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12 September 2013

TODAY'S TITBITS


Oh dear, it looks as if Google is less than efficient on the Blog Roll. Frequently now I notice that a particular blog is missing or that the post recorded is an old one, yet when I visit I find a brand new post waiting to be read. Sometimes it repeats posts which, to say the least, is even more of a nuisance. It rather looks as if the time is coming to remove the Roll and rely solely on BlogLovin’, even with its own hiccups such as the occasional inability to reply to comments when accessing blogs through the Bloglovin’ site. I can’t believe this is only happening to me so I would be grateful if Bloglovin’ users would give their opinions.

On the subject of computers, well, talking about Google is near enough.... grins... can someone explain why they 'go slow'. I hear noises as if things are going on in the background and even though I regularly empty the trash, defrag, remove files, and generally tidyup, I still get freeze-ups and tawdry operation. My gadget is still quite new (maybe a year old) so it's a surprise to me that it's started whining! I'm still looking at a way to stop all the updates, maybe that's the answer.


I’m still feeding the robins. There are two babies now and they’re not a bit shy. Each time I go out to top up the feeders the babies fly in and wait while I drop morsels of suet for them to pick up. Mom or Dad sometimes come to watch but usually keep his or her distance. The young birds’ appearances are changing from speckled breasts to red so they won’t be babies for much longer.

FINALLY: A BIT ABOUT STORE ASSISTANTS

Store assistants have gained a reputation for being three things, vague, unhelpful and impolite so when one comes along that lacks all three a mention is warranted, both at the store and on the blog.

On a recent visit my trolley was overloaded and I silently dreaded getting to the cash-out. I wouldn’t admit that to anybody, though. Not me, who mostly faces situations with a smile ... no kidding! It was a bank holiday so not overly busy and there was a noticeable reduction in staff. I couldn’t even see an opening whereby I could unload. However, I caught the eye of a supervisor who hastily summoned the attention of an assistant, a pleasant young Asian lady, who promptly opened up a new till section.

I started to unload the trolley. Imagine my surprise when the young lady offered to help. Without waiting for a reply she came round to my side of the counter and started removing everything from the trolley ... and stacked it neatly on the conveyor belt. Back she went to her side of the counter to start the check-out. I was fully prepared to fill my own bags but she insisted on doing it for me. Was I grateful? You can bet I was ... and pleasantly surprised, although a trifle shocked. It has never been known for an assistant to do all that. She even offered to escort me to the car and help load the goods into the boot. Apparently she was finishing her shift and about to knock off work. She even offered to escort me to the car and help load the goods into the boot. Apparently she was finishing her shift and about to knock off work. Since my car was parked right by the door I declined the offer. It was time, I thought, to do something for myself!

The supervisor walked towards me so I stopped in order to praise the attitude of the assistant. In reply to my suggestion that the young lady should be promoted, she quipped about getting her a box to stand on... but I knew she would take it further.  Quite right, too. The final shot from the supervisor was: ‘If all assistants were like that it would be a pleasure to work there.’

The girl’s name badge revealed that the girls name was Amina. I can’t forget it since the word ‘amenable’ so suited her.

That was a week ago. A week later I had similar treatment from a different young lady. Again I made sure I passed on my opinion to the right people.

13 comments:

  1. A lovely post Valerie. I don't do Blogluvin so can't help you there, and I can use a computer but don't understand the workings of them. How nice about your very helpful store assistant. It is such a pleasure to go to a place and find that. When I don't find it I usually shop at their competitors who are more friendly.

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  2. Valerie, I am signed up and listed on BlogLovin, but I really don't use it as my reader yet because I'm still with Feedly, which seems to be working better for me than it has when I first started. The thing about BlogLovin I'm not crazy about is that it seems SO SLOW to load.

    "I hear noises as if things are going on in the background...."

    I'm so glad you mentioned that because I've been notice noises too, and it's only been recently. I've never heard those strange noises before. I think may have something to do with the updates on Windows 7.

    And good for you for praising the assistant for a job well done! I will do the same thing so that companies know I appreciate the excellent service, which is so rare these days.

    Have a super Thursday, dear lady!

    X

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  3. I have encountered the same problem about commenting on SOME blogs through Bloglovin'. The way to solve the problem is to right click on the "post a comment" line, click on "open on a new page (or tab)". Then the comment page will appear on a new page and you will be able to comment.

    I, too, have noticed that you just can't get good help anymore in stores. So when somebody is EXTRA helpful, I commend them and also tell their boss. It goes a LONG way!

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  4. That's good customer service and as it should be Val. Nice when someone makes an effort to really do their job, as best they can.

    Love the "trolley" reference, too cute. We called streetcars, trolleys here in Canada, years ago. I think they are still running in my fav Canadian city of Toronto, not here in BC though.

    A great Thursday to you, G

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  5. PS: On the topic of Blogger, sounds like a few people are having issues. I'm enjoying my WordPress blogs more and more these days actually. I like the easy peasy REader over there, works great! Hey, easy peasy....how's that for Brit lingo. ;<)

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  6. Hi everyone. Sorry I am unable to respond to your lovely comments. I just got back home after taking Joe into hospital again and I'm totally whacked. It was an emergency admission and I just got home after six hours of waiting and organising. Off to bed before I fall down!!

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  7. Hope all is well with Joe, Valerie.

    You take care, dear lady.

    X

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  8. If you're computer is making noises, chances are your hard drive is being accessed by a program...or a virus. Have you run a recent scan on your system for viruses? Do you have an anti-virus program installed and is it updated? If so, I've seen McAfee run amok when it tries to update itself (wife experienced this, so I wrote a quick batch file to stop that upon launch for her computer). What processes are running on your computer? Have you defraged your hard drive recently? That could help speed things up.

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  9. Oh dear......Emergency admissions--why do they seem to take longer than they oughta? *sigh

    Take care of you, please.

    *sending prayers for you and Joe*

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  10. A similar complaint I have - the 'search' gadget does not seem to yield all possible results.

    www.volatilespirits.com

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  11. A good all-around post, and I think you are having a run of good luck with store assistants because you are a wonderful person so you are getting that wonderfulness right back at you. Have a good one Val.

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  12. I have noticed a couple of the blogs I read not updating on my sidebar, but I've been visiting so infrequently lately that I haven't looked into why it's happening.
    Our grocery store checkout staff bags items for us here, and will escort someone to their car (if requested), and if I get exceptional service at a store, restaurant or other place of business, I do speak to a manager or leave word by phone whenever possible.

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  13. Mary, I get really annoyed when the blog roll doesn't update. Hey, that's a great service at your grocery store. I remember we once had a service like that, wondering now what happened to it.

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