I have a few small talents in life that I am proud of. Packing a Car, Mail Merge, Making a Great Cheesecake, Bruising. You know, the really important stuff.
My family always jokes with me about my skill of getting things for free. It's a talent I think. Whenever something goes wrong and we need to negotiate with customer service on the phone, my sisters always call me. I have pretended to be both of them on seperate occassions.
I am going to a conference for work in West Palm Beach in late January. I was so stressed about having to leave Ainsley for the week that I didn't really look at where I was going. I had my HR manager book my flight into Fort Lauderdale. While it's not too far (about an hour), it would have been a huge inconvenience. It would have involved a rental car or a long taxi. Plus the 4 additional hours away from Ainsley.
I quickly went online after my mistake to see the change fee was going to be $150. I was getting irritated at myself again for making a mistake by going to fast or just not paying close enough attention. So I stressed and stressed about whether to just eat the money or tell my HR manager and ask the company to pay for my mistake. Neither option sounded good.
So I picked up the phone when I got home and called US Airways. Well, I had a great conversation with Chuck and got great new flights into West Palm Beach. Best part, I simply asked him to waive the fee and HE DID! How awesome is that!
So what are your little talents that I should know about so I can ask you to use them someday?
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Sweet! You gotta love customer service like that! Especially when it's quite a bit of money. I need someone with the talent of talking a police officer out of a fine--know anyone? :) Hope your trip goes well and that you and Ainsley will be fine.
ReplyDeleteChristina
I am shockingly talented at electrical work and most handy work (for an elementary edu major and stay at home mom). Most of the light fixtures, outlets and switches in our house (and the last 60 year old house we owned)... all done by me.
ReplyDeleteAnd i am pretty talented about figuring out movies... the ones that make you go "what is going on?" I usually know. Call it intuition or discernment, or maybe I can just listen to the music and "know". But 8/10 times I know, when everyone else is still guessing. This talent has gotten rusty as I have had children... just not as sharp as I used to be!
Good for you at getting them to waive a fee! I have been known to bat an eyelash or two to get a fee waived or get something for free.
What am I NOT talented at? Dealing with foreign customer service people...David actually laughs at my inability to communicate with people who speak broken English.
Well done! A friend of mine once pretended to be my fiance when wrangling with a car rental company. He told them I was very petite and wearing formal wear to an evening wedding, and yet they forced me to drive a van...could they compensate me for my inconvenience? (The answer was no, although he's usually more successful.)
ReplyDeleteI'm a good shopper. I love the thrill of the hunt, don't mind searching for bargains and love to roll out a coupon when I can. The shopping thing really kicks in when I need to buy a gift for someone. The exception might be baby shower gifts, I've bought too many of them recently to put any effort into it!