Finally! Farewell!

Tomorrow is going to be a great day. I am leaving for Florida and will be there untl Sunday. Then, we are leaving to cruise the Royal Caribbean until the 23rd. I am so ready to leave and bury my problems in the sand! We are going to Hispanola, Jamaica, Cozumel and Playa Del Carmen. I have been having a hard time gtting excited for the trip because there has been so much going on here. The thought of being gone for 10 days still feels unreal. Just thought I would let you know if you were wondering what happened to me. You all take care and I will soak up enough sun for all of you!

Carcharodon Carcharias

I don't usually do this, but I am feeling a bit creative today. Hopefully it is at least a little entertaining for your Friday afternoon.


It is the end of a sunny Friday workday when you decide to go for a late afternoon dip in the ocean. As you drift back and forth with the current, you lay on your back and watch the sunset as its brilliant colors stain the sky with their velvet texture. There are seagulls floating above you peacefully as the tourists packtheir belongings to leave the beach. The shore had been scoured for bits of leftover food by the gulls and a quiet peace spread over the area like melted butter. You take a deep breath and listen to the faint cries of the gulls while you close your eyes and try to route the tension out of your body. You had hardly slept the night before and you feel your eyelids tugging to rest. You decide you can rest them for just a little while as the calm rocking of the sea made you forget the worries of the day...

When you open your eyes you realize the colors of the sunset have faded to a dull purple and dusk had begun to set in. Time to head in. Thinking you were still close to shore you are surprised when your toes reach for the soft sandy bottom and find nothing but vast emptiness. You can feel the water turning chilly as the sun has descended below the horizon and the clear blue water has dulled into a dark grey. You feel a chill run up your spine as you stretch you feet further into the salty water and still find no assurance of the bottom. Just then, you feel a surge of water beneath you and realize you are not alone. Dusk. Feeding time. You try to stay calm and start swimming toward the shore. Your arms are heavy as they had relaxed and you try to shake the lull of disorientation from your body. You focus on the shoreline as you continue swimming. There is nobody on the beach and the only sign of life is the dotted headlights of the cars passing on the street nearby. The gulls have all settled inland and you realize there is nothing but you and the sea.

The purplish tint has now drained the sky, leaving only a tainted spot of navy blue left and the stars were starting to blink their eyes for the evening. You have not felt anything below the surface and your heart is starting to beat a bit slower. As you swim you begin to think... You had not been negligent with swimming at dusk for the whole 2 months since you came to live in Australia. You have always respected the sea and its power but somehow it has lost its threat recently. You realize you should have never come out alone and lost track of time. You start to feel the tingle of numbness from the chilly water on your body as you swim stronger to shore. How on earth did you drift this far out so fast? Within a few strokes you feel your limbs start to strain and burn. You decide to take a short break and begin to tread water. You made progress and the shore appears to be closer than before. The dark salty water splashes against your face and you struggle to keep your mouth closed from ingesting it. The sea is getting rougher. The sky has lost any hint of sunlight but the moon had emerged reflecting the silver outline of the tossing waves. Then again you feel a strong surge of water come up from underneath you. You are being followed. Again you tense with fear as you notice something in the water ahead of you. In the moonlight you see the shine as a long body rises in the surface in the distance. The fish must be 15 feet long. You recognize that it is a shark from the shape the fin and body and realize it must the most feared predator in the sea. The Great White Shark. Carcharodon Carcharias. You remember reading the stories of attacks in this area from years ago. But there hadn't been any attacks or even sightings recently. The body capsizes under the water and you feel your fear breeding in your heart. You cannot hesitate any longer. You again start swimming towards shore without making any radical movements. Purely methodical - you remember the story of the 1916 attack in New Jersey when the man was attacked because of his dog paddling next to him. You start to count to the rhythm of your strokes. You know the great fish is following you and oddly enough you want to peer into the deep to get a glace of your predator. You feel something rough bump your leg and it makes you gasp in pain. But you know it was not a bite. Knowing you are bleeding you continue swimming on. You open your eyes and peer into the dark water. Directly below you see a huge figure. The White is longer than 15 feet - more like 20. You see the conical head and notice it is matching your pace effortlessly, staying right underneath you. You close your eyes and start reciting a prayer. You have never prayed before, but it is your only hope. Suddenly, you feel yourself being pulled under the surface. The fish has your leg! Although you cannot feel pain you know you are being held in its jaws. As fast as you realized you were caught, you are free again. Sputtering to the surface with cries of pain you start again swimming. You cannot see as the water pounds salt into the flesh of your eyes. You wail towards shore, not afraid of thrashing and losing more blood. You can feel the White's presence even though you cannot see him. Then you feel heaven as you kick the sandy bottom. The bottom! As you clamor to shallow water you feel two strong arms lift you and drag you onto dry sand. You can hear voices fading in and out... "She lost a lot of blood....her leg is still intact...the White must have had sympathy on this one...." You know you will be okay now and you allow your eyes to close heavily as you feel yourself being transported away from the sea.

"Thank You For Calling, How Can I Help You?"

Have you ever had a really bad customer service experience? There is nothing worse than calling a company and having one of those "tone" people answer. It makes you not even want to call at all! I always picture a heavy-set lady wearing too much make-up, filing her nails and smacking on gum when I get a rep like that. I don't think many phone reps understand that their consumers don't want to talk to them either! Just because they call doesn't mean they were just dying to talk to them and wait on the line so the rep could fumble around to solve their problem.

On the other side, it is not much fun making the call for collections. I know I shouldn't really call it collections, but if you are behind, we will be calling to get your account caught up. Even though we have a wonderful program to assist our sponsors, many of them consider us "solicitors" so it is hard to keep another mind frame. Let me on a bunny trail for a moment...

Do you know what I really enjoy? When I get a call from a company trying to sell me something I already have. A few months ago I had a guy call me from Dish Network. After convincing him that I already had the service (which took a very long time) I took the step to be sociable and asked him if his shift was almost over. He went from sounding frustrated to having a little more sunshine in his voice. Come to find out he was in Denver and was off at 7. I asked what he was doing after work (HEY! Stop it! I know what you are all thinking and I am married! Shame on you!) Anyway, he sounded a little depressed and said that he had no plans and would probably just go home. Go home?! I told him that he was lucky to live in Denver because they had so much fun stuff to do there... clubs, karaoke... that hit the spot. We started talking about karaoke and he started getting really excited. I also informed him that there are no rules about partying on a Tuesday and he agreed. When the conversation ended he told me I made his day and he knew I was a nice and fun person. It was great to know I made his shift a little brighter that Tuesday and thought about what karaoke club he went to that night.

See, what most people don't understand is that we (I speak for the world of phone reps) don't want to call you in the middle of your baby's nap or right when you are walking out the door. We want to make the conversation as pleasant for you as possible. When you come home from a hard days work and are "bothered" by a phone call, you should remind yourself that making those calls are our hard days work. And when you get interrupted while enjoying dinner with your family, you should try to be a bit kinder... because they probably won't get to have dinner with their family.