Tag Archives: Minnesota

It’s All In The Service, Customer Service That Is.

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Bigger Big MacI must admit I get a little crabby from time to time if I have bad service. I tend to rant and rave and I have been known to complain to the manager. Because I blog about bad service I want to take a few minutes to blog about great service.

My stomach was rumbling as I driving through  Blue Earth, Minnesota. I could hear my rumbling stomach saying to me, “Big Mac, Big Mac.” I drove into the McDonald’s by the freeway. I changed my mind about taking a quick drive through the drive though and decided to take a few moments to de-stress while eating my Big Mac. As I walked into the restaurant there was a line. I immediately thought the wait might be long but it was only a few minutes.

The woman at the counter greeted me with a smile and a friendly attitude. She was very helpful. I noticed that other people behind the counter were smiling too and taking time to smile at their customers. Usually at a fast food restaurant when they are busy, the people behind the counter usually are quick, to the point, not making much eye contact being only interested in their task. When that happens it makes a customer feel as if they are on an assembly line. Not so this day at the Blue Earth McDonald’s.

After I got my food I looked around for a table. It was full, but I found a seat in the corner where I could watch what was happening. One of the things I noticed about the restaurant was that in spite of their busyness the tables and floors were clean. It didn’t look like the lunch crowd had just descended and then left. I realized the cleanliness was the woman employee that was cleaning tables and wiping and sweeping the floors. She was going about her task while also making the customers feel comfortable, smiling as she passed someone, even a stranger like me.  Her attitude was very noticeable.

In spite of eating alone, for some reason I did not feel alone in this fast food restaurant because of the friendliness of the employees. I wanted to linger longer in the atmosphere. It seemed to me that in this establishment the employees were enjoying their jobs and enjoying their customers. I could be wrong but that was my impression, as a stranger, knowing no one in the building.

I don’t know if it is always this way in this McDonald’s but for me, on the day I was there, it is the way all businesses should be run. If customers feel like they are your friend they will be back. Good job employees of the Blue Earth, Minnesota.

 

Who is Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt?

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If you are one of my readers you would know that the name Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt is otherwise known as Granny, and is a fictional character in my Fuchsia, Minnesota series books.

If you are one of my readers you will also know that she is over-the-top, silly, cunning, sneaky and forgetful.

I have two books in the Fuchsia, Minnesota Series published by Cozy Cat Press. They are Granny Hooks A Crook and Granny Skewers A Scoundrel. The third should be published within the next month and the name is Granny Snows A Sneak.

In Granny Hooks A Crook you are introduced to Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt. You will find a forgetful, cranky, slow moving older woman whose children think that perhaps it is time she moves to the wrinkle farm or in with them. What they don’t know is that Granny has many secrets and wants  them to think she is actually in her declining years. Granny is worried that they will put her in the wrinkle farm or else the police will put her in the hoosegow. You will see a woman that does things that most older senior citizens can’t do. Fuchsia, Minnesota is also a strange town, and defies everything we know about living with the rules and expectations we have to live with in our real world today.

In the first book you will see the fun and the silliness, but you don’t see much of why Granny is the way she is today. She was modeled a little after my mother, who was on her roof fixing it at 90 years old. Granny is modeled a little like the hidden parts of all of us that we don’t let the world see because of life’s circumstances, or because we have bought into the aging process that society tells us we need to believe.

In Granny Skewers a Scoundrel, you see a little more of Granny’s life. Granny does hurt when her friends die. Granny does get mad when something bad happens. Granny does have secrets. Granny can’t sit back when she see something needs to be solved. Granny cares about her friends in Fuchsia and her family. Granny cares for her animals. Yet, Granny is still crabby and crusty and is suspicious of letting anyone see what is under that crusty exterior. What has happened in Granny’s life to make her the way she is?

In the third book, Granny Snows a Sneak, coming out soon, you will see Granny’s character develop. Life happens that changes all of us and Granny is no exception. She struggles with what she was told growing up, and feels the pull to revert back to her former life when she hid her true self.

Granny doesn’t  stepping on the cracks  in the sidewalk when she walks because of the old saying, Step on a crack you break your mother’s back. Some habits are hard to break. In writing this series I hope to develop the characters so that my readers care about them. I want my readers to read between the lines and know the hidden parts that are not revealed about the characters. Readers learn more about Granny and her family in each book, and see more of her emotions than the silliness that seems to be dominant.

Read between the lines as the mysteries develop. Granny’s life is no different than ours. If people look deeper beyond the words and the persona we portray to the public, they would see the depth of who we are. Our friends and family would see what we do not say. Our friends and family would see beyond the words we speak that occasionally have no meaning, and cover the hurt and the insecurities that are there in all of our lives that we keep hidden.

I hope you enjoy the silliness, the craziness, and the foolishness of Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt. I hope you enjoy the satire of living in a community like Fuchsia compared to the rules and regulations that we live with today. I hope you enjoy the mystery of the hooking the crook, the skewering of the scoundrel and the snowing of the sneak.  I want to bring you silliness, fun, a little heart, and even more, a mystery that keeps you reading long into the night.

granny_hooks_a_crook_4granny scoundrelhttp://amzn.to/ZdcsAQ

 

 

Balancing Independence When Aging

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Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf – Albert Lea Tribune October 2014https://flic.kr/p/HCJzd

My mother was a very independent soul. She very seldom asked for help. I don’t think I inherited that part of her personality. I don’t have a problem asking for help. If I need it, I ask.

My daughter pointed out to me many years ago that by asking, I give others the chance to give too. I don’t know if my friends might feel that way about my asking. I feel I ask too much but I still ask. People can say no.

My friend Donna just spent two days helping me wallpaper my bathroom wall. She has a hard time saying no. That might be a problem if you have someone that constantly asks for help, and someone who constantly can’t say no. There is a fine line in the balance of give and take.

I suspect my mother didn’t ask for help because her life was spent helping her mother, who was most of the time bedridden or in a wheel chair, helping her brother who didn’t know how to cook and had health problems, and taking care of others who needed it. She became very adamant that she did not want to become a burden and did not want someone to have to take care of her as much as she had to take care of her mother. She didn’t want someone else to give up their dreams. She wanted to spare me that responsibility and was very stubborn about it.

What she didn’t realize was that her stubbornness made life much more difficult for those around her when it was clear she wasn’t managing her life very well, and couldn’t take care of herself, such as the time she broke her arm and didn’t tell anyone so we could take her to the doctor for help. Or the time she refused to go to the doctor when she had pneumonia.

We were happy to lend a hand with the cooking, cleaning, clothes washing and doctor visits, but because of her stubbornness it made life difficult not only for her but for us. It also led to outcomes that were detrimental for her and had more long term effects. It led to her being sicker and more injured than she had to be.

Had she let us help her, she could have stayed in her home. Had she let us help her, she wouldn’t have gotten so sick. As a daughter it was very hard and anguishing to deal with, because you love your parents and you want the best for them, the same as they wanted the best for you when you were growing up and in your adult years.

I see the scene happen time and time again. Older people do not accept their children’s help. They don’t want to burden them. They keep illness a secret so they don’t worry their kids, but their kids are worried none the same by their parents withdrawal and insistence they are OK, when clearly it is evident they aren’t.

The tug of war between them ensues, adult children trying to get their parents help and their parents resisting because they want to be independent.

The consequences of that stubbornness and fight to stay independent occasionally becomes worse for the parent and they end up sicker, unable to stay in their homes and in anguish because of the situation, when a little communication with their children could have had better results. Early intervention in whatever is happening in their life would have kept them more independent.

Having had to deal with some of this recently is what prompted this column. There is that part of us that wants to make our own decisions. We don’t want anyone telling us what to do. We want to be in control. We know what is best for our own lives. And…..we’re not going to let others control what we do. There is that fear of letting go and trusting others, even our own children.

I will tell you that when I was ill and I was in a depression, I could not make good decisions for my life. Had I not let others in and let them help me, the consequences of my life would have been much worse.

My age is increasing. Some days, it feels like it is increasing at a rapid rate. My mind is still good although the readers of my books might question that. And maybe, I lean too much to the wanting help when I am older because I do not want to make my children’s lives more difficult. Perhaps I lean too much in the other direction. I don’t know if I have that balance and if I don’t have the mental capacity later on to keep that balance that is what scares me.

We have made some preparation in case we become that stubborn independent older citizen. We have discussed the situation with our children. They know our finances. They know our wishes. Our children do not live in the same community or even 15 minutes away. We hope to move closer to our children so when we need more help, we won’t disrupt their lives so much, and hopefully we can put things in place so that our final years can be a blessing together for all of us.

I see the difficulty my friends have had lately trying hard to find a solution and a resolution with elderly parents who fight them at every turn, causing so much heartache for all involved. I don’t want my last years to have to be that.

We can’t predict the future. Maybe in spite of all my plans I will do the same thing to my kids. I want to be able to balance that fine line between independence and reliance. How about you?

“We’re taught to expect unconditional love from our parents, but I think it is more the gift our children give us. It’s they who love us helplessly, no matter what or who we are.”

— Kathryn Harrison, “The Kiss”