That awkward second post

In my job most of the time it's quite easy to keep people happy. Sometimes you get the occasional person who is not 100% happy, often due to a simple misunderstanding or mistake, but they speak to us and we deal with the problem and send them away 200% happy. I have been working in customers service for a few years now and my experience has taught me that most people are nice if you treat them like good, decent people. If you find most of your customers are rotten you're either not doing your job or you're in the wrong job.

Sometimes, although very rarely, there will be a person who we just cannot please. It can start as a simple misunderstanding, for example, if they misread a sign leading them to be confused over an offer. You explain to them what the offer is and empathetically agree that you can see how they may have misconstrued the offer. You agree to fulfil the offer without them meeting the requirements but their ego is hurt and this is not enough to mend it. In fact, short of bribing them with extra freebies there's often not much you can do with people this sour. Some people are just miserable and they look for an excuse to display this misery at every possible opportunity. Then they say the words that you must avoid hearing at all costs: "I am never coming back here again."
You try and reason with them but there is nothing that will change their mind at this point, and now you have something else to deal with. You have been kind and polite to this person, you have offered them things that you wouldn't normally be able to offer. You have bent over backwards in your attempt to make them happy and they have just thrown it back in your face. Now you have yourself to deal with as you hold yourself back from saying the one thing your really want to say: "Good!"

Ah, days like this make me want to look at notalwaysright.com.

On a lighter note, I'm looking forward to making a trip to The Yarn Cake which opened today on Queen Margaret Drive. Yes, it's a yarn and cake shop, and I do love yarn... and maybe I like cake too. Ok, I really love cake! I've been eagerly awaiting the opening of this shop for a long time. I think it was over 2 months ago that I first heard about it and I think that'a a long time to wait for a shop. Unfortunately I was unable to go in today because I was working a busy shift (is it just me or are the shops getting busier and busier now they're selling Christmas stuff?) and my lunch hour was needed for putting my feet up. I planned to go in on Monday but it looks like they won't be open on a Monday... I suppose it's just as well because if they were that would just be another day to spend money in there. I have found out that there's a knitting group called The Yarn Cake Knitters (originally Sith Knits) who will be meeting at The Yarn Cake on a Thursday night and after chatting to a few of them on Ravelry I've decided to join them. I've always liked the idea of doing crochet or knitting with a group because it is such a social hobby and Thursdays are definitely ideal.

All of this has inspired me to progress with the Noro Blossom garter stitch scarf I started back in January. John Lewis stopped selling the yarn! I had to track it down on ebay! I've been distracted by crochet!! Yeah, alright, alright, I'm making excuses, but at least I'm cracking on with it now. It's about 5½ft long so far but I'm aiming for 8ft. Time for another fuzzy mobile pic! Ooh, pretty colours...

Start as you mean to go on...

A problem with being young these days is not feeling young; I am 24 and I feel old!
I honestly believe that I'm too old to do a lot of things that my peers enjoy like going out drinking 5 nights a week.  I struggle with the idea of going out 1 night a week!  This week there are 3 birthday nights out and they're all for people I work with.  Why can't they all just combine their celebrations?!  They are torturing me!

Well anyway, some of my friends and I are making an effort to find things to do that don't involve drinking.  Today we had a trip to Loch Lomond Sea Life Aquarium and it was bloody fantastic.  We saw sharks, jellyfish and a turtle.  I touched a starfish!  I'd say the highlight of the trip, however, was probably the otters, a mother and two daughters.  We were lucky enough to see them being fed too.  There's nothing cuter than seeing an otter stuff pieces of dead chick into cracks, saving them for later.

I couldn't leave without buying something to remember the day by so in the gift shop I purchased a small toy lobster who I have named Robster.  

He's a raw lobster (hence the fact he's blue) and since buying him I've had the song Rock Lobster by The B-52s in my head.  Robster seemed like an appropriate name.