SINK OR SWIM

The theme for this week friends is SINK or SWIM…both literally and figuratively… Written in tandem with remnants of notions conjured by an interview on npr (Monday) in remembrance of Comedian George Carlin who died on Sunday, June 22, 2008

SWIM CLASS has started! Yesterday was the first day for Tafi and Zen to take actual swimming classes! I had enrolled Zen once before when she was about two and SHE HATED IT! Her dad took her to one class and she never went back. Things have definitely changed…now she’s practically a mermaid…one that needs to brush up on technique…but a mermaid nonetheless, especially when compared to her majesty Lady Tafara who on the first day made it clear to her instructor that there was to be no face wetting involved in her lesson…At any rate, we made it through yesterday swimmingly! The swim instructor however, warned that hey both needed to work on getting deeper into the water and that today she was being nice, but that things would get serious tomorrow and that I might want to invest in goggles for Tafara if water in her eyes was her issue. So of course, like a good mother I sojourned to WALMART at 11:30PM after working MY NEW AND IMPROVED MODIFIED (THOUGH TEMPORARY) SCHEDULE and visiting a dear friend in the hospital; to get the GOGGLES!!!

After our usual morning hustle (too painful for details) we get to the pool, Tafi gets her goggles, enters the pool, begins her lesson, even gets dunked by the teacher…recovers gracefully…things are going so well that I take my eyes off of her for one minute to begin applying my sunblock… next thing I know my daughter, is dripping (not sure if tears or chlorine) all over me, crying “she told me to get out of the pool…sob…sob...and go home”… sob …sob…

IM THINKIN’ : Oh boy, here we go…GLUB, GLUB, GLUB…I’m sinking…

Needless to say I spent the next 15 min engaged in warfare! Trying to convince the QUEEN of the-most-stubborn-children-in-AMERICA: 1.That she needed to get back into the pool & 2.That there was nothing to be afraid of…I lost the first part of the battle and after the slight mention of a potential bribe…I won’t know about the latter until tomorrow (I’ll keep ya posted).

After talking to my friend last night, Tafara & the newest Mrs. Fuller today about fear of death, sinking/getting your face wet, and entrepreneurship (respectively)…I have decided to yet again take “the plunge” into entrepreneurship…I’m not quite sure which of my 50 million ventures I plan to pursue just yet, but I am (starting tonight) going to actively pursue SOMETHING…we get one life (at a time) and it is foolish to spend most of it CONSUMED by fear…WE MUST COMMITT TO SINK OR SWIM

SERVICE...PLEASE?!

So, my sister-in-law came to visit as I mentioned before…and a large part of the time is usually spent shopping for essential items that are difficult, non-existent, or ridiculously expensive back home. Can I just say that I was APPALLED at the lack of customer service received this weekend.

WALMART would have been number one on my list…until I went to Barnes and Noble in Aventura!!!! APALLING!!!!

We have all been somewhere and had the silence broken by a inconsolable child or have seen children "rippin' and runnin'" through a store...PLease note: This mama dont play that! I will leave the store before I'm embarassed by one of my children!!! So imagine my surprise when while juggling an arm full of merchandise and trying to carry Lion, I am approached by a man claiming to be the store manager to be told that other customers were complaining about my son's screaming...hmm...the rage swelled instantaneously...there's nothing like being wrongly accused to send me into a tailspin! I immediately put everything down, instructed my family to do the same and left the store. After I explained the scenario to Simon, got them settled in Burger King, I marched back across the street and demanded to see the manager. A very nice and clearly apologetic cashier explained that "it must have been Walter" because "he's always rude". She quicly called Jason the actual store manager, who clearly had received other complaints about "Walter" (who by the way was really a merchandiser, not the store manager), I promptly requested contact informationn for the corporate office, advised Jason that he had easily lost a sale of $300 (big whoop I'm sure...eventhough I was exaggerating). I also asked him to explain the store/company's policy on crying children...he shook his head in embarassment and said, "WE DONT HAVE ONE, I MEAN WE HAVE A CHILDREN'S SECTION, THIS ISNT A LIBRARY, I WILL DEFINITELY TALK TO HIM".

Did I mention that the store was full of children and while Lion did make three outbursts "Walter, nor anyone else in his area could hear him over the humm of the ambient sound...also clarified by the cashier.

One of my local neighborhood Walmarts also PISSED me off during our shop-a-thon! When my sister-in-law's boyfriend asked an associate in the electronic department to test a flatscreen tv, since it was their last one and the box it was in was clearly damaged, he was made to wait for at least 20 minutes only to be told that they "didnt know if they could do that" AND that he should just "buy the TV and if it dosent work, to bring it back"...HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO RETURN ANYTHING AT WALMART? Yes, they take anything back, but you will wait forever in a line a mile long!!!

Naturally, this was unacceptable to me and so being the Americanized one in the group, I begin to cause a scene and DEMAND service!!! Finally, the tv specialist shows up only to mumble under his breath...I aint got time for that...his colleague, obviously as shocked as I was begged him pardon only to be told "I said I aint got time for that" and if that wasnt bad enough, he added, "you should just buy it and bring it back if something is wrong with it", that's when I lost it..."What?! You dont have time, but I should waste my time taking a possible broken TV home and then bring it back?! I was steamin' Needless to say, I spoke to three managers who made Allen do his job and then we went to another Walmart, and bought the TV there instead...TAKE THAT ALLEN.

Within all of this, there is a tail of redemption, ironically coming from Walmart where the TV was ultimately purchased. I was searching for swim caps for the girls to no avail...I finally gave up and as I was being checked out, I asked the cashier about swim caps...after I explained what they were...he suggested Health and Beauty Aids, doubtfully, I challenged him, instead of brushing me off, he rang for the most helpful assistant manager, who not only came over to help but went and looked in two possible locations, a third associate came over and suggested that I look in sporting goods (DUH). Rob, the cashier, called sporting goods instructed the cashier in that department to find the caps, hold two swim caps for me and cash out my other items there...NOW THAT'S CUSTOMER SERVICE... Thanks Rob, I had almost forgotten what it looked like!