2012

As the year comes to a close it's time for me to look back and think of the great times of the previous year. To be truthful, I would consider 2012 to be the best year of my life, and deserves a post to allow me to revisit them.

I started 2012 as a final year sport science student, and was doing everything possible to try and slow time down. Half way through a poor dissertation and with no prospects following graduation, the year started slowly. Luckily my final year landed me as chair of my hockey club. All of my focus was on making that club the best women's club on campus, and working hard towards the recognition we deserved. The club won the Membership Engagement award at the university Sports Federation Ball. Looking back, I have never be so proud to accept an award that the club worked so hard for, and it will remain a highlight throughout my life.

Despite my focus on the club, I graduated in the summer with a 2:1 in Sport Sciences, and can now start writing BSc at the end of my name on emails. Prior to this I managed to secure my next 2 years working in California, and with any luck I'll finish with an MA to add to that email. Having just completed my first 3 months out there I can safely say it's the toughest thing I've ever done, but then I think about Frodo and the ring, and discover it's really been pretty amazing. I've met some great people and have already been to some great places. Vegas, LA, and San Francisco, it's already been a great experience and I still have plenty of time to explore out there. The weather is great and I have great friends, what more can I ask for.

This summer saw the Olympics come to London, and after months of training and excitement I found myself commuting to Stratford each day in my volunteer uniform. Assigned as an NOC Assistant to team Canada, I spent plenty of the build up to the Olympics preparing Canadian Athletes bedrooms and watching everyone moving in. After the games kicked off, not only did I find myself working among the stars of the games, but witnessing GB golds and having once in a lifetime experiences that I will never forget. I was inside the Olympic stadium, walking the track on ceremony rehearsals; I witnesses 7+ GB golds in 24 hours in the velodrome, rowing, and athletics; I watched GB women's hockey win bronze, and then spoke to the captain Kate Walsh on the village; I saw multiple events and famous faces, and when some couldn't get tickets, I was able to get tickets for friends. The Olympics showed me a side to my country that I had never witnessed before. The shared pride and passion for the games was infectious, and I feel truly honored to have been a part of that.

The Olympics wasn't the only sport that my country can look back on proudly this year. Bradly Wiggins at the Tour De France, Andy Murray at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, and Europe in the Ryder Cup. I also understand my baseball team won the world series, but I can't pretend that was a highlight, especially since it replaced Glee for so long.

To top it all off I've been lucky enough to come home for Christmas and spend time with my family and friends, in my country I love so much.

I'd like to finish with this. If you have taken the time to read this, thank you. My year would have been nothing without the people I shared it with. I owe so much to so many of you, and so I would like to say thank you. I am truly grateful for this wonderful year, and for all the people I got to share it with. So without further ado, have a great evening, stay safe, and enjoy the coming year!

Does being polite pay off? Or is it, “Don’t ask, don’t get”?

So I find myself now in the world of full-time work until August. Luckily I have a great retail job, a pet shop if you must know, that pays just enough and doesn’t bore me to death. Generally the customers are polite, well-mannered, and happy with the level of customer service we provide, but recently I have begun to notice that people are changing. The way we shop and specifically the expectations we have of the staff members in stores, restaurants, and hotels have changed, but before we consider why, allow me to better explain myself.

As a customer I may enter a shop expecting to purchase a particular item, for example I recently visited Top Shop knowing the exact item I was looking for as I had previously seen it online. I found the t-shirt but unfortunately they did not have my size. I’m sure you will agree that the normal reaction to this would be to ask if they had any in stock, to which I was told no. Now personally this was frustrating, but these things happen, and so I thanked the colleague and left. I have worked at the pet shop for nearly 5 years, and in most cases our customers behave in a similar way, but recently individuals have begun to expect more from us.

An example of this occurred only today, where a customer arrived expecting to buy a rabbit hutch. Unfortunately we did not have any in stock as we had sold the last one previous to their visit, but rather than politely leave they reacted differently. They continued to demand various solutions that where beyond what you would expect from a simple pet shop. For example they demanded huge reductions on our display models, and when we did not reach a bargain they demanded a more valuable hutch for the price of the unavailable one. Eventually the problem was solved, leaving one of my colleagues to pick up the hutch from a store 25 minutes away and driving it to their house at no extra cost to the customer. In similar situations I have even had people ask if we would pay their petrol for the inconvenience. Customers have begun to seek compensation for any inconvenience, even where the fault may be their own. 

Now, I understand their frustration but I found them incredibly rude to expect such special treatment. Not only that, they got what they wanted from a company who wishes to keep all of their customers happy even at their own expense. It is clear to me that in this new age of customer service, companies will throw money at anyone who sounds unhappy (Not always the case though, Sports Vest *cough* *cough*). With this in mind, what message are we giving to consumers? Are we encouraging people to ask for more and test the boundaries? And if we are, will it no longer be practise to be polite in such situations? Perhaps I should start expecting more from companies in order to keep up, because clearly being polite does not get you the same result as complaining.

While I leave you to consider this, I will share with you my own personal revenge on the situation. This afternoon a lady in her 60’s approached me asking for my help. She was very polite and well mannered, and happily took my advice as we discussed the product she was interested in. After price checking the item, I informed her of the cost as she considered buying it. At £40 I personally felt the item in question was overpriced, but of course I didn’t tell the customer this at the time and I waited for her next instruction. She fumbled in her purse mumbling to herself that she should have bought more cash with her. She explained to me she would have to go home and come back, with no expectations of me at all. At this I explained that I would reserve it for her, but I was not satisfied with my own answer. The poor woman was so lovely how could I let her go home for more money? So at this I did something very cheeky, “Would you have enough money if it was £30 pounds instead?” I asked. The lady was astonished and looked at me saying, “You can’t do that?”, but I did. I reduced the product under the pretence it was damaged and she went happily on her way. In my mind I had rewarded her for being polite, and for being a valued customer. It’s customers like her that deserve our special treatment, not the rude individuals who ask for it. 

Off to the USA!!

And so I have discovered I will be off to the USA! Those who wish to follow my journey can do so at http://lifeasacheekymonkeyusa.blogspot.co.uk/ !! In the meantime this page will remain existing.

CM x

Let the Sun Shine?

So I write today in light of the recent sun we've been graced with these past few days. It seems fair to say it was somewhat unexpected considering not so long ago we had the long awaited snowfall we'd been expecting since November. In fact the snow came and went so quickly it seems hardly worth mentioning if not for the very English way our country deals with the annual "snow days".

Blind panic! I for one was on a short weekend break in Brighton when I heard the news of the weather warning, resulting in the group of us leaving early in the fear we could be snowed into a Brighton youth hostel for weeks. All of us had warning calls from our parents and respective other halves urging us to leave to avoid the blizzard, and so we all rushed home, didn't look back, and in the nick of time too, as we pulled up with the start of the snowfall already coating the roads. Within minutes campus had turned into a beautiful winter wonderland, and it remained this way for all of an hour before the students all marched out to throw snowballs at each other until the early hours. I wonder at what age the satisfaction of hitting your friend square in the face with a snowball is lost, I hope never.

Thanks to social networking its easy to find the mixed opinions of each person pop up on your phone or computer. Its sad for me as I get older to see more people cursing the snow than thanking it for the days you get off school. Unfortunately this occasion of snow did not merit me off two days of studying at uni (apparently uni isn't like school), but I appreciated the buzz it creates regardless. I was in fact disappointed at the efficiency of clearing the snow, leaving piles of dirty ice around the edges of roads and pathways for days. I would assume now that I have to wait another year for my next dose of snow, but who knows, sometimes it snows in April.

And so now we can consider the beautiful sunshine we were blessed with these past few days. It seems crazy the effect a little sun can have on people even when it wasn't particularly warm. My father and brother braved a pub garden, wrapped up in layers and layers, which seems ridiculous, but they were certainly not alone. I even braved shorts myself in the hope it would be as warm as it looked out the window. We love the sun, or we love what the sun brings, either way I'm struggling with any motivation to stay in and work when outside has so much to offer. So in a way I'm sitting here hoping for the sun to just hold out a little longer, let me get some work done and then feel free to blaze away... but how I do love the sun...

Not cool Glee... Not cool...

So after two weeks of waiting I sat among my friends to watch the newest episode in the "Glee" series. I'll admit that being a "Gleek" is massively uncool, and I once was a hater myself, but I have to admit my hate for American high school series' has been somewhat suppressed by Glee while leaving me with a smile in my face after every episode. Yes, it has enough American cheese to feed all the mice in my neighborhood, but it's got that feel good Disney happiness that I think is lacking from most television nowadays, and so I have no shame in admitting I do love Glee.

This weeks episode "Michael" was, as the name suggests, a Michael Jackson themed week with songs throughout the episode being covers of some of M.J's best work. As a group we had high expectations from the episode, with Glee getting better every season mixed with M.J classics surely nothing could go wrong? Unfortunately we were mistaken, and while my peers may disagree, I was quite frankly disappointed.

Minutes into the show it was clear they were recycling the story of the "rival school" and individuals overcoming the "hardships" they have as teenagers. That mixed with the song-a-minute barrage of music made an almost uncomfortable viewing, with almost too much cheese to bare (even for my friendly neighborhood mice). An uncharacteristic outburst by one character lead to a cover of M.J's 'Scream' leaving the regular viewer confused, made worse by the fact that two other characters are shown to be successful in applications to a college that, considering previous incidents, makes absolutely no sense. It seems the producers focused too much on creating a story out of M.J songs and not enough time focusing on the witty humor and down to earth representations they often manage to subtly create, and as a result created an American teenagers Mama Mia. If that wasn't bad enough Sue Sylvester, the character who often pokes fun at the "terrible tragedies" the teenagers face, was nowhere to be seen, contributing massively to the abysmal story line.

While I'll feel robbed as a Glee fan, and angry that this awful episode does nothing to my cool points should an non Glee watcher decide to view it, I feel the biggest injustice is that of poor Michael Jackson. Is it not bad enough the poor man is no longer with us, that now his songs have been crammed poorly into 45 minutes of teenage angst and emotion? After the Madonna and Lady Gaga episodes working so well, I can only now say I am disappointed that the long awaited M.J special seemed rushed and lacked thought.

My last words: Not cool Glee... not cool...