3rd From Sol

~ Learn from before. Live now. Look ahead.

3rd From Sol

Daily Archives: March 29, 2010

A Better Parent..Not Perfect

29 Monday Mar 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Lessons of Life, Random

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bead up the nose, boys, children, Growing pains, parenting

I’m a better parent…not perfect…just better.

Alexander and his plastic bead

Yesterday our son, Alexander, was supposed to be resting.  Resting is a new thing because at 4 1/2 years old he is not always able to take a nap.  When his Mom went in to check on him he was whimpering and then she saw his face covered in blood.  She called me and by the time I got there he was crying.  She asked me to get him down from his bunk bed (yes, at four he wanted to move to a big boy bed, and it had to be a bunk bed.)  I did and after several, “What happened?!?” questions, we learned that he had stuck a plastic bead up his nose.

Now if I were a young parent my next statement would be something along the lines of:

“What the Hell were you thinking!”

But I didn’t.  Instead I searched the bed to see if possibly, and mercifully, the bead was not up in his nostril, but rather was just on the bed somewhere.  After a thorough search we learned it was nowhere to be found.  The realization began to sink in that a plastic bead that he had found outside that day…after laying in the dirt for decades…was up in his sinus.  As a young parent my instinct would be off to the ER, but rather we decided to wait.  By this time he had calmed down, the bleeding had stopped, and his Mom and I decided that this was no longer an emergency.

The Bead of Shame

At this point we began to explain to him that when things like this happen he needs to call for us rather than try to fix the problem himself…a good parent thing to say, but to a 4 1/2 year-old it was like explaining the real definition of Socialism to a member of the Tea Party.  Still, it was a better parent thing to say than sentences that began with, “Don’t you ever…”

This morning we were able to see it with the help of a..a..a nose-looker-in-thing and made a couple of attempts to suck it out with a…a…a nose-sucker-thing..I don’t know what they’re called…I’m male remember.  After no success in extracting the plastic bead we called his Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor, who, coincidently will be removing his tonsils next week.  They set up an appointment for tomorrow.  We were resigned to have to sheepishly go into the doctor’s office and try to explain why a little boy would be allowed to have a plastic bead in his possession.

Happy boy, happier parents

However, this afternoon he was ‘sniffling’ and we told him to blow his nose, lamely hoping that bead would come out and this would become a good story to tell his girlfriend when he was sixteen, when behold, the bead came out!

We are trying not to think about all the bacteria on the bead when it went up his nose, but the fact that it came out was the best news that we’ve had in a long time.  As for any four-year old girls out there who may be dating my son in twelve years, be forewarned, you’ll be hearing about the bead-up-the-nose story.

I said I was a better parent…not perfect.

Starbucks One

29 Monday Mar 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Human Resources, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Customer Loyalty, Friendly People, Starbucks, Taking Care of the Customer

Starbucks One - Reno, NV @ Keystone & I-80

My GPS has the locations of most Starbucks stores in my area programmed in with the name and location; however, I have one store programmed in as Starbucks One.  That would be the Starbucks at Keystone and I-80 in Reno, NV.  I refer to it as my home Starbucks.  I typically spend 15 hours or more per week at that one store.  Why?

Despite that there are two other Starbucks stores closer to my home, I come to this store for one reason…the staff.  I used to split my time between several Starbucks stores and I have come to spend more time (and money) in this one location because of the people.  It’s not to say that the staff at the other stores weren’t friendly, but this staff is friendly and genuine.  They are always courteous and respectful, but they also know me as a person.  I’m not the almighty customer…I’m just Paul.  In return I try to respect that they are on the job, so I try to avoid engaging in too much conversation if they seem busy.

It is likely that part of my attachment to this location was created when one of the staff had come during her day off as a customer and we engaged in a conversation for a half an hour or more.  After that I got to know several other members of the staff and now there are very few of the day staff that I don’t at least know by name.

I have also come to appreciate the challenges faced by everyone from the Store Manager to the newest team member.  There is a special chaos caused by customer contact that occurs on a minute basis and from multiple directions.  Walk-in, drive through, noise, people spilling drinks, the occasional homeless person, keeping the tables clean, too cold, too hot,..the list of distractions goes on and on.  It is a pressure environment and I try to not contribute to the stress.

Drive Thru at Starbucks One

For me it is a no-brainer that it is the people interaction that builds customer loyalty, but I am constantly surprised by those that either don’t understand that, OR think that it can be imposed by corporate policy…”would you like fries for an addition 39 cents?”

Every time I hear a person try to up-sell me at a fast food place I can hear the voice of some Senior Vice President who sat in around a nice wooden table, saying, ..”you know, if we can just up-sell five percent of our customers we will make $2,000 per day per store!”  It all sounds great to the guy who is more concerned about the weather for his Friday golf date than treating his employee’s with respect, but annoying the customer has a greater long-term impact on profits and everyone seems to know this except the people in the Crystal Palace known as corporate headquarters.

What brought me to Starbucks were Chai Tea, brownies, and free WiFi (I have AT&T at home so it’s free for me at Starbucks).  What keeps me coming to Starbucks One are the people.

I wanted to write a blog about Re-Imagining! Starbucks in 2014, and I will in a Part II blog, but today I realized that the Starbucks won’t be around in 2014 without the people who manage the chaos and still seem to be happy that I came in today.

Thank you (in the order we met) Katie, Laura, Vicky, Stacia, Sarah, the other Katie, Kelsey, Jenna, Marissa, Khris, and the rest of the team!

Other Pages of This Blog

  • About Paul Kiser
  • Common Core: Are You a Good Switch or a Bad Switch?
  • Familius Interruptus: Lessons of a DNA Shocker
  • Moffat County, Colorado: The Story of Two Families
  • Rules on Comments
  • Six Things The United States Must Do
  • Why We Are Here: A 65-Year Historical Perspective of the United States

Paul’s Recent Blogs

  • Dysfunctional Social Identity & Its Impact on Society
  • Road Less Traveled: How Craig, CO Was Orphaned
  • GOP Political Syndicate Seizes CO School District
  • DNA Shock +5 Years: What I Know & Lessons Learned
  • Solstices and Sunshine In North America
  • Blindsided: End of U.S. Solar Observation Capabilities?
  • Inspiration4: A Waste of Space Exploration

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