customer service

we took our van to the shop last week while we were gone to texas. 
they fixed a dent and some steering wheel problem. 

it was good to see it back last night, when michael brought it home.
i love that van.  i love the doors that open and close with a button.  i love how it is so useful and how uncool it is, and how it makes me feel like I am really a mom of 3 boys.  there is no hiding your momness is your minivan.  there is only hiding your coolness.  (Which i am doing a great job of these days.)

now here is one of those writing moments where I really want to say something profound,  but I cannot because I don't have time.

I just want to give a shout out to Jesus and to Chuck, the manager at the Fayetteville Collision Center. 

When michael went to pick up the van last night, chuck came out to look at it with him and was dismayed by what he thought was the dirtiness of the outside of the van.  (i would not have noticed - he should have seen how it looked when we brought it in.)  Chuck was unhappy that some dust and pollen had settled on the van i guess, and he was so apologetic that he offered to take the van back today and give it a thorough detailed cleaning both inside and out to make it up to us.

what?

yes.  just to be nice and give good customer service. 
That stuff never happens.

so today, i called him and asked if he was for real, and what I needed to do.  he offered for us to bring him the van, and then he drove me and the boys home and took the van back - where they will spend 4 hours cleaning it and then bring it back to us when it is done.

i said, "thank you, Chuck.  that is extremely kind of you and such a gift to us because my middle and youngest sons are terrified of the car wash - so i can never get it cleaned.  you don't know how awesome this is." 

He just smiled, and wanted us to be happy with our service.

So - for the record, the Fayetteville Collision Center is my new favorite place.
you may not want to dent your car, but if you do, you can look forward to one of the few places left with good customer service.

But Wait.

There is a place in Houston, as well.

As we left our favorite people and our favorite humid city last week, we did not go empty-handed.  Yes, we had goods from ikea and treats from Central Market, but most importantly, we took home ice cream.

3 pints of ice cream. 

how do you take home 3 pints of ice cream?  dry ice.  it is amazing.
apparently however, the grocery stores in our old neighborhood do not carry dry ice anymore. 

After waking up early, packing the car, and eating a quick breakfast, michael was starting to get nervous that he might have a cooler full of his ridiculous wife's ice cream and no way to get it home.  We did a quick search online, and we found a store called Continental Carbonic Products, Inc. 

I called, and the minimum amount of dry ice they could sell was 10 pounds for 10 dollars.  while that seemed excessive and a bit pricey, i had delicious ice cream that i had to eat.  and i couldn't eat it all at 7:00 in the morning before the 10 hour car ride.  so, since Continental Carbonic Products, Inc was not very far away, we went there on our way out of town. 

I went in, because though i do have an awesome husband who helps me with all my weird likes and dislikes, this was basically a problem i had created for myself - and we both thought it best for me to go inside this strange office in the office park off Main and Willowbend.

I brought in my cooler with my little ice creams in the bottom and look through the window of their office to see a gigantic warehouse full of giant amounts of dry ice.  I show the man my small cooler, and he sends his worker to get me a little block of it.  As I re-arrange my cooler, he sees that I have some of Hank's ice cream.  Coffee and Oreo - oh my word it is amazing stuff.  (thank you rachel, i ate the whole pint in 24 hours without sharing).  Anyway, he sees that it is from Hank's and after his worker puts in the ice and I pull out my wallet, he says,

"Don't worry about it."

and I say, "huh?"  (because i am seriously eloquent)

and he says, "well, I see you've got the right stuff there.  Hank was a friend of mine and a customer, and I went to his memorial service (it was within the last month). You go on and have a good trip." 


and the morale of the story is this:  customer service is not dead.  there are good business people out there, and they make a difference in this world.  i may not have many collision or dry ice needs, but i just spent the last hour of my sons' precious nap time writing this silly post, so i am saying to all 14 of you, that it is these little things in life that matter.  So let's celebrate the people who do it right.