With her get back stare
-- Jet

Yesterday I went and got my Jeep washed. I had finally reached the 10th free mark and holy crap did it ever need a serious bath. You know I’m not particularly fond of being in small quarters with people I don’t know but the car wash waiting area is nice and spacious enough so it doesn’t really bother me. I settled in a chair underneath a TV with Chris Matthews or someone equally grating shouting about the California fire over my head and tried to tune everything out. Everyone sat in silence, there was no conversation. Across from me was a couple in their mid 50s or so seated on the oversized couch. Next to them was a teenage girl. Next to me in another chair was a man in his 40s that would alternate between staring at a point on the wall without blinking and vigorously reading a magazine. All was well.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another man sit diagonally across from me and pulled his ankle up on his knee. His cell phone rang – loudly. I glanced out the window, thinking nothing of it. Then it rang again, even louder, and this time it was a different ring. The man on the couch shuffled in his seat and let out a sigh. I glanced at the cell phone guy. He pushed a button on his phone and it rang again – full volume, ear bursting, stupid ass tone. I raised my eyebrows – I KNOW he ISN'T! Oh yes friends, he was. A grown ass man, in a public place, was selecting a ring tone, right out here in front of everybody and for that matter, had the phone volume up as loud as it would go. Surely it was over after listening to 3. Oh no friends, he KEPT GOING! I could feel the blood rushing to my brain. Everyone began shifting around, annoyed at the lack of just general good manners by this dude. To make matters even worse, I noticed he had a huge gap between pants leg and socks. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. This is actually important enough that our professor pointed it out to us in PR class. Before sending a man on television, always make sure his socks and pants legs meet, regardless of if he crosses his legs like ankle to knee or if he crosses them like a chick.

So needless to say I’m totally pissed and this guy has no idea he’s even irritating anyone with the unbelievably loud barrage of cell phone songs. Finally, after the 5th or 6th one, he glances up and his gaze falls on me. I narrowed my eyes and stared right back. He looked a bit unnerved, but he stopped with the ring tones. That’s right.

Not a moment later he got an actual phone call, and the second a word popped out of his mouth a light bulb went off. Yep, that’s right – a Yankee...


Have a good weekend y’all!
dabbs

I’ve been changing channels
I don’t see them on the TV shows
Where’d all the good people go
We got heaps and heaps of what we sow
-- Jack Johnson

What ever happened to service with a smile? I’ve had two great customer service experiences in the past week and that is saying a lot in the times we are living in. The first was at Chick-Fil-A and mad props to Truett Cathy, because there just isn’t a better example of service with a smile than in his establishments. I don’t care if you hate Chick-Fil-A – they are trained to be friendly and that just makes for a good experience. How about a blog shout out to the nice lady that handed my bag and when I said, “Thank you” she sincerely countered with “Yes ma’am, it was my pleasure! Have a nice day!” LOVED it – put me in a great mood straight off the bat on an otherwise dreary Tuesday morning.

Directly across the street and a mere matter of hours later, I visited the Express Oil. Cutest. Oil-Changer. Ever. Just a straight up nice kid – offered me a free car wash, walked over to the car wash while I drove over there, punched the buttons in for me and promised to meet me after the car wash was through to fix the beeping from my instrument panel (that annoying thing reminded me for about 2 weeks that I needed to change my oil every time I cranked the car). He was all, “Yes ma’am, I was glad to help you and would you like me to write down the price for that transmission flush you need?” And I was all thinking, how nice is this kid? I’m totally bringing the Jeep here for the flush action. (Hello nice Mr. Oil Changer Kid, Goodbye $100 bucks. Sigh). As promised, Danny met me outside the wash and tried to no avail to stop the assault of beeps, he went and asked his manager and came back, still no luck. He apologized profusely and aksed if i wanted him to consult my owner’s manual. “No, that’s totally cool, I can do that. Thanks for all of your help.” And with that I left – in a better mood than when I drove there and minus $23. See, good customer service. How easy is that?

Now, if we could all just base our random interactions with random people as our own customer service to the world, I think the world would be a better place. I’ve long been of this school of thought. When you get on the elevator with someone you don’t know, smile and speak. How hard is it? You never know, you may brighten someone’s day. Lord knows wherever they are headed, they’re bound to run into a bunch of crap, so at least you did your part, right? (Speaking of elevators, if you are relatively new to dabbsville, please head over to the search button and enter “elevator” you need to catch up).

And because I’m feeling so generous (well, guilty) I’m going to post two entries today! Please accept this small token as an apology for the lack of updates.

Oh you mad? I thought that you’d be happy I made it
-- 50 Cent

I ran across a blog the other day and this dude had a hate list posted. Just random everyday occurrences, things, movies, songs, shows, etc. that he hates were listed. That got me to thinking, why spread the hate? There’s enough destruction, disease, anger and hate in the world. Let’s talk about what is good and fun and loveable. How about it?

(Please note, the angst and tirades that fuel the rants you love will be back with a vengeance, don’t you worry your pretty little heads. This is only a temporary reprieve.)

I love:

Keith Urban
Coke Memorabilia
Breezy’s new ride – the Mercury Mariner
My new house
Rain Fresh Downy Fabric Softener
Emails from my pals
Cool fall nights
The opening refrains of Sweet Home Alabama in Bryant Denny Stadium
College Football
My Jeep
Marc Broussard
Writing about nothing
Play Doh
I Love Lucy
Television
Music
New shoes
Hot chocolate on a cold day
A café latte at a bookstore
Gilmore Girls
The Internet
Email in general
Instant Messenger
Getting cards/letters
Writing cards/letters
Decidedly Southern phrases, i.e. “Fixin’ to” and “I reckon”
My Tablet PC
My iPod
Sheryl Crow
The sheer genius of the debit card
Vacations
Sleeping late
Orbit Gum
Hugs
Listerine Breath Strips
Words and phrases that are specific to my friends and memories, i.e. “pal,” “give me a tater,” “Hey. Hey. What are you doing? Nothing Much, What are you doing? Nothing Much.” “the bomb.com,” “Holy --- fill in the blank,” “dude,” “y’all-- you know, it’s like,”
Uncontrollable laughter
Inside jokes
Nicknames

So there you go, just trying to put a little love back in the world, y’all.

dabbs

Who the villains are ‘cause everyone’s so pretty
-- Sheryl Crow

Anyone catch the World Music Awards last night? I was flipping between that and Rockstar: INXS so I didn’t see all the fun, but I had just a few thoughts. First, though, about Rockstar – I heard it is getting a second season. How exactly will that work?? I guess Mark Burnett is currently wondering what the guys in Right Said Fred are up to these days….hmm….

Anyway, I’m just going to admit it – and you can hate me for it – but I am loving Mimi. That’s right – Mariah is back, y’all. She’s actually released 3 freaking great songs right in a row and anyone with the hot Wentworth Miller in their videos has got to be living right. So as she was sh-sh-shaking it off, it occurred to me that we have a very interesting double standard in the music biz these days. Mariah did it, Usher ALWAYS does it, Destiny’s Child ALWAYS does it, along with numerous other performers – they have their entire song – lead vocals, backing vocals, etc. all playing in their “live” performances. Now, it may only be the case for the chorus for some – like Amerie on “One Thing” (love that track, btw) because lord knows she couldn’t really sing that loop live. But what’s up? How come my girls Beyonce, Kelly and Michelle can groove all over a chair and only occasionally really sing and no one says anything? No one would dare say a thing about Mariah or Usher having help with backing tracks. Anyway, I hate lip synching and totally think it sucks, but I just wonder how some get away with it and some get reamed for it.

And I'm so tired that I can't breathe
-- Marc Broussard

Sorry for the lack of updates. Entirely too much going on. Anyway, thanks to those that participated in the Essentials escapde. Those of you that didn't -- there's still time. I'll try to get back to business soon, but in the meantime, meet my new obsession -- Marc Broussard.

love,
dabbs