More than you ever wanted to know about Alabama native Joe Watts
Okay, I don’t really know the history behind any of these, but liked them. Anyone have any comments?
I know it isn’t, but spring sure looks like it is right around the corner. The weather has been stellar here for the last week. Best of all, my daffodils and jonquils are up and blooming. My hyacinths are up and just starting to bloom. The bulbs from all of these come from our family home in Octagon, Alabama (I can only imagine the thousands of blooms there right now). The hyacinths actually came from my grandmother’s family yard, I’d guess in the early 1920’s. Bulbs are a wonderful thing to really tie you to the past. Easy to grow (just dig a hole and wait), beautiful and low maintenance!
Ever wonder if in the age of the internet, the role of customer service matters? I did a little experiment a few months ago–mainly I was irritated beyond belief at my ex-favorite store, Alabama Outdoors. I had what was one of those classic bad experiences with two–not one, but TWO–defective pairs of Grammici shorts. I went to return them, wanting simply to exchange them for a batch that were of a higher quality. I didn’t know then what I know now: that Grammici pants went WAY down in quality very, very quickly. Anyway, I went in to exchange the shorts and was told that I wouldn’t be able to do that. Instead, they would send them away to be repaired. Mind you, the shorts were brand new. One pair had been worn for one day and washed. The other pair had only been worn for about 45 minutes. I was livid.
So what did I do? I came home, sent an email (that they never bothered to reply to) and steamed. I was frustrated, so I blogged about my bad experience. (You can read my posts about my experience with Alabama Outdoors in this link) And I blogged again, mentioning Alabama Outdoors with some degree of regularity. I provided a link to their website: www.alabamaoutdoors.com. I referenced outdoor clothing and Alabama and outdoors with some frequency.
Several weeks later, I went and picked up my “new and improved” shorts. The exact same thing happened again. I called them, livid again, and this time the person I talked with was very polite and apologetic. I brought these shorts back as well and exchanged them for cash back. I consider the issue settled and no longer have very hard feelings towards AO (Alabama Outdoors).
Why relive this experience again? Mainly to prove a point. It has been nearly a year since this happened (May 2008 or so). It is only in the last month or so that my article didn’t appear very near the top of the search engine findings for Alabama Outdoors. So always treat your customers with respect–and realize that every dissatisfied customer has the potential to really hammer you on the web–and reach more people than ever before possible. Customer service is critical, as much now as ever before.
Photo on Left:
Margaret, Clark Watts (Papa), Joe Watts, Inez Watts (Mama)
Photo on Right: Uncle Edward Waddell, Joe Watts, Aunt Gladys Watts Waddell
Wow. Ever feel tired? Think you’ve got a little too much to handle. Imagine how my parents felt!
Here is the full Watts Family:
left to right: Suzanne Watts, Cynitha Watts, Julia Watts, Madeline Watts, Clark Watts, Joe Watts (adorable infant), Inez Watts and Margaret Watts
Have been wanting to scan a few of our photos in from this trip. I added an entry about our Honeymoon trip to Alaska a few months ago, but never got around to scanning in photos. I just scanned in these two this afternoon–boy was I thin! That has got to be the best hat I have ever had–and if you’ve read much of my blog, you know I have a certain interest in hats. The Outdoor Research Seattle Sombrero was awesome. It kept me dry in Alaska. It kept me dry on my trip to Minnesota several years ago. I still reach for it when I think I may get wet.
Ann, of course, looks the same–a little better, actually!
