relationships

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Customer Service Frustration

Gone are the days when the customer was always right. I think things started to change when retail began leaning towards “self serve” rather than “we serve”.

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Now you have to fight for everything you get from a company.

This Christmas I bought a present for my wife, Lily, and a few days later I noticed that another company was selling it cheaper.

I researched the product and whether it was available in the other store. And only with all my ammunition properly documented did I go in and get a price break.

What really brought home this change though was our satellite provider. We had ordered HD sports, so that I don’t have to struggle watching hockey in standard definition any more.

The price was clear on the website so we had ordered it. The transaction went through and we were informed that it would take up to 48 business hours for them to punch a code into their computer to give us the new service.

That was okay … the World Juniors were not starting for a few days.

However, after we received the HD channels, we got an email stating that, because we had a limited satellite package, the price of the HD channels was $3 more per month.

I guess $3 is not that much … $3 is almost the new loonie.

But the thing is, nowhere on their website do they mention there is a price difference for HD channels depending on your package.

We called and spoke with three different levels of customer service people. The bottom line was that’s their price.

… You know, if I go into a store and purchase a product with a price sticker on it, if that sticker price is lower than what they have in their register price, they sell me the product for the advertised sticker price.

Then they go and correct the sticker price for everyone else who will buy the product.

You shouldn’t be able to mislead people with your pricing policy.

Well, we stuck to our story and in the end the best they would do is give us a year free and then we would pay the increased price for the HD channels based on our satellite package.

It’s a good deal for this year, but then we will be paying more than most other people for the same service.

It took a lot of persistence and a lot of time on the phone to get the company to concede and give us some kind of deal.

They layer their customer service so that the first person you talk to doesn’t really have the authority to give you anything. I think they hope you will give up. It’s not until you talk to the next level or the level after that where you get a shot at getting some satisfaction.

Their idea of customer service?: wear the customer down so they just leave frustrated and angry.

… They are doing a good job because, even in the end, we were still frustrated with them.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we can feel like we are not getting the service we want from God. Our prayers are not answered the way we think they should be. Unlike stores and satellite companies, God knows what’s best for us; He gives us what we really need. Be persistent but also be accepting of what God brings you. He’s looking out for your best interests.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How have you generally found customer service to be? Leave your comments below.

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A Word On The Last Day Of The Year

The last day of the year is a perfect time to reflect on the past and dream about the future.

It’s like you have one foot still in the past and one foot ready to step forward. It’s like a freeze frame for a brief time.

… Kind of like those ultimate mannequin challenges that are all the craze right now.

They’re a moment in time that tells a story, or something … I’m not sure I really get them.

But they’re much like the last day of the year. It’s a moment in time that tells of what was and points to what might and could be.

I guess the caution is not to stay there too long or you end up getting stuck in time … caught listening to 70’s music over and over and sporting a mullet haircut.

It’s good to reflect back, but you don’t want to do it for too long. Just take the best from the past and continue it; take the worst and learn from it. The rest you won’t remember.

The older we get, the more life speeds up. There is a tendency to try to put the brakes on to stop your life from flying by. You end up staying in the past in some way.

When I was a child I remember that a year felt like a long time. Once Christmas was over, it felt like three years until the next one came around.

Now it feels like Christmas comes around every six months.

Don’t fight the speed of life. Embrace each moment but don’t hold on to it too long. There is more to experience just around the corner.

Look to the future and make plans for what you want it to be. If you make no plans then other people’s plans will become yours.

You can end up getting into a routine or rut that you feel trapped in with no way to escape it. In reality, it is only a lack of planning and future thought that keeps you from breaking out.

I remember as a teen sleeping in on Saturdays until 11 or 12, or even 1 o’clock. I would get up and feel tired because I had overslept. I would feel that the day was half gone which also made me feel frustrated that the day had been wasted.

But I couldn’t seem to do anything about it; every Saturday was the same.

That was until I decided I needed to have a purpose to get up. I set my alarm and had something I wanted to do. I ended up reclaiming hours of my precious day off.

It was my purpose and planning that helped me make that change.

The future is unknown and therefore it can feel scary. But put fear aside and look at the future as exciting, with new adventures that await.

On the last day of the year, you have a foot in both the past and future. Use it wisely.

Here’s the thing: No matter how you look at life, if you know Christ as your Saviour, this is what the Bible says about your life: Your past has been taken care of and, as for your future, He has a wonderful plan for you. Step into it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is one thing you are going to do in this next year because of this past year? Leave your comments below.

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Another Christmas Eve Nightmare

I had said that I would not shop on Christmas Eve again, but there I was going from store to store.

This year Christmas has been particularly busy for me. There were many things I didn’t get to that I should have or really wanted to.

I just couldn’t fit it all in. Each day I had plans to do more than could possibly be done in a day so there was always some carry over.

And in that list of things, shopping for Christmas presents seemed to get bumped the most.

It’s okay to put it off from one day to the next to the next, but you eventually run out of days. And there I was staring at Christmas Eve and still needing some presents for the family.

I know people who complete their Christmas shopping in August. I don’t know how they do it. I can’t think Christmas when I’m sitting on a beach with the water lapping at my feet.

I’ve also had a bad experience with early Christmas shopping … but it wasn’t me doing the shopping; it was my mother.

She got way ahead of herself one year, and bought presents for my brother and me. But by the time Christmas came, she had forgotten all about them.

Those presents showed up mid-Christmas morning unwrapped, while my brother and I were wandering around the house thinking, “Is that it? Is that all we get?”

I don’t want to be doing that. I also don’t like wandering around stores in a daze or trance-like state, looking for the perfect present which I will only know what it is when I see it.

That’s not a good feeling.

There was one Christmas – it seems like a hundred years ago now – that I had thought of getting Lily a sweater for Christmas.

This was in the days before we had children. We were living in Edmonton, a city with more than a few big shopping malls.

I had scouted out all the women’s clothing stores in all the malls and had seen a sweater that I liked in one of them.

The only problem was I couldn’t remember which store or which mall I saw it in.

Christmas Eve became a little frantic for me. It was Lily’s main gift and I couldn’t locate it.

To make matters worse, the sweaters were starting to all look the same and I couldn’t remember exactly which sweater was the one.

I literally flew from one store to the next, from mall to mall in search of a sweater I hoped I would recognize when I saw it in a store I had been in over the last few weeks.

I was in a panic at 4 pm, dragging myself through West Edmonton Mall like I was in the middle of the desert without water.

I went in to one store and literally had to convince myself that this was the sweater and that it would fit her.

It all worked out back then. But it was deja-vu all over again this year … I’m never doing this again – for real!

Here’s the thing: We sometimes get so caught up in details that we miss the big picture. Christmas is about celebrating Christ but we get all stressed about having the right present. Often in life we are so detail focussed that we bump our relationship with Christ to the next day and the next, thinking we have time. The details will always pressure us, but you can run out of time with Christ. Don’t let that happen; make Christ a priority today.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What kept you too busy this Christmas? Leave your comments below.

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Christmas Tradition

The Silcock Christmas wouldn’t be the same without our annual tradition.

It’s not a generations old tradition, passed on down from great grandparents. It’s a tradition started with my generation. We keep it every year when we get together for our Christmas gathering.

We play hockey.

My father passed away 11 years ago and, since that time, we decided to do something special when we got together for Christmas.

Hockey is a unifying thing in our family … though over the years there are less and less of the women involved.

When we started, the kids were still pretty young. We would pleasure skate for a bit and then start a game, during which the pleasure skaters were just more obstacles for us to deke around.

It got to the point where the pleasure skaters didn’t really like the pucks whizzing by their heads. They have slowly dropped off over the years.

This year my wife, Lily, was the only pleasure skater and my daughter, Karlie, played hockey with us guys.

In the early days, when the kids were younger, my brother and I kind of dominated the game. It was great having all the ages on the ice working together.

Between my brother, sister and I, we have 8 children. Their ages span 12 years.

Each year we invite a few friends along to round out the teams, and the calibre of hockey is pretty good.

The last two years, the games were really fast-paced.

However, not everything is getting faster. The kids are faster, and their friends they invite out are faster … but my brother and I are slower. We don’t dominate the ice any more.

In fact, my brother John hurt his knee the night before and he didn’t play in our Christmas tradition this year.

I was the old guy.

Now even the youngest of the kids can hold their own, make plays and pass well.

I was the one who was gasping for air and needing to come off for more than regular breaks.

It’s not like I didn’t contribute at all but by far the tables have turned and the young guys are taking over.

It reminded me of a time when my son’s hockey team had a father and son game. The sons were talking like they were going to take it to us and that we didn’t have a chance.

I thought they would be surprised that the old men still had it in them. I guess I was wrong. The other dads either hadn’t played in a very long time, had never really played before, or were really out of shape.

The long and the short of it was, us dads didn’t look good and we got creamed by our boys.

From now on every year I will measure my decline by our Christmas family tradition.

Here’s the thing: As time goes on, we take more of a backseat to those coming up. As the younger generation starts to shine, and we take more of a supportive role in life, don’t merely bow out of the scene. Our role is to instill values and character in the young ones so that as they shine, they shine with the light of Christ in them.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What Christmas tradition do you make sure you keep? Leave your comments below.

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The Day I Got My Reprieve

I got a one day reprieve yesterday that was pretty amazing.

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Let me take you back three days earlier … I was doing a funeral service for a family, after which we went to the cemetery for the interment.

I generally ride with the funeral director in the lead car and this time was no exception. It was a quick ride because the cemetery was literally minutes away.

When we had finished at the graveside, I gave my condolences once again to the family and got  back into the lead car.

The funeral director got behind the wheel and shut the car door. Almost simultaneously to the door being shut, he sneezed really hard.

Immediately I thought, “Is there any way I can keep myself from breathing for the next few minutes until we get back to the funeral home?!”

That would have been a tricky act because how do you talk and not take a breath? … I’m sure he would have noticed if all the words out of my mouth came while I was exhaling. You could only keep that up so long.

But I knew it was not good. I was trapped in a car with the germs swirling around our confined compartment.

What were the chances I would escape unscathed?

Turns out, not that great! The next morning I woke up with a sore throat. All day, though I was drinking water by the gallon, it seemed my throat kept getting a little sorer.

That was Friday, and I still felt good despite my sore throat. The next morning, however, my sore throat remained so I tried my personal remedy for getting rid of a cold: sweat it out on the rink.

And that’s what I did. I wore something around my neck and an extra tee shirt. After hockey I still felt okay but, as the day wore on, my sore throat also turned into laryngitis.

That’s okay … unless you’re a pastor and you have to preach the next day! By dinner time I had nothing coming out of my vocal cords. I could only whisper one word at a time.

It was not looking good. I went to bed early and my wife, Lily, prayed for me that I would be able to speak the next day.

At church on Sunday, the service leader also prayed for my voice. Someone else offered me some throat lozenges.

When I got up to preach, my voice was clear – no cracking, no trouble putting sentences together. I didn’t even need to take a drink while I spoke.

I felt a little weak but, other than that, I didn’t feel too bad.

Well that was Sunday morning. By late Sunday afternoon I went to sleep, not feeling well. I even took some Tylenol before bed, and I don’t usually do that.

This morning I was hoping I would be a little better, but nope. I feel worse – achy, shivery, with a little bit of a headache.

But did I ever get a reprieve Sunday morning! Prayer works.

Here’s the thing: Some of our needs are selfish; they are for our own benefit. We wonder why God doesn’t necessarily answer them the way we want. But if your need is in line with God’s purposes, you can count on Him answering your prayer. I never doubted that I would be able to preach; I was just amazed how He did it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How has God come through for you in a big time of need? Leave your comments below.

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Anyone Need Their Grass Cut?

From time to time I will republish a post I’ve written in the past. The post was originally written and published in October 2012.

Sometimes you start a simple task or job and it grows into something bigger. I have certainly experienced this at times in my life.

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One time we had a water leak in our vacation trailer.  I decided to see if I could fix it myself.  I checked and found the problem needed to be fixed from the outside, which meant peeling off the metal shell at the front of the trailer.

I started at the bottom and noticed the problem extended a little higher so I took off the next strip, then the next, and the next.

When I had the whole front of the trailer removed, with just the wood frame left in place, I stepped back and thought, “What have I done?!”  It was way more work than I had thought.

Another time we had a leak in our basement.  I thought I would dig a hole outside and patch the foundation where the leak was.  In the end, the hole I dug was over 5 feet deep and about 12 feet long.  Again, that job got way bigger than I had first thought!

Reading about those two experiences, you might think they weren’t that bad, and that I must be a handy guy.  That’s where you would be VERY wrong!  I’m not that handy, and for all the handy work I have done, I don’t really like it.

It takes me too long; I don’t have the right tools; I make mistakes; I get frustrated; I get discouraged; I cut myself (another story).

Recently, we were at our cottage on a rainy weekend, when we happened to get a break from the rain for a few hours.  I decided I’d better take the opportunity to cut the grass since we wouldn’t be back for a few weeks.

It’s such a small piece of lawn that the job really doesn’t take much time.  But, as I was running the lawnmower over our grass, I thought about my brother’s lawn.  He had left his cottage a few hours earlier in the rain and I had noticed that his lawn needed a cut.

Since he’s up at his cottage almost every weekend and often cuts our grass (because we don’t get there all that frequently), I thought it was my chance to return the favour.  So, when I finished our lawn, I walked over to his place and started to cut his grass.

As I got close to finishing, I started to think about my brother’s neighbour who’s wife had just had surgery and was in intensive care at the hospital.

I thought, “That guy doesn’t need to be bothered with his lawn”.  So, as I finished with my brother’s lawn, I just kept going and worked on his neighbour’s.

As I walked back to my place pushing my lawnmower, I realized this was one of the few times a job that got bigger didn’t become frustrating or discouraging.  In fact, I walked with a sense of satisfaction that I had, in some small way, been a help to others.

Here’s the thing:  One of the greatest ways we can show the love of God to others is not by telling them but by showing them.  The problem is it takes time and, for many of us, time is precious.  We don’t have a lot of extra time to allow the task or job we are working on to become any bigger.  But sometimes that is exactly how we are to “love one another as I have loved you” John 13:34.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What kind of “loving one another” acts have you done recently?

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You Need An Outlet In Your Life (part 1)

From time to time in life we need an outlet. I’m not talking about the electrical kind you find on the wall of your home about two feet above the baseboard.

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But let me use that analogy to talk about the type of outlet I am referring to …

What I mean is an outlet for the pressure, busyness, burden of life or work.

The church building I work at was built in three stages: in the 60’s, the 70’s, and the 90’s.

The contrast between the electrical service that was installed in the 60’s to what was installed in the 90’s is very evident.

In the old part of the building there are very few electrical wall outlets in the rooms and halls. … It’s a pain to find an outlet in a place you actually need to plug something into.

The thinking back then was you didn’t really need many electrical outlets. There just weren’t that many things you needed to plug into them.

In the new part of the building outlets must be placed about every four feet, and even then there are times that outlets are hidden behind something, making it hard to access them when you need to.

I think in our day and age, just like we have more outlets in our homes than older homes did, it is more of a necessity that we have outlets in our lives.

We need outlets that are readily available.

An outlet is something we can turn to to take the pressure off, or to eliminate the burden. It can be a distraction or a way of escape from the constant demands on us.

In hockey they call it the outlet pass when a defensemen has the puck behind his team’s net and has opposing players bearing down on him.

The outlet pass to an open winger alleviates the pressure and allows the team to escape out of their end zone and move the puck up the ice.

In the days we live in, where we are available virtually 24/7 because of cell phones, texts, and email, we need outlets.

It’s imperative that we are able to get out from under whatever seems to be constantly over us –  even if what’s over us is a collection of many things that mount up in our lives.

If we don’t have outlets we will eventually be crushed under the pressure, which can cause us to make significant mistakes, creating even more harm than the burden we are carrying.

There really is no one who is immune to this. There have been high profile, high capacity people as well as your average joes who have gone down because they didn’t have an outlet.

No one should think they are stronger than the pressure or burden. We all should know the signs that we are at a tipping point and should have an outlet to turn to when that time come.

In my next post (read here) I will talk about finding an outlet and how to use it.

Here’s the thing: There are many people who don’t have an outlet. They don’t even know what an outlet might look like for them. Ask God for an outlet that would be right for you. Seek His wisdom; He knows you best.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How is the burden or pressure in your life? Do you need an outlet? Leave your comments below.

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It’s A New Era In Our Family

Well, we are starting a new era in our family: it’s a “no kids in the city” era.

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My wife, Lily, and I have been empty-nesters for a few years now but we’ve always had our son in the city … and for the last nine months he’s lived only about five minutes away.

But a work promotion and transfer have taken Mike to Burlington, southwest of Toronto. Now both our kids are down that way.

I’m not complaining because it’s nice that they are close enough for us to get to and not too far for them to sometimes come home.

In fact, after one week on the job, Mike decided to spend the weekend in Kingston since he’s living in a hotel for a couple of weeks. Karlie decided she’d come home too, so we had both kids home … though I think Mike’s idea of coming home was more about seeing his buddies than his family.

We got a golf game in one morning and it dawned on me that this won’t be happening too much any more. And since the hockey season will be starting soon, I won’t be playing hockey with him Saturday mornings either.

No more popping over for lunch in between work calls, or enticing him over for a meal that he particularly likes.

This is just what naturally happens as a family matures.

It sure is different from when I left home. I went to school out west and then got a job further west. I lived away from my family for 15 years before I returned back to the province.

Communication back then was not like it is now. There were no cell phones, no internet. Letters and expensive long distance charges were the order of that day.

Although we are a few hours away from both our children, at least we can keep up by phone (unlimited long distance), text messages, and even video chats.

It’s a different day.

But our home is now down one person who might burst through the door just to say hi or come for a meal. That is gone.

But what’s not gone is all his stuff. We saw the movers come and take his furniture and belongings in their big truck, yet in the basement there’s still a room that seems quite full of his stuff.

… Thinking about it, Karlie has continued to store stuff with us and it’s been more than a few years since she moved out.

That’s different from my experience as well. When I moved to Edmonton, I remember my dad saying, “Take it all, Paul; don’t leave anything!”

I guess it will give us an excuse to visit, and take a box of stuff every time we do.

It’s a new era for us, but it won’t be the last. When I look back, I’ve enjoyed my kids at every stage of their development. This is just one more stage.

Here’s the thing: Take comfort in the fact that God never tires of you. He enjoys each stage of your spiritual development along your life’s journey. His desire is that you will grow, but He is pleased with you right where you are now.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What stage have you had to get used to in your family’s development? Leave your comments below.

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Like A Frog Who Grows Accustomed To Hot Water

Have you ever grown accustomed to something that isn’t very good for you?

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Sure you have! In fact, there is probably something that you think is fine and it’s really not.

The other day, my wife and I were out shopping for mattresses. It’s only been twenty-five years since we’ve had a new one.

… And that’s my point. I’m used to my mattress; I sleep on it every night. But when I laid down on some of the mattresses in the store, I realized my mattress is not doing me any favours.

At one time it was a good mattress. But how could I go so long lying on a mattress that no longer had any support?

The answer is that it didn’t go bad all of a sudden. It took time; it happened incrementally so that I adjusted to the bed as it got older and weaker.

It’s like the old frog in a pot syndrome. Frogs can’t live in hot water. … I learned that as a boy.

One time we were down at the river by our house and caught a bunch of frogs. We had about 6 or 8 of them.

When we got back home, we filled a basin up with water from the outside hose. The only problem was that the outside hose was filled with hot water because the sun had been beating down on it all day.

Well, we filled the basin up and threw in our frogs.

To our surprise, those little leaps died instantly, spread eagle style! It was too much for their system.

But if you put a frog in cool water and gradually warm it up, the frog won’t jump out as it gets hotter. It will stay there until it’s too late, letting itself get cooked.

Same thing with us. We get so used to the incremental changes that we don’t even notice them.

Well, that is until we lie on a bed in the store and realize what a pile of junk our bed really is!

Our son is in the market for a mattress and Lily suggested he take ours. He laid on it for about three seconds, laughed and said, “Not a chance!”

While we were in the store, I found a mattress with a remote control that raised the head of the bed almost to a sitting position. I suggested to Lily that maybe we should get it. She just shook her head as she lay on the bed she wanted.

Just then the salesman came by. I turned to him and said, “I’m taking this one and she’s taking that one.” … We would have had wall-to-wall mattresses if we did that.

I’m looking forward to my new mattress. I only have to put up with the lousy mattress we presently have for another two weeks.

I guess I’ll be able to make it; it’s only been a quarter of a century putting up with it.

And to think that a week ago I thought our mattress was just fine.

Here’s the thing: We really need to evaluate our life from time to time. Are there things in our life that we’ve grown accustomed to that are detrimental to our spiritual growth, and may be hindering our relationship with Christ? Take stock of what they may be and make a change. Don’t keep living in a way that is detrimental to your spiritual health.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you grown accustomed to that may not be all that good for you? Leave your comments below.

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Presence of mind

From time to time I will republish a post I’ve written in the past. The post was originally written and published in April 2012.

There’s a song called “Holiday in my Head” by a group named Smash Mouth. The song is all about how we can travel in our mind to fantastic places and have a great time, while never leaving our home.

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One line in the song states, “I’m just looking for paradise in my living room.”

We all remember being in class when we were young and hearing the teacher get upset at a student who was gazing out the window instead of paying attention.  The student was day dreaming.

He was present in class but he wasn’t there in his mind. In his mind, he was either somewhere far away or maybe just playing soccer on the field with another class.

I used to do that.  There were times, while playing with my kids, that I would get very tired.  I would end up sprawled out on the living room floor, fallen sleep while my kids would continue to play around me and on me, using my body and limbs as their toys.

When Lily would come into the room, she would just shake her head to the kids’ response of, “Look Mommy, we’re playing with Daddy.”  The truth is, I was present in body but certainly not with my mind. We can, at times, be present but not really present.

During my devotions the other day I read a verse from 2 Peter 3:8 which reads, “But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.”

I have read this verse before but I’ve never really thought too much about it until now. What struck me was what this verse reveals about God.  I started to think about how the Lord is present all the time, in every situation.

If a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, then every day is under a microscope for him.  Every second, every moment the Lord takes in. He’s present, he’s active, he’s personal in it all, right down to the minute detail of the day.

But, then Peter says a thousand years is like a day to the Lord, and here it suggests to me that He sees how all the days unfold before him, that nothing escapes Him.

Therefore, the Lord is present, active and involved, knowing how each day and moment of my life fits together in His overall plan and picture.

Here’s the thing:  If God is present in every moment of my day, it means he is interested and available to me at any time in my day.  And, if God oversees how all the moments of my day fit into the big picture of my life, it means he is involved and active in the big picture of my life as well. Unlike us who daydream at times, or me, who at times, played with my kids without really playing with them, God is alway present.  He is interested and available, active and involved in our lives, moment by moment.  God is always fully present with us. That’s great to know.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When were you present in body but not in your mind? Leave your comments below.