Customer Service or Dis-service, you be the judge

Y'all, I really hate to be the person who just rants and bitches but unfortunately someone has to do it.  And once you turn 50 you lose that little part of you that just gives a shit what other people think. So, there's that.  It is now my job to call people on their bullshit and not to take any.

I was on etsy or pinterest or one of those sites that leads you down a rabbit hole of websites and found my way to a website that is selling some really cute, cute things that I thought I needed for Christmas gifts.  Really cute.

And so I looked at the website for the "about us" to see who these people are, where the money is going to, etc.  And there is a whole bunch of photos of the people who own/operate/run this company, but no information as to where they are geographically.  No physical location.  I clicked on the "contact us" button to ask a few question regarding a couple of items and it opened up an email.  So I went back and looked and yes, only email, no phone.  WTH?  No phone number?

I emailed and explained what my questions were and said I would like some customer support.  I got a really prompt return email with these words Thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately we don't offer all call center at this time, as we are an online business only. But I can help you via email!


Okay, that seems odd to me that because you are online you don't think people will ever need to talk to you.  That makes it even MORE likely that people will have a phone inquiry.

After several more email back and forths with the customer service person I placed the order with the choice of using Paypal for my payment since I didn't feel great about giving my credit card information to people who don't even have a phone.  And I sent her an email saying that I had ordered and to let me know if there was a problem.

And you'll never guess what!  

There was a problem.  She didn't get the order.  So I spent a ridiculous amount of time going all over their website trying to figure this out. And the website order form kept giving me a gigantic yellow yield sign saying I am required to give them my email address.  On the paypal payment page it had a square to check if I wanted them to share my email with the company or not, so I went back and checked that box and filled everything out again for the FOURTH TIME and you will not believe this but where they wanted me to fill in my email address?  THERE WAS NO SPACE TO PUT IT!!

If I put my cursor in the tab above it and hit my tab key it dropped right down past the email question to the next space.

So I sent off yet another email to the customer service person describing the situation and said please have someone call me to place this order or I am just going to forget about it.  And gave her my phone number.

And you'll never guess what happened next!

SHE EMAILED ME AGAIN!  She didn't call me!  Here is her reply to my request for them to call me:  Thanks for keeping me updated. So sorry the websites being difficult! Just to let you know I am going to do, I am forwarding this conversation to the owners so they can try to troubleshoot.

And if I can get your order via email, we will send you a PayPal invoice and order that way!

Are you believing this?  I got that one last evening and I had to sit on it overnight to not reply "Are you fucking kidding me??"

This is the email that I shot back to her today "I appreciate you being so prompt and getting back to me right away.  Because customer service is such a big part of the shopping process to me, I am going to say that it feels really awkward to me that there is no way to reach a person on the phone and try and resolve the issues i am having with this order.

I have gone out on a limb and trusted leaving my phone number with a total stranger and said that I would prefer if someone could just call me and we could get this ironed out.  And I get yet another email instead of a call.

So this makes me suspicious of a company that doesn’t have a responsive way to help customers through a website that has some issues.  No phone, really?  I just don’t think I can give my credit card and home address information to a company that doesn’t have phone support.

Sorry we couldn’t have done business together.  Your stuff looked really cute."

What do you think?  Are these people on the up and up?  Will they respond?  Will I ever get a phone call?  Would you try to work this hard to spend money?

I just don't understand the whole "one size fits all and this is the ONLY way we do business" mentality.  Every person has different needs and if you are dealing with the public you are going to run across loads of different kinds of people.  And all I wanted was a few questions answered and then for them to fix their stupid order online form that wasn't working.  

My guess is that they will not reach out to me to try and rectify this and I will not get to purchase these cute things and I will have to go to Plan B on the Christmas gift list.

Let me know your thoughts on this or just how you feel about customer service in general.

Valentine's Day Surprises!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I know, I know, just yesterday I said how it isn't really a big deal in La Casa Lisa Pie any longer and what happened when I woke up this morning?

I went to the bathroom like most people do when they first get up and it took me a minute to notice that something was stuck on the mirror.

Here's what I saw:

Aww, isn't that sweet?  Those cute little boys from Glee!

It still didn't register that it was for me though.  So I was getting dressed and talking on the phone and headed to the kitchen to make my giant mug o'tea for the morning, while still on the phone with my wonderful friend Mom of the Peach and I went to the cabinet to get my tea mug and what did I spy on the shelf where the mug should have been??

A Valentine's card (with the promise of a home-cooked dinner!) and some beautiful flowers.  There are daisies, alostrumeriam and roses, all shades of pinks.  Just beautiful.

I am still on the phone and giving my friend a play-by-play of what is happening, too.  So I take my mug and go to the water dispenser to get instant hot water for my tea.

And look what I found strategically placed over the hot water button:

Hee!!  So I took my mug of hot water and went to the pantry to get my morning teabag of Scottish Breakfast.

And you will never guess what I found!

Another Glee Valentine in my tea box!!!

So of course, we are laughing and loving this over the phone still and I made my tea and went to the computer as I do each and every morning to do my email and check in on facebook, pinterest and One Kings Lane.

And sure enough!  One more Valentine on my screen.

And then I looked down at my keyboard:

How sweet is that?  Mr. Ed had to get up pretty early to sneak around doing this and not make a sound.  I was so surprised.

I can't wait to see what's planned for dinner.

In other news, I bought myself something off the Vermont Country Store  recently and just haven't taken pictures to show you.  Those of you who are my age may remember this.

Do you remember this?  Sweet Earth!  I have been so excited since I saw this on the VCS website and I finally broke down and ordered one.  This is the "woods" scents version.  Back in the 1970s there were also a flowers one and a grasses one.

I tried to get photos of the labels describing each scent but it's all shiny and glare-y.  From the left it is Sandalwood, then Amberwood and on the right Patchouli.  You can wear them individually or mix them as you wish.

I will check out the VCS site again and see if they carry the other scents or not.  Also, it seems like I remember there was some kind a Christmas-y holiday one too.

I just scoped out the google to see if anyone had posted pics of the original 1970s versions of the Sweet Earth and glory be!!  Of course, there are photos.

This first one is the Christmas-y winter ones, Frankinscence, Myrrh and Mistletoe.  It's in the newer version of the case.

Below is one of the older styles. The Rare flowers collection.

And here is a magazine ad for the Sweet Earth scents.

Makes me very nostalgic for all the great old cosmetic items from back in the day.  Do any of you remember Yardley cosmetics?  Love's?  Mary Qant?

Have a lovely Valentine's Day and remember that your friend Lisa Pie loves you!

Plastic & Carb Update

Since I am doing the Plastic Purge and the Carb Purge at the same time I am just going to do combined updates on how it is going.

First up, Plastic.  This is so difficult.  If you aren't doing this, but are following along, I hope you are noticing when you pick up something if there is plastic involved in the item itself or in the packaging.  And not only notice that it is there, but whether or not it is necessary or could be done with another substance.

Here is an example:  I have recently posted about trying to buy dish soap, the kind for the sink, not the machine and how there is not one brand or type of dish soap that doesn't come in plastic.  Have you looked?  Your choice is really clear plastic or white plastic.  But it's plastic.

So my Compacty Bloggy friend Julia who is the genius who thought this challenge up, corrected me.  She posted a picture of what they used in the olden days before the days of plastic bottles.  Take a look at this thing:

Isn't that a clever little contraption?  You put your leftover bits of soap bars in the basket and when you are filling up your sink with hot water to wash, you stick this soap swisher in the water and you, well you swish it around!  I am now on the hunt for such a treasure.

If you would love to read how this came about and follow Julia's progress through the Plastic Purge of June 2011, please click over here to the first day of the purge and read along.  Julia is a wonderful, clever, and creative person, an accomplished writer, and just a joy to read.  I am proud to say I know her, even if it just internet-ally and not physically in person!

So there is an answer to every query, a lid for every pot, a back to every front. Whatever with that silliness!

Back to the Plastic Purging, I haven't posted much in the last 2 weeks about it because with the sciatica kicking my ass and I just left the house for the first time in over a week, I haven't bought anything, I haven't been anywhere to drag plasticky stuff in.  Mr. Big Ed has been really good about taking care of me and even coming home for lunch every day to cook for me.  So if he has brought anything in, I haven't seen it and I refuse to say anything to him if he did.

But the big thing for me is that I am noticing how little I really need to buy.  What do I need?  Occasionally we run out of some consumable item, be it food or body products or whatever.  But what else do we truly need?  Are we suffering from lack of something?  No.  We are all happy, healthy, and surrounded by more "stuff" than we would ever use in 10 lifetimes.  All of our bedrooms have beds, sheets, quilts and blankets. We have mostly-new towels in all the bathrooms. What else do we need?  I have a box set up in the garage continually for Goodwill donations.  You would think that eventually we would run out of shit to donate. But no.  I have already shared with you my rule of Nothing in the front door without an equal item going out the back door.  If that holds true, we should always stay at the same level of stuff or slightly less.  But no.

So I have not brought a lot of plastic into my home, but I haven't brought a lot of anything in either.  It's not like I went out and chose the lovely environmental item over the shoddy Made in China plastic crap, I just haven't brought anything home.  But what I have done so far is to become really mindful of everything that I put on my shopping list.  How is it packaged?  Is it really the only thing that fits the bill or is there an alternative of equal value that might be less plasticky?  Is this an item of quality that will last or of beauty that brings joy?  If it is a food or consumable item, how close to it's natural state is it?  Has it been adulterated beyond what is necessary?  If I buy orange juice I have to deal with either a plastic bottle with a plastic top or with the frozen concentrate paper tube with metal ends and a plastic strip; but if I buy oranges, all I have left is orange peels that can be dried into pot pourri or grated for another dish or composted.  Try to get your purchases to be as close to the original as possible and you will have less packaging and therefore less plastic to deal with.  That is what I have learned 21 days in on this challenge.

Now, on to the Low Carb, High Protein, Low Fat food regimen that I am following courtesy of my good friend Judy.  Judy is the most wonderful person. She just radiates joy and positivity.  If there are angels walking among us, she is definitely one.  Check out her blog if you want to follow this or just go to be inspired.

I am on day 4 of Phase 2 of the diet.  And let me tell you in just 11 days I have already learned so much about my body.

1. I am carb addicted.  Physically and mentally.

2. I don't normally eat enough food, and never enough of the right foods.

3. I haven't been treating my body well.

4. Plan ahead!!!  You can't eat healthily and take care of yourself if you don't have a plan!

5. The scale can be your friend.  It can let you know that things are going well or that something isn't right and you need to think about it and recalibrate something.

6. I need a new scale.  And like everything else I have to do all kinds of research and ask everyone what kind they have, what is the best, does it have plastic, is it accurate, etc.  So please, PLEASE, in the comments let me know about your scale.

7. When Phase 2 started and I could add in a bit of carrot and beets I was never so happy.  The bright colors cheered me as did the crunch, texture and flavor.  Have I mentioned the carb addiction?

8.  If you think I was happy with the carrots and beets you should have seen me with the orange.  Cold, organic, juicy and delicious in its orangey perfection.  That was the best orange I have ever eaten.

9. I am learning to enjoy my morning hot tea WITHOUT sugar or cream.  It's not nearly as satisfying, but I am learning.

10. In the first 5 days I had several evenings where I suddenly had a craving for a spoonful of peanut butter.  I mean I would have beaten down anyone who got between me and my Jiff.  It was strong and powerful.  I was taken aback by this as I don't eat peanut butter on a daily basis.  Wth was that about? So I listened to my body and I did have a spoonful of peanut butter.  And it was good.  Then I resisted the next night and didn't do it.  But the third time it happened I had the spoonful.  After that I haven't had a single craving.  Not for peanut butter, not for anything.  I am trying to just live in the moment and enjoy what is in front of me.  Which leads back to number 4.  If you haven't planned, there isn't anything in front of you.  So make a plan, and use it.

That's it for me right now.  Any thoughts?

Cutest Preciousness

Watch this

Here is what he posted beneath the video on youtube.

This is a baby hummingbird I rescued after it was attacked.
The song is "Better Together" by Jack Johnson.
UPDATE!!! when she thought she was ready to leave (and she was) she flew off to her favorite patch of the back yard, and her instincts instantly kicked in, and now she's just like all the other hummingbirds. for those that are concerned that she has imprinted on humans and wouldn't survive in the wild, don't worry, she is thriving. she has even successfully migrated and returned back to my yard. and for those who think i didn't know what i was doing, i did NOT feed her plain sugar water. i went outside 3 times a day and caught flies from my compost bin in big bags, crushed them, and mixed them in as well. I also helped her learn to catch flies while flying (not in the video because you obviously wouldn't be able to see the flies). in the end, i don't think it could have worked out any better

Family Tree and the nuts who inhabit

Remember way back in February when I was sick and wheezing and coughing my fool head off?  Well, since I couldn't lay down due to the coughing fits that would happen I spent a lot of time sitting up.  So I did what one would do and signed up for a year's worth of service on Ancestry.com and started inputting everything I knew about the ancestors.

Here is what I have found out:

1. I now have 841 people on the extended branches of my tree

2. If you were a German, Scot, English or Irish farmer, blacksmith or cooper I am descended from you.

3. 7 generations back in my tree is my 5th great grandmother who is first cousin to Francis Scott Key.

4. One branch of the family has my ancestor arriving in Boston, Mass. in 1630 on a ship called the Planter.  (This is just ten years after the Mayflower)  He was one of the founders of New Haven, Connecticut.  And this family had several documented cases of nutters.  Something you never want to have happen when there are witch trials going on around you.

5. An Irish many-great grandfathers arrived in South Carolina around 1750.  His son married a girl who was a fifth-generation Virginian on her mother's side.  On her father's side they were English and the records go back to 1390.

6. I had ancestors fight in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and on both sides of the Civil War.

7. It is much easier to find the really old stuff rather than the newer stuff. The government had set a law when they started taking the census that the information wouldn't be released for 72 years after the fact. This was the average life span at the time and they didn't feel they would be jeopardizing anyone still living  by waiting that length of time.  What that means is the latest census you can work from is 1930. My mother-in-law, for example, was born in 1934 so I hit a dead end when working on her side of the family.

8. It would be a whole lot easier to get the records matched up to the right person if there weren't 4 or 5 generations of men with the SAME DAMN NAME!  Why do men want to name their sons after themselves?  Change the middle name or something!

9. I have 2 ancestors of the same generation, both from Iowa, but different sides of the family whose mothers both died in childbirth and they were raised by family members.

10. I think this ties in nicely with my weekly obsession with reading the obituaries and finding a little history of the families.

11. I love the old names.  Sarah, Malinda, Mahala, Levi, Solomon, Jeremiah, Joab, Xavier, Duncan, Rachel, Hannah, Jesse (male) and Jessie (female).

12. It is a very common southern thing for women to use their maiden name as the first name for one of their sons.  And I knew this so to find it occurring in my own family tree was not surprising.  But what was surprising was to find a Mr. Thomas Wicker who married a Miss Sally Talley.  And do you know what they named one of their sons?

Talley Wicker.

Yep.  Unless there are fake records up on ancestry.com and someone thought it would be hilarious to play an eternal April Fool's Day joke on me.  There is a Talley Wicker in the branches.  Can you say that three times fast?

I think I will stop there with Talley Wicker because it's an even dozen on the list and really?  what can I say after that?

How hard can it be to find the perfect coffee/cocktail table?

Seriously?  How hard can it be?  I have looked and looked for several years now and just can't find anything that I love.  Nothing.

Everything is either too short, too tall, too modern, too ornate, not the right shape.  Whatever, they are just not the one I am looking for.

I am trying to put something in a room filled with antiques that are mostly all rosewood and mahogany. So new stuff doesn't really go and lots of old things are not the right scale.  I don't know how to explain it.  I just know that when I see it, I am going to snatch it up on the spot!

In addition to regularly scoping out the antique and consignment shops locally, I peruse the offerings on ebay on occasion.  Here are a few little gems that show up when you search ebay for "antique coffee cocktail table":

First up we have a very shiny brass number with black glass on not one but two shelves.

The next one was really weird.  They claim it was a glass and rosewood table.  It looked to me like something Fred and Wilma Flintstone would have had.

Then you won't even believe it but there was a wagon wheel table.  Is this really an antique?  Would you serve cocktails on this thing?  Can you look at it and NOT think of When Harry Met Sally?

The next one is not a table so much as a grouping of tables.  Now, if I had a really cool 1950s early 60s vibe going on, I would grab these guys up in a heart beat.  Pretty cool.  Just not what I am looking for.

And then we have another table made out of a cart or farm equipment or something.  I couldn't figure it out.  I also can't quite understand why.

And this last one.  Well, I don't really know what to say about it.  Suffice it to say, that if Bruno had this one in the movie instead of the wagon wheel, he and Carrie Fisher might not have moved in together at all!

I can not envision a tackier coffee table than that one!  Heee!!!

Did you know??

Did you know that you could send in a picture of your child, your dog, your very own self, or anyone you want and they will put that face on M&Ms?  And they will make a batch for you in any color combinations your little heart desires?  If you go here you can scope out that info.

Did you know that you could also choose to make a batch of M&Ms with your team colors and logo?

Did you know that you can create your very own personalized pair of Converse All-Star Chuck Taylor hightops?  As cool as the Chucks are already, imagine how cool they could be with you as the designer! Now you don't have to dream about what if the awesome pink shoes had lime green insides and purple laces.  Create them yourself right here.  Love these!!

Did you know that with Pocketmod you can carry all sorts of small lists around with you in your pocket and not have to carry large bulky calendars, sudoku books and such?  This is one of my favorites!

Did you know that there is an organization out there that will go in and clean homes of cancer patients? Yes, there is.  Cleaning for a reason is that group.  What a fabulous idea.  You may want to bookmark this group and keep them in mind for referrals.

Did you know that Saturday night we move our stupid clocks back one hour? (I hate Daylight Savings Time.  I think it is a lame ass idea and we need to dispense with it.)

Did you know that Christmas is 48 days away?

Did you know that Thanksgiving is only 20 days away?

Did you know that your friend Lisa Pie is just a fount of (mostly) useless knowledge and trivia?

Have a fabulous weekend!

Sh*t you just won't believe

I'll get right to the point here.  I was over at June's Place like I am every ding dang day, and we were all discussing tasteless Christmas ornaments.  And let me just say here, there are some T A C K Y ornaments out there that people want to sell you to put up on your own tree.  So June and her friend Dottie exchange really tacky ornaments each year, and she posted some pics of some pretty tasteless and tacky ones to ask our opinions.  Cause why not share the tackiness with all of us!

Anyhoo, as we were all commenting along, one commenter posted that she had the tackiest ornament known to man in her own collection.  It was a gift and she was willing to part with this sad little piece of tackiness and send it to June who could then wrap it up and give it to Dottie.  Did you follow all that?

What, you might ask, could be the tackiest ornament known to man?  To that question I would have to answer:  This

In case it isn't obvious right off the bat, this is an angel made from a tampon.

That's right, tampon.  Shall I say it again?  T A M P O N.

I thought there was no way this was real, and so I googled Chrimas ornament angel tampon and lo and behold, a plethora of sites popped up all dedicated to making angels out of tampons.  Most prefer the Playtex brand.

But then I came across this site.  Go there now.  I will wait.  Just peruse that page for a minute or two.

And when you get your jaw off your desk and your teeth back in your mouth, come on back here.

Are you in shock?  Did you have any idea you could do this?  Would any of you seriously ever in a gazillion years make any of this crap?  Can you imagine, first making this stuff, and then second, GIVING it to someone?

Of course, then I had to figure out which was the tackiest thing on that page.  And my first choice was the snowflake/star thing made of tampon holders.  That is just so tacky it made me want to gag. But then, I decided that no, the absolute worst and most tacky and white trash of all of them was the Father's Day Toupee.  Because really.  What man would actually put a toupee made of tampons on his head?

The answer to that would be some Goober who would marry a woman who would MAKE him a tampon toupee!  Hee!!!

Horrible + Hilarious = Hilarrible!

Goobers, they are everywhere!

And they are lucky Goobers, too!  Get a load of this guy.  Did you look at his picture?  Did you say to yourself, "Hmmmm, self, I wonder what he might possibly want to spend some of those millions of dollars on?  Hmmmm?  Maybe taking the girlfriend's kids to Disney?  Or maybe taking the whole darn family to, oh I don't know?  How about the DENTIST????"

And then take a look here:  Hilarious

And one more:  Even more hilarious

Happy Friday, everyone!

GOOP

Have you been to Gwyneth Paltrow's site? It is
called GOOP. What I understand is G and P are
for her initials, who knows what O and O are for.
But that is beside the point. The point of this is that her site is fab-u-licious!! I love, love, love it!

I know there are those in the media who are ragging on her but they should be ashamed. She has like 5 categories, Look, See, Go, Do and Be or something like that. If I really wanted to impress you I would have gone and scoped it out and typed them in correctly. She shares some wonderful information, travel tips, recipes, exercise, all sorts of things. You can't buy this stuff anywhere and she is sharing with us for free. I love that.

The only thing I would like to see on this site is a place to put comments or ask questions. Maybe there are just too many to have to deal with? If I were planning a trip, I would scope out GOOP first and see what hotels, restaurants and other things she recommends for that city. If I were looking into a new exercise regimen, I would check out the video she has posted of her trainer giving her a quick workout for hotel rooms when you are traveling. She has awesome recipes on here, a lot of which are vegan, gluten-free, and healthy alternatives. Good things to try, and most everything is kid-friendly.

I love this site and think it is worth the once a week check-in. There is a place to sign up and have the newest posting sent right to your inbox as well. How considerate and convenient is that?