NEVER AGAIN

Me and my roommate went out to eat this weekend and had the worst experience of our lives. When we went to the restaurant it took forever to be seated. When we got out food it was cold and the Waiter had the nerve to get an attitude when we informed him that we wanted to send the food back. He came back 30 minutes later with our food and we had no utensils to eat with. He took forever bring that to us. Before we ate our food we asked to see the manager and told him that we were not happy with the service that we were receiving. He offered us our meal at a discounted price but we told him that we would not be eating at the restaurant and left.

organization

I've mentioned before how important I think it is to be extremely organized when dealing with not only school projects but projects in the workplace as well. I had a situation at work the other day where someone wanted to have our store be involved in an event - they came into the store not knowing exactly what they wanted, who they needed to talk to, etc. They had an appointment to come into the store at a certain time so they were taking up our time as well - which they didn't acknowledge at all. They were overall just very unorganized and had obviously not at all thought out what they were trying to plan. They were rude in the fact that they never once apologized for taking up our time. I took time to pull garments, think of color schemes(basically do they're job for them) and then after speaking with an organizer for their project, they decided they weren't going to use what i put together for them and that they were going to have to come back later in the season when they were better prepared. Yikes!

Presentations

I have learned some interesting things about business from the different presentations. There were a lot of good points that Brittany touched on regarding the body language. Travis's presentation on pregnancy and the fire department was very interesting. I wasn't aware of half the policies that he discussed. He made a good point about researching different aspects of jobs and things that could potentially affect you. As a female, I may decide in the near future to get pregnant adn i need to be aware of the different policies of the company i am working for and i need to know my rights. I am very eager to hear some of the other presentations because a lot of them are going to be issues that all of us may have to face in some way or the other.

Rude

I cant stand to go up to the register in a store and have to wait until the employees are finished holding their conversation before they decide to help me. It is so unprofessional but yet it goes on at every job.
I went to Burlington to pick up something really quick. I grabbed it and proceeded to the register. I walked over to a register that didn't have a line and stood there. These two girls were standing behind the counter having a LOUD, intense conversation. One of the girls saw me standing there and just kept talking. Then after they were finished their conversation the girl turned around to ring up my purchase. She didnt say hello, she just rung it up and told me my total. Then she handed me my bag and turned right around and began talking with the same girl again. All I could do was laugh because some people dont even know they are doing anything wrong.

body language

I thought the presentation on body language was really interesting. All of the points she made were extremely true. Peoples body language is what makes them approachable, interesting, or vice versa. The other day a girl came into my work wanting to use our store for a fashion show. She was a young girl and I could tell from the beginning by her body language that she was nervous or didn't know exactly what she was doing (or asking for). The entire time she was talking to me and the store owner she stood back and never really seemed engaged in the conversation. She seemed very unsure the entire time. Her ideas and plans were great but it was her body language that made her seem unsure of her situation.

I learned a good lesson in networking last weekend. I was working a fashion show for the store i work at on Friday night. I agreed to do the show for the experience and network possibilities. I got to the venue at 7:00 on Friday night and was supossed to be out by 10. It turned out that the show wasn't going to be starting until much later than planned. I had plans that night and my presence backstage at the show wasn't vital. I waited backstage not really doing anything at all for about an hour...really frustrated that I was having to wait for the show to even start. Eventually my boss from the store showed up and I was able to leave backstage. I ended up meeting a lot of people from Richmond involved in the arts, which is the best way to start networking for eventually moving to a bigger city. The fashion show didn't end up starting until 11:00 (3 hours late). I worked backstage and learned a lot about how exactly a show is run. After the show I continued to talk to people from the area about possibilities Richmond has in fashion and art. It was extremely refreshing to meet people who have succeeded in the arts right here in Richmond. Although I was there much later than planned, I was happy to have had the opportunity. If I had gotten frustrated and left the show early I would have never had such a great networking opportunity. The people I met will hopefully help me get my career started after graduation by leading me to new and exciting opportunities in Richmond and beyond in fashion and the arts.

Near-Fatal Routines

I had the pleasure of attending a seminar not long ago that touched me in a very emotional way. Such much so, that it impacts how I do my job everyday. The speaker was a tenured Division Chief for the Denver, CO Fire Dept. He spoke of how many citizens and civilians depend very heavily on our level of preparedness and expertise as we respond to their fire and medical emergencies. I am not sure that we actually grasp the weight of such a responsibility. His particular area of focus was on our development of routines as we mitigate emergencies. We respond to so many incidents that we rarely put an actual face to a name or understand the impact of a fire or death on a community. Chief McGrail told a story of a financially well off family who upon deciding to create a family, went and found the best labor and delivery doctor that money could buy. After working with the doctor they were able to conceive a beautiful daughter. A few years went by and they decided to have another child. They went back to the doctor and he had retired. They again looked for the best doctor available that money could buy. They found a Harvard graduate with significant experience. The day of delivery comes and the mother is delivering the baby in the L&D room. A nurse who was assisting with the delivery interrupted the doctor and asked why the fetal heart monitor was located out of position high up on the mothers chest. The doctor looked in awe at the misplaced monitoring device and quickly discovered upon proper placement that the monitor was picking up the heart tones of the mother and not the baby. As a result the baby went 17 minutes in distress without being noticed. The child was born and as a result of the fetal distress is severely handicapped and unable to walk, talk, or care for himself. The doctor likely considered the delivery to be a standard "run of the mill" delivery and missed and important step that has impacted a life permanently. The disabled boy was Chief McGrail's son. He used that story to illustrate that routine and complacency can have impacts that may far surpass or awareness. He was let down by someone that he trusted. Don't let that doctor be you! People count on us everyday. Don't let them down!.

Travis Preau

Burning Bridges!!!

So I learned a while ago that one of the most important rules in networking is "Never Burn Bridges". Well some people are horrible when it comes to remembering that. Last year in my Sports Management class our teacher told us this story about a coach in our athletic conference. JMU had to cut a number of their male sports last year, Track and Field happened to be one of them. A coach in the conference sent an e-mail to JMU's Athletic Director telling him that he was a coward and they didn't respect him. The reasoning behind this being that instead of the Athletic Director telling the team that their sport would be cut, he sent the Assistant Athletic Director.

Well, JMU's Athletic Director forwarded that e-mail to every other Athletic Director in the CAA. This past May VCU opened a position looking for a new head coach. The coach that sent the e-mail applied for the job. Needless to say they did not get the position and probably will not ever work for a school in the CAA.

Customer Service??

Nordstrom has a reputation as one of the top companies in customer service and they proved it when I had an issue. I purchased two pairs of jeans on the 24^th of September. I’m short so I always have to get my jeans altered. I left them at them at the store on the 24^th and was told to come and get them on the 2^nd of October. I returned on the 2^nd and on both pairs of jeans one leg was shorter than the other. I called the store about the jeans and was told to bring them in again and I would have them ready the next day. So I brought them back that day and returned on the 3^rd the very next day and they were still wrong. One leg was still shorter than the other.

The seamstress came in the fitting room looking stupid and acting like she didn’t realize that they still weren’t right. At this point I am pissed because this was my third time coming back to the store and my jeans still weren’t right. I got a sales associate to call the manager who was very apologetic. She asked me if I needed anything, and took a statement from me and promised to have the store manager call me the very next day. Even though I was angry, I appreciated the way the manager handled the situation.

The store manger called me the next morning and said she would refund the amount of the alterations. She then said I could get a new pair of jeans or I could bring back the ones I had and she would personally make sure they were altered the correct way. I chose to just get the pair of jeans and get them altered somewhere else. I liked the way both the manager and the store manager handled the situation. There is nothing worse then buying something, having problems with it and then having issues getting the problem fixed. Nordstrom gets an A in my book for customer service.

Horrible Sevice @ B-Dubz

So Monday after class me and a friend of mine decided that we would go to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Cowboys game. When we got there the host told us that we would have to find a seat anywhere because they were packed. Well when we finally found a table it was dirty and I asked could it be cleaned so that we could sit down, eat, and enjoy the game. Someone did clean off the table....20 MINUTES LATER! I was upset but figured we'd just enjoy the game. We ordered our drinks but needed time to decide what we wanted to eat. When we began looking for the waitress because another 20 minutes passed we saw her sitting at a table with a group of guys holding on a conversation. She finally came and took our orders. Now at most restaurants that I attend the waitress comes back and asks "How is everything going?" or "Do you need anything else?", she never did that. Another waitress refreshed our drinks and cleared our table. In the end we didn't leave our waitress a tip but gave it to the other waitress.