Bridgey Speaks

These days, we all complain and hear a lot of complaints about how customer service is lacking in all kinds of industries. I’ve certainly experienced my fair share of far-too-long waits on hold, rude sale associates, and otherwise unsatisfying (or worse, infuriating) customer service experiences.

I’m happy to share a GOOD example of customer service. The company in question: The Container Store.

I recently purchased a few organizational items for the kitchen. We are working on some upgrades to the kitchen, so I thought it would be a good time to streamline a few things. I placed my order and eagerly awaited its arrival.

It arrived in a large box that was sort of mangled at one end. I tore the box open and found one of the four items inside to be completely crushed. I was bummed because the item was unusable, but also because I envisioned sitting on hold, dealing with paperwork, and other annoying chores to have the item replaced.

I’m happy to report that I was completely wrong! I found that The Container Store’s customer service hours extend well into the evening (it was after 8 p.m. our time), so I went ahead and called them up. I was connected with the service rep almost immediately, and she was pleasant, helpful, and knowledgeable. She put a new item in the mail to me right away and didn’t require that I send back the old one. I was off the phone, problem resolved, in under two minutes, and the item was on its way in about a day.

It’s probably good that Pittsburgh doesn’t have a Container Store because I’d spend way too much time and money there. But when my experiences with the store are repeatedly as good as this one, I can’t help but wish we had one locally.

Leela has been following me around all day. I’m sure not what this is about. Normally she follows Dave around. He has an entourage in fact, as Mojo does this to him too. Both of them (Mojo and Leela) will wake from a dead sleep if he leaves the room and follow him wherever he’s going. I guess Dave hasn’t been moving around enough, because today I get the shadow.

Since the bigger of the two shadows has seemed restless this weekend, I figured we’d better go for a walk. She didn’t get one Friday or yesterday due to some ugly rain, so I figured today she needed a good hour hike around the neighborhood.

I suited her up with her back pack (she carries her own water and poop bags), her collar, and her leash. I suited myself up with sneakers and sunglasses, and we were off.

We got about 15 minutes into this walk on mostly level streets, and Leela started pulling toward the grass. Since she’d already completed all of her other walk business, I figured she was just angling to eat grass, so I encouraged her to move along. We had walking to do! I gave her some water, and we pressed on.

A few minutes later, she pulled toward the grass again, so I let her sniff around. She decided to lie down. Seriously? You get your first walk in three days and you want to lie down? Get up! Let’s go! So we did. But about five minutes later she plopped down right on the sidewalk outside the elementary school. I realized that it was quite hot out, so we just sat for a few minutes. We were on our way home anyway, so I took off her backpack, gave her more water, and we just sat there. After a few minutes, I got us going again, back toward home.

She couldn’t even make it the rest of the way. She insisted on another break in a random yard, so while giving her yet more water, I called Davey to pick us up. I was already carrying the backpack — there was no way I could carry a 55 pound dog even a few blocks home.

Not to worry though, she is fine. She had yet more water and ice cubes, and I even held an ice pack on her to make sure her body temp was coming down quickly enough. She’s still following me around the house, but while I’m sitting still, she’s sound asleep. Who knew a 30 minute walk could be so exhausting!

We took Leela to Sandcastle this weekend for Last Splash. Sandcastle is the local water park, and Last Splash is a fundraiser they do for the animal shelter Animal Friends at the end of the season. Right before they drain all the pools for the year, they let you bring you dog to swim. Big doggies (like Leela) get to romp in the wave pool (without waves).

I was very excited about this, and I had been looking forward to it for some time. I had been watching both the Sandcastle and Animal Friends websites for the date. Finally it was posted, plans were made, and money was paid.

Saturday I woke up early to take Leela for a long, brisk walk to tire her out. I was hoping this would encourage her to play well with the other dogs. Leela loves other dogs and generally does play well. However, she can be tireless and won’t leave other dogs alone when they are done playing. After the long walk, Dave ran her around the back yard. Dan showed up, and we took off.

We got there and set up a spot, and Dave walked Leela over to the water. It turns out, despite her surprise bolt into the river last year, that she is afraid of water. At least she was afraid of this pool in this situation. She also lacks the ability to doggie paddle or to understand that water is a fluid and not some platform unto which she can climb.

I think Dave worked as hard as she did to keep her afloat and out of harm’s way. She spent most of the time flailing about and panicking. I spent a lot of the time watching and taking photos (which Dave has, so bug him for them) and generally trying to stay out of the way.

While it was certainly an interesting experience and another good opportunity to let her hang out with other dogs, we probably won’t go again. In addition to us learning that she does not, in fact, like to swim, she managed to break four or five nails on her back paws down to the quick (read: lots of blood). Her feet were clearly a little sore for the rest of the day. There were tons of retriever and other water-loving dogs there who definitely were having a blast, so maybe next time we’ll just leave the pool to them. Over all though, it was a fun day and good learning experience, as well as a fun way to support a great cause.