Right or wrong...........

Ever feel like just running away from it all??? Lately that's how we've been feeling. From the time we get up nothing seems to go right. It's been that way for the past two months. Every night we go to bed and double check to make sure that when we start the next day, everything is in place and we can start on a positive note. Those are the days that, when it's time for me to go into work, I realize that my husband has my car keys, and since I never replaced my spare key, I have no way of getting to work. So I make that very (now infamous) call to the office, and then someone has to come to the house with the keys. Not only did it waste an hour of driving (half an hour each way), but it puts off all those important errands I had to do early in the morning.
Ahhhh the joys of owning your own business!!! It's quite the learning experience. Having worked in a business office (in my previous life...or so it seems) I thought that I had all my (eyes)dotted and tees crossed, except I found the my eyes were actually crossed and my tees were very dotted. Holy cow what a wake up call.....of course it's all through trial and error, and error, and error. We finally have an accountant that is not only willing to help/teach you about the way to post things, and which is the right category to post them in, but he is also not looking at a the clock every time he talks to you. Very refreshing to find someone like that.
Dealing with customers, can be trying in itself, it's nice to know that someone is on your side. We have had our share of ruthless customers this year. I was taught o respect people and be kind to others. Not sure where these people learned their skills. Not sure if they handle all of their problems with threats, and verbal abuse, or if we just happened to be "the straw the broke the camels' back". Which ever it is, I don't think that we deserve that kind of abuse at all. We are not perfect, and we make mistakes, but to be accused of stealing money, hording product, and being liars, really is unfair. WE are honest decent people, trying to provide a service, and trying to make a living. Not get filthy rich, but to be able to pay our bills like everyone else in this country. We take deposits on purchases, and the balance is due when we receive the product. Why would we horde any product, if it meant that we would get paid in full at that point?? We are given a approximate time for the product to arrive, and when it's not here on that exact date, holy cow, are we liars then. We can't possibly predict the speed of production at the manufacturer's facilities, when half the country is ordering the same product. WE can only hope that their dates are somewhat accurate and that they tell US the truth about their delays. Most of the time, this is not the case. So what happens is, the manufactures tell the distributors something to appease them, and then (since we have to purchase through distributors) they tell us something to appease us. We relay this information to our customers (not knowing that we were just given a random date) and so it begins, or ends which ever the case. The customer then gets irate, because again we told them something that was not true, and they take it to the next step.....a complaint is filed. I wonder who we can complain to????? Guaranteed, if we file a complaint against our distributor or the manufacturer, we would be placed so far at the bottom of the list, that we would never get our orders filled. But customers just don't get that. In the meantime, our name becomes less and less trustworthy, and we are left (once again) fighting for our lives to stay afloat. Sometimes I wonder if it's all worth it. I will say that the majority of the people are very decent and understanding, especially since the economy is in such turmoil. But truly it's only about 7% that are just downright mean to the point that it makes you question yourself and your business. That's a pretty powerful impact from that 4% I would say. Maybe that gives you some idea of how ruthless they are. I can only hope that somewhere down the road they realize that it was not our fault, and not that we are looking for and apology, but just to hear it through the "grapevine" that they over reacted.
Ugh for now we have no other alternative, but to just keep going, and hope that peoples outlook and disposition will change. Yes we run a business, but we are people too.
Since running is not an option, we muddle through day by day, and just hope that we can do the best for our customers.
We want to please them, but it takes patience on every ones part in order to achieve that.

It's raining today

As much as I love bright, sunny days, I welcome those dreary, rainy days with open arms. They have a way of letting you get things done, that you would normally pass up because of the enticing sunshine and warmth. Whether I work out in the barn, or tackle a project (usually way over do) in the house, you still get a feeling or accoplishment and reward when the day is done. Right now we are at the start of the fall season, and rainly days seem to be more prevelant. Plus the days seem to be getting shorter in a real hurry. It doesn't give you much time to complete (or start) indoor/outdoor projects without some real planning. I seem to lack in the planning department. Not always, but I find, at this time of the year, I seem to have a real problem with it. It's probably denial....the fact that summer is ending (or has ended) and the long winter is ahead of us. Even though I spent a great deal of time outdoors in the Spring and Summer, when fall arrives, I feel like I did not get anything accomplished all summer, and now look fall/winter is on it's way. Panic, yeah somewhat, but then we have those glorious fall days, (except for the rain today) and that just puts you in such a great emotional frame of mind that the panic seems to vanish.
I decided to sleep in a little today. I got up at 7:15 am and started my day. First, let the dogs out, feed the cats, go out and feed the horses (with the dogs) come back in with the dogs, give them all a cookie, pour myself a cup of coffee, and think about my day ahead. Today is Sunday, so I won't have to rush into the shower, before everyone else gets up. I managed to get most of the laundry done, and dusted my house (3200 sq ft colonial) including the almost too embarrassing to mention cob webs formed in various corners of the house, before every one got up at 9:30 am. I even started a roast in that time. Not bad I would say, for my day off. Let's see how much more gets done since everyone is awake now, and moving about the house. This is usually when I loose my ambition, after everyone is up. I seem to find myself in the kitchen for the rest of the day, because of......"whats for breakfast? " (no one seems to be able to pour themselves a bowl of cereal, or toast a muffin), and then (actually pretty soon) "Are you making something for lunch?" still in the midst of cleaning up the breakfast mess....I swear, their stomachs are bottom less. I may be able to get to vacuum sometime today, or maybe it will have to wait till tomorrow. Not too worried about it.
Well the time is heading towards 2 pm now, and I'm sure the lunch crowd will be beckoning soon.
It's still raining, but it's Sunday, and the day is Glorious.......

blogging for dummies continued

Well this one made it, the other one is still suspenced as a scheduled post. I guess I'll just have to wait until it's released. I did notice that the date was different. My first post had a 9/27/08 date, and the one that I just posted, has a 9/28/08 date. Not sure why the difference in dates. They were both done on the 28th. Oh well, I'll just keep an eye on it. Not like I'm getting an award for this, so I'll just keep playing until I get it right :)

Blogging for dummies

That's probably what I should be reading. My first blog is suspended as a scheduled post. Not sure why, but I thought that I would try to send another one to see if I did anything wrong. Cross your fingers and hope that it shows up on my blog. Here we go........