Posting Date: 05/20/2013

The article below was first published in 2008. A recent customer experience brought memories of the incident that motivated the article flooding back. I dug through my archives and re-read the article.

Sadly, I discovered very little improvement in the behavior of some who call themselves customer service professionals. With that in mind, I decided it was time to update and republish the article.  [Read more]

Posting Date: 05/06/2013

I have a friend whose idea of staying active is to be involved with neighborhood projects and participate in civic and service organization in her hometown. This lifestyle means that she interfaces with a wide variety of behavior types. When dealing with these differing behaviors gets to her, she takes a little break and flies down to visit me.  [Read more]

Posting Date: 04/22/2013

Recently a client approached me about the possibility of updating and refreshing some of my customer satisfaction curriculum. I considered the project for about five minutes before rejecting it. I rejected it because I believe that customer satisfaction has been rendered useless by customer service professionals who talk the talk and fail to walk the walk.  [Read more]

Posting Date: 04/08/2013

Sometimes I become weary of hearing folks lament about their unhappy life. I hear folks complain about everything from being pain wracked and emotionally wrecked to being stuck in a dull, boring, tedious and unfair life.  [Read more]

Posting Date: 03/25/2013

I owe a debt of gratitude and a big thank you to the unknown person who was talking loudly in Wal-Mart last week. This person was talking to someone about the recent shooting of MPD’s Officer Empey. The remark that really caught me attention was: “I don’t understand why people make a big deal of this shooting. It was just a flesh wound. Besides, it’s his job.”  [Read more]

Posting Date: 03/04/2013

Sadly, the Art of Distraction is not reserved for national or regional elections; it is alive and well here in Mesquite. Just as birds fly South in the winter and North in the summer, when it is election time in Mesquite some folks begin to actively engage in distraction tactics.

In fact some of our citizens are experts at using distraction tactics to discourage voters from focusing on vital issues – the very issues that are most worthy of undistracted attention and focus.  [Read more]

Posting Date: 02/11/2013

For many adults, unstructured play has become a lost art. As we move from childhood to adulthood our priorities shift. We become consumed by duty and responsibility. We fill our time with grown up activity such as getting an education, building an impressive resume, developing a professional and social reputation, getting and keeping a job, striving to earn a decent living, paying the mortgage, putting food on the table, and paying the bills.  [Read more]

Posting Date: 01/21/2013

At a recent book festival, I gave a short presentation about my historical fiction novel, titled Reluctant Hero. In this presentation, I briefly referred to my childhood in South Alabama. Later in the day, a woman approached me and said sincerely, “I’m so sorry that you had a bad childhood.”

I was taken aback and responded, “I’m not sure where you got the notion that I had a bad childhood. My childhood was very happy.” She appeared shocked at that statement and declared, “I don’t see how anyone could have a happy childhood in a place as hateful as the segregated South.” [Read more]

Posting Date: 01/02/2013

At this time of year I like to pause, take a nostalgic look back at the past year. Then, I take a look forward by thinking of what I would like for my family and friends experience in the coming year.

As I was anticipating this annual ritual, almost as if by divine intervention, I happened upon a poem that posed the question: “If you were capable of having every wish come true – exactly what would you wish for children?”  [Read more]

Posting Date: 12/10/2012

Every Christmas season of my childhood I heard Mama proclaim: “Those who believe….receive!” This phrase was usually uttered when folks were talking about Santa Clause. Mama was a big fan of Santa and I worried that I would hurt her feelings if I admitted that I didn’t believe in him. So, long a disheartening conversation with one of my older cousins - and even after my own logic - had convinced me that there was no Santa clause I pretended to Mama that I believed.  [Read more]