a week to remember, day 5

What a day. And it still continues. Though in a few minutes it'll be midnight and therefore -- the 4th of July

But let me start with one thought I had today -- Americans who work in service fields are extremely pleasant toward customers. I can't think of another country where I have encountered such a consistent emphasis on friendly, customer-focused, attentive service. (This is why we hear so many complaints by Americans when they travel for the first time abroad. People appear to them to be rude. They're not that, actually, they are just.. normal. (Well, I'm still seeing some rudeness in the old country, or at least indifference to those who come in through the door. A hold over from our postwar era of absolutely lousy, hostile service. Nothing on the shelves, indifference of the clerks.) It's us, here in America who are the outliers. Some of the service workers are kind and friendly by nature, but if that's not your style, you surely will be told by management that your job is to show care. I remember when I did moonlighting in retail, selling L'Occitanae cosmetics. I was instructed to complement customers in some fashion. Just to make them feel good. Personally, I like a hands-off sales clerk who will let me browse without her or him hovering nearby, but I was told to shove that attitude in my pocket and keep it there while I worked behind the counter. Be cheerful, be pleasant. After a while, it becomes second nature.

Perhaps you're thinking that this is a corporate model that is more about bringing in a sale than being genuinely concerned about the person who comes in for a needed something or other. But the fact is that I have always thought that at first blush at least, Americans are genuinely friendly. Maybe we are now going through a phase where we hate everyone who is not like us, and yet, we still reach out with kindness to those seeking our help.

[My two movers today are, in fact, extremely kind and pretty friendly. Young men who surely must loathe their job -- they never stay with it for more than a few months or a year -- so pleasant to deal with on what is turning out to be a very difficult move. It took the two of them six hours to do the job and this despite my moving all fragile stuff on my own.]

Let me roll back to the morning. Without Millie. A good thing, because the day is one big mess pile. In fact, I called Julie, her babysitter, and asked if she could bring Millie not today, but tomorrow. Smart move! Steffi's House is a disaster right now.

I was up early -- at 5 a.m. -- and I did squeeze in a breakfast on the increasingly naked porch...

 

And then it was one mad dash -- to move more stuff. Anything that would require careful handling. To shovel off the wood chips that are still in the driveway. To work with the movers on placement of furniture. To call Ed for help with building a chair. To start unpacking. Very slowly. TO break down boxes. 

I was feeling upbeat all the way until 4 pm. My new reading corner made me totally giddy.

Then I hit that brick wall. I mentioned here that I got talked into switching my mobile service. To bundle it with the internet. I went through the process of doing this. It took forever. Cancel ATT, start Spectrum. Except that once tranferred and activated, the new phone service had such poor reception that I could not complete a single call. Next then was an hour spent with Spectrum trouble shooting. Nothing helped. I think I am simply in a Spectrum/Verizon dead. zone. All to save $10 a month...

Next hour? Spent with Spectrum and ATT canceling the first and reactivating the second (it's called a "winback"). I mean, you have to laugh. Everything was going smoothly, and then here I am, working not on the move but on my phone service. To un-save $10. 

But on the upside, the agents have all been super nice! And friendly. No one grumbled, no one was hostile or blamed me for this back and forth. (They did ask me -- how long did I stick it out with Spectrum and were quite surprised when I said "less than an hour.")

In the evening I return to the boxes.  Ed came, and I so I paused to share the leftover pizza slices with him (and a salad!) but eventually I resumed unpacking. Three moves and I still can't decide which is more loathsome -- the packing or unpacking.At least with the latter, you know you're at the tail end of it. Hard to believe that tonight I'll be in my home finally. Just me and the boxes. Millie comes back tomorrow.

with so much love...