seeing his sister, parents, and some extended family who were able to come to celebrate the early holiday with us. More than anything, it was great to get that feeling of "home" away from home, even if it was just a short visit, it was great to be with family.

Here's our departure view of Stillwater, OK:

And some scenery along the way (salt lakes? or something like that):

Chris working on his mom's computer...hope that he gets it back in one piece! (and he did...but there sure were a lot of pieces and parts....glad he was working on it, and not me!)

Hello Grandpa Willis! And Dixie, too:

Oh, and of course, an appetizer of ice cream. I think Terry called that "lunch" before the big dinner.

And we Chris took a bit of time to play with the cool trucks. Of course, they were meant to be for the little kids...but I suppose most kids toys say "3 and up" : - D

And, the icing on the cake:

All in a day's work.
By the time we got home, we were ready for dessert, but it was back in Leoti, KS!

This week seemed endless. On Thursday, I woke up, thinking it was Saturday and I hit my alarm off. Then, realizing it was ONLY Thursday, decided that was my clue to get up.

This week, I once again learned the value of treating people the way you want to be treated. I realize that everything cannot go perfect all of the time, but when things do go wrong, it is all about the way you handle things. For example: the other day at work, charges were billed that had been post poned ffrom earlier this semester. Some of the charges were correct, others had been mis-billed on accident. When I began receiving phone calls, I knew something about the billing had been messed up. So I began pulling invoices and trying not to pull my hair out, as most of these invoices were done before I was here. Realizing that there had been a mistake, I was happy to take care of this, and correct the problem. On the other hand, according to our records, some of the billing was done correctly, but the customer disagreed with the charges, as they did not stay as long as our records indicated. I can see their frustration of being charged for something that they did not do. However, all I had to go on was our records, and their word. This collaboration is not sound enough to go through an audit.

I did my best to listen the customer's side of the story as well as explain what I had to work with. However, they did not want to hear what I had to say, as THEY were right and I was WRONG and they wanted to talk with a supervisor. So, God Bless my supervisor/friend for handling the situation, as he did a remarkable job when I passed over the upset customer.

It amazes me how no matter what the situation is, that if you explode on the phone, things do not usually go as positively as one might hope. Well, the customer did just that. After an explosion of an entry, my supervisor told them they would have to calm down in order for them to be helped, as my supervisor would not help them while they were upset and angry. Eventually, the customer calmed down, and some progress was made, a temporary compromise met for now.

It amazes me how people can just bull-doze you over, thinking that no matter what they say to you, you will help them. REALITY CHECK: Usually, this does not work. I find that if you treat people kindly and say-hey, I've noticed I have been billed X amount, and I think I should have been billed Y amount, do you mind looking into this for me?-- Usually goes over better than the following:
You screwed up and I REFUSE to accept these charges so fix it!

Amazing, isn't it. So, when the next situation arose the following day, I was mentally putting grease paint on and my bullet proof vest, when the person who came into my office upset about a situation, said very politely-this is the situation, I don't believe it was handled properly, and I would like to talk with someone about it. I realize you can only do so much, but I would really like to talk with a supervisor if I could.

I was floored, yet impressed. I am usually all about helping people anyway, but the fact that this second person was exteremly polite about the situation, made me want to help them that much more. So, America-next time a situation comes up-whether at work, or your cell phone breaks, or the person behind you didn't stop-treat them positively with the utmost respect, and handle the situation professionally. Remember, you NEVER know when or where you might meet these people again...but I can garauntee you-If i ever meet person # 1, I would love to see them in my shoes the next time a situation like that comes up. I don't think they would like the way they handled themselves either.

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On a brighter note, I'm almost completely finished with the schoolwork for one of my classes this semester, and Chris is chipping away at his papers too. I think, if all goes well, we can both be done with all the major work by Thanksgiving! That would be amazing!!!

Oh, and yesterday we received a card with pictures from my mom in the mail. I always love getting mail, especially notes and pictures! They had printed pix off from my mom's bday a couple of months ago. So I called her up to thank her for the nice note and pictures. She told me she and dad were having guests for dinner, which are friends of Chris and mine as well. She also said that the main course was chicken and there were brownies for dessert. I WANTED TO GO! So I jokingly invited ourselves along, knowing that we wouldn't really go. Mom said -SURE!- and we said farewell. So I began talking with Chris about the dinner party and good food we were missing out on in Wichita. He looked at me and said, "wanna go?!" I was like, um...yeah but no-I have homework, and stuff to do. But, his good looks and persistance won, as I really did want to go, but didn't think I would get any homework done.

So off to Wichita we went, and I worked on homework up there, while he would work on homework on the way home. We went to church, and made it home before mom and dad, utterly surprising them. We had such a wonderful time and really enjoyed the good food and company.On our way out of town last night, we stopped at Theresa's and surprised her as well. It was great to see the look on her face when we tapped on her door. She nearly fell over : ) but i'm Glad she let us in first, as it was cold outside! We visited with her a bit and hit the road.

So, when we arrived home last night, we curled up in bed for a blissful night's sleep. Of course, I awoke with a start at 8 am, but I suppose you better take any sleep you can, and when the body says it's recharged, it's time to get up and go. So, here I am. Hope you all have a wonderful day, and a fantastic week!
~Robin