~ It's Friday Night!

I am beyond excited that it's Friday night... As I am sure the rest of you are. I was counting down the hours at work until I could head home pick up a chilled bottle of wine and curl up on the couch in my comfies (meaning boyshorts and nothing else... lol) and unwind.
After an unbearably slow week I could not wait for it to end and be free from work.
On my way home I stopped by my favorite wine shop Viti and decided to try something different.  I came across this unique bottle called 'Goddess'. Their label states: "The perfect ME wine: a lush, fresh wine, just like you! Reward yourself after all of life's stresses and little emergencies. Will be a big hit when you have your Girlfriends over for appys. Or grab a blanket and your favourite book and snuggle up to your inner Goddess with a glass." I thought to myself this wine is fitting to the experience I am trying to go for and not only that, it is made by women for women!

A fruity, sweet wine. Very yummy! and yes definetly a Goddess worthy wine.

So here I am sitting, sipping on a delicious glass of wine uploading pictures and bloggin! What a perfect end to a long week.

Yes, that is a Shoe Wine Stopper... A gift from my lovely friend Jenny <3

What do you do to unwind after a long stressful/boring week?

~April

~ Book Review... Boo!

So I came across this little guy on Facebook one day...

I adore pomeranians and the moment I laid eyes on this litte guy's face I was in love!! His name is Boo and he is such a cute little creature, his face exudes personality and no matter your taste in animals you are bound to fall in love with Boo!
On Boo's facebook page you get a glimpse into the life and times of Boo. What he likes to do, where he likes to hide, who his favorite friend is and what his favorite outfit is.

There is no other word to describe Boo but fabulous!

Recently Boo published a book called: Boo: The Life of the World's Cutest Dog.
 
The title is well suited as there is no doubt that he is most certainly the cutest dog in the world. Now we have a little memento show-casing the cutest puppy ever!
 
Boo is definetly becoming a star and that can be seen by the adorable pictures of this fuzzy faced fur ball and the media attention he is receiving on from his recently published book.
Boo, I love you!
Become a fan of Boo on Facebook or check our Boo's website!

~ April

~ Call Center Trauma

We have all been there, whether it be with your bank, phone company, or cable company at some point in time you have encountered that automated voice greeting you on the other end of the phone line.
It always asks you a string of what you deem are stupid questions and in doing so states them very slowly and methodically so that it takes almost 10 minutes to just clear up the fact that you want 'English' and 'Billing Services' from the list of options they give you.
When you have successfully accessed 'billing services', you are posed with the account verification questions, god forbid you accidentally enter the wrong digit or have too much background noise because this process may end up taking 15-20 minutes. Let's say I do enter the wrong digit when entering my pin... can't the machine just respond with "BEEP! Wrong Pin!" then let me try again? Do I really have to hear the incorrect pin spoken back to me, the phone number that I am entering the pin for, then be informed of how to do the process all over again and then told "If you need help press 2".... After a good 17 minutes of this I finally press 2, apparently I am incapable of completing this process through the automated service provided. I wait while I am "being connected to the next available operator" and then hear a voice saying "Our call centre is currently closed. Please try again later."

At this point some form of blasphemy exits my mouth and I slam the phone down on the counter.
Now I realize my story here is somewhat tame (trust me I know) we have all had way more frustrating and stressful experiences trying to talk to a machine, but this brings me to my next point. Some time ago I worked at a call centre and one of the goals they emphasized to us was to keep the customer calm because more then likely they are only calling because something has gone wrong. We are also aware that many call centre employees do receive 'verbal' abuse from their callers.... Now why do we think this is?
Have they ever thought that maybe it is because of their automated systems that the caller has to navigate through to reach a real person?! This has always been the case with me whenever something has gone terribly wrong with my phone or cable and I need to call it in, by this point I am already slightly elevated in my frustration levels. Once I finally make it through all the mishaps of the automated prompts and such I end up so frustrated and peeved that when I do get to talk to a real person they end up on the receiving end of my boiled to the brim rant and rave.

So...
Problem; ridiculous automated voice prompted unable to understand anything system.
Reaction; beyond frustrated customers who rip a strip off your call centre employees.
Solution; come up with a more logical system that allows people a relaxing and productive journey from placing the call to finally talking to a real human being.

I wish you all the best on your future “why the hell have I been on hold for 2 hours” endeavours...(see I didn’t even go there... being on hold is a whole other rant)

~April