Make a Habit, Break a Habit

I started out blogging every day, until I realized I really don't have that much to talk about. So I dropped back to twice a week, then twice a month. Now, it's been over a month since I've sat down and put thoughts down.

It's so easy to write Facebook status updates to let people know the quote for the day, or my thoughts for the moment in two sentences or less, but when it comes down to what's really on my mind, that's not so easy. The last thing I want to do is be boring... not to the world but to myself!! I mean, if I don't want to read what I wrote, or didn't feel good about writing it, then why would anyone else want to read it? While this blog is for me, I do realize that it's also for anyone in the same boat as me, looking for other beacons in the bay. So I feel a strange compulsion to only write when I have 'something to say.'

In the last month, an opportunity came and went (or at least was put on a back burner by the entity doing the search), I won more free stuff, I attended several really great networking events, my grandmother moved permanently to Florida (she now needs a memory care facility, but at 96, that's to be expected) and I reconnected electronically with some old acquaintances with some surprising results. I may be unemployed, but no one ever accuses me of having a boring life. I beg to differ, but I guess boredom is in the eye of the beholder.

The one noteworthy accomplishment is that I finally got my car taken care of. I heard a strange noise coming from my engine just hours after an oil change back in March, and upon taking it back to the shop, was told there was a problem with my car, not related to the oil change, that was a warranty issue (my car is a 2006 with less than 15,000 miles on it. I bought it new and hardly drive it). When I took it in to the dealership, they refused to fix it because they could not duplicate the issue. Thank goodness I became very friendly with an employee there (outside of work) because he suggested that I call their corporate customer service. That's like sending a kid to the principal's office. They got their hand slapped and I got 4 pages worth of service issues corrected. Most of them were small things, that I had held off on asking about until I had a major issue. I don't like to be 'nickeled and dimed' to death, so I didn't want to be that customer who was in there every other day asking them to remove some lint, if you catch my drift.

Since my car is a Lexus and Toyota has been in the midst of such a PR nightmare, you'd think they would have jumped at the chance to offer some good customer service without being prodded, but that was not the case. I'm glad it all worked out to my satisfaction~my car purrs once again. Had I not had the time to chase this whole situation down due to being unemployed, I'd be spreading venom about Lexus right now, but instead, I'm singing their praises. If you want to buy one, please contact me for a referral to a terrific salesman, who bends over backwards to make customers happy.

So while I did gradually break my habit of blogging every day, I have managed to continue my habit of calling out good customer service, and things to do with your time when you're not working.

Hopefully, that will change soon. One great lead is pending.