MY ADDICTION

FROM THE HIGHEST HIGH
TO THE LOWEST LOW
I CAN NOT IGNORE THE CALL

THE CALL TO ENRICH MY SOUL
AND TO TAKE THE FLIGHT
THAT LEADS ME HOME

IT BECKONS MY PHYSIQUE
MY MIND HAS NO CONTROL
I GIVE IN. . . ONCE MORE

THE HIGH, UNDERSTANDS ME
THE HIGH, COMPLETES ME
THE HIGH, EMBRACES ME

AND THEN WHEN ALL HAS GONE
I AM LEFT WAITING . . .
JUST WAITING FOR MORE!

IT WILL TAKE CONTROL AGAIN
I CAN ALREADY HEAR IT CALLING
WILL IT STOP ME FROM FALLING?

IT'S CRYSTALS RACES THROUGH MY VEINS
IT'S VALUE DISEPATES THROUGHOUT MY SOUL
IT'S EVIDENCE REMAINS IN MY HEART

THE HIGH, RELEASES ME
THE HIGH, FORGIVES ME
THE HIGH, WILL NEVER LEAVE ME

I AM DRAWN TO IT
I CAN NOT ESCAPE
I DO NOT WISH TO RUN
FROM THE LIGHT OF THE SUN

CAN YOU HEAR ME CALLING?
WILL YOU STOP ME FROM FALLING?
BECAUSE YES MY FRIEND
MY ADDICTION. . . IS YOU!

The Customer is always right. . . .WRONG!

As South Africans we always tend to complain about the level of service we receive living in a third world country. We hear stories from our friends who have emigrated on how sufficient services are and how well they are being treated by businesses, but could it be possible that the problems we experience (in retrospect) are not as a result of how we conduct ourselves as customers?

In my business whenever I am about to engage with a customer I always ask myself one question prior to approaching them. It is the same question regardless of the situation. Whether I would like to procure their business or if I need to put out fires, I will always ask myself 'What is the function of a business?'

Most people will answer 'to make money', but that is the wrong answer. Making money is the GOAL of a business, the function of a business is to get-and-keep customers. Get the function right and do not confuse it with the goal! You should therefore not calculate what it is going to "cost" you in order to deliver a good service or fix a situation. If you are able to get-and-keep customers you should indefinitely achieve the GOAL, right?

Well after almost 4 years of doing this I have found (some) customers to become totally thoughtless and unappreciative of the sacrifices you make for them. (I am not even going to include the mindless new customers we encounter on a weekly basis which are just completely daft). Some just blatantly ignore your processes (which they already know), take advantage of your good nature and when they are in the wrong they want to blame you for their mistakes.


This would obviously make more sense with given examples, but I don't want to bore you with my ranting. Instead I want to ask you if you have even bothered to take note of the Cashier's name when paying for your groceries and not just said "Hi" to the person serving you, but actually greeted them by name. . ? Did you take the time to ask the person on the other end of the phone how their day has been before making your enquiry to the helpdesk? Even more so, when you have received a good service from someone, do you make the effort to show your appreciation towards management?


These are of course simple and silly examples, but next time take a look at how you conduct yourself as a customer before you frown upon the level of service you receive. . .after all, you are a human being interacting with another human being!

It's the Here. It's the Now. . .

I had something good going for me

Then you made the sky turn grey

I had someone longing for me

Then you made it all go away

I wish I could make this right

I wish I could let this go without a fight 

But in this day and in this night 

It is just me that can make this right

It's the here, it's the now

It's where do we go from now?

It's the here, it's the pain

It's what's making me insane

I had something good going for me

And then I threw it all away

I had someone longing for me

But had to push him away

Now it's just me in the night

Wishing that I could take flight

And even though all is now right

I have lost some of my sight

It's the good, it's the pain

Hear me asking for the rain...

I had something good going for me

It had it's role to play

I had someone longing for me

Sometimes I wish he could still stay

April is no FOOL

So “April’s Fool” came early to our household this year as I decided to prank my housemate the evening before. I had the perfect opportunity, coming home after dinner from the ‘parentals’, to a dead silent and dark home with my housemate safely locked up in her bedroom.

I very quickly put my dog to bed in my bedroom, the only other living thing in the household that could possibly let my mischievous plan fall apart by letting my housemate know I am home.  I then very subtly let the darkened home come alive with noises...as we have reason to believe our house is haunted.

It took a while but not much later my phone received its first message asking if I am home yet, to which I politely replied that I decided to go out for drinks with a friend after dinner. I waited a while. . . .and then I proceeded up the wooden staircase which is located directly next and up above her bedroom, ensuring to make each footstep count.

My friends thought it was very cruel of me to do this to an already paranoid housemate which is a bit fearful when having to stay home alone by herself, but it was just the week before that she tried to pull a fast one on me trying to convince me that the very friendly spirit that occupies our home has developed a bit of an evil streak in him.  Unfortunately for her she wasn’t able to convince my already sceptic nature due to the lack of attention to detail, so I saw this as an excellent opportunity to educate her some. . .yes people, payback really is a bitch.

The messages on my phone continued as I proceeded walking lopsided down the stairs again (for added effect) and all around the house.  Our conversation continued very light heartedly, mocking and blaming our ghost and having a good chuckle towards her ‘paranoia’ she was experiencing, up until my foot tapped against her bedroom door. . . 

From her next message you could clearly see that she was convinced there was someone else in the house and her message ended with ‘PLEASE CALL ME’.  I made my way back up the stairs where I could safely make a call without her knowing I am in the house. . . I could hear the girl was a bit terrified and trying to be both sincere and not to burst out laughing, I tried to convince her that she is probably just imagining things.  I wanted to calm her enough down so she would have the nerve to leave her room so we could have the grand finale with a very big fright, but that was clearly not going to happen so in order to buy me some more time I said I would phone a friend nearby and ask him to come and check up on her.
 

After ending our call I noticed I had a missed call from her parents as well and knowing them they were probably just as freaked out as their daughter. So I thought if she had already contacted them as well, I should probably not stretch this out much longer. I went down the stairs again, this time as fast and as loud as possible (just to get one last kick out of all this) and went to her bedroom door. I could hear the poor soul was on the phone to someone and had locked herself in her en-suite bathroom. I knocked but had no response and interrupted her current call with a call from me and told her to come to her bedroom door.

She opened the door with somewhat tearful eyes and exclaimed some profanity towards me with a shaky voice. But this is NOT where the April Fool joke ends. . . for at the end of it all I was the fool. In the very short space of time between my foot knocking on her door and my admittance to being in the house all along, her parents had already gotten hold of the police; our landlord and local security. My housemate had also gotten hold of a friend or two who were already on their way.

So I was the fool that ended up having to deal with the police rocking up at our house. . .
I was the fool who had to explain to our beloved friends who were already on their way that everything is ok. . .

I felt like a fool the next morning when we had to deal with our concerned body corporate after hearing that someone tried to break into our home the previous night. . .

So I guess pranking someone the eve before ‘April Fools’ is not a good idea, rather wait for the actual day to arrive.  I of course did no such thing the next day... with the police and what not rocking up at our house the previous night, I am clearly just too good-a-pranker for this shit...