Work & Money

My first job out of high school was working for a discount department store. Being my first “real” job (other than babysitting), it was also my first foray into the more interesting world of how people treat other adults, their children, and retail employees. Here are 5 things that I learned from working in retail: 1. Sometimes, the customer may not be completely in the right. We always want to think the best of people, but not everyone is concerned about store employees and or the product they sell. I once witnessed a customer refuse to return the $200 he was just given on accident by a cashier because, according to him, it was the cashier’s fault and not his problem. Even […]

Throughout my career, I’ve noticed that some of the best companies, both large and small, put a premium on providing exceptional customer service. I’ve also noticed that exactly how to achieve it often tends to be elusive. It is this same question that companies, consultants, and marketing gurus all over the world have attempted to answer many times. As a result, there is now an abundance of strategies, formulas, programs, and methodologies designed to help organizations find that sweet spot. The problem, at least in my mind, is that most of the strategies focus on modifying behavior in some form or another. Certainly, that does work with the right motivation, but it often does not last, and a new concept needs to

My first job was at a family-owned Italian restaurant in Newport Beach, CA called Mama D’s. The whole place was as big as my living room but, while I was a hostess, the restaurant was the #1 rated in America. Boring shifts were few and far between and customers came to us with the expectation of experiencing excellence. We were not number 1 because it was fancy, and although our food was delicious that was not what we were known for… We were known for customer service. The lessons I learned as a hostess at Mama’s D’s from age 15-17 are ones I apply to my everyday life now, even years later. Here are 5 tricks of the trade that every woman

I had a job once with great income and opportunity, but I didn’t like it. Some of the people I worked with were really nice. The work benefitted seniors and I cared about them. But in just about every way, I was a square peg in a round hole and I wanted desperately to find a square hole. I talked myself into a new job with a man I had known for several years after running into him fortuitously one weekend. He had a manufacturing business for products that held absolutely no interest to me, but the job was in marketing and that was right up my alley. Plus, he was a really great guy; a good family man, smart, kind, and