Support

I have now been rebitten by the snowshoeing bug. I went out again this afternoon fr abut 1 1/2 hours. I trekked over the field and down into the woods beyond. My dog Regal was having a ball running on the snow. Being light enough she just skimmed the surface of the snow supported by the icy crust below the surface. before I get totally into the gist of this post I do have to relate a story. When I got down to the bottom of the access road to the wood lot, I noticed some old moose tracks, and wanting to get a picture of the depth of the snow for Anya, at college I put one pole into the hoof print and another pole even with the surface of the snow to show her the approximate depth of the snow in the woods. I looked up and Regal was gone so I whistled and called for her. Just then I heard a nise of branches snapping and turned around just in time to see a large brown shadow about 50 feet away moving off into the woods. The moose who made the tracks had made his appearance. I snowshoed down to where I had seen him and found an obviously fresh pile of his leavings still partially steaming, and a spot where he had obviously lain down in the snow. When my breathing evened out I could hear him off in the background crashing through the branches in the woods. Regal heard him too, and was not to eager to leave my side.

Now for the main reason for my post, as I have a penchant for and as the three pastors who preach at my church often say, I am always looking for illustrations to base my writings and musings on as they are always looking for sermon illustrations. During this trek out through my field, and on into the woods I was noticing how well the snowshoes held me up on some of the deepest snow we have had in a long time. They would sink down briefly into the soft powder on top but the overall size of the snowshoe and the webbing would keep me up on the surface of the snow. If I did not have them on I would be breaking through not only the powdery layer but also the crusty surface underneath and buried in snow most likely up past my knees. I would tire out very easily, and most likely not get very far. With the snow shoes I would be able to just sink briefly into the powder but the snowshoe would spread my bulky weight out over the entire expanse of the shoe and support me on the crust underneath. Occasionally I would crack the crust but not sink very far into the snow at all.

The illustration I found this supports is my walk with Christ. My belief in God is like the snowshoe. He keeps me buoyed up in the quagmire of life's trial and tribulations. I break through the surface of the muck of life, but with God's support through my belief in Christ helps keep me from getting bogged down like being stuck in quicksand. Our lives are not completely trouble free, and God does allow us to get into scrapes and situations, but belief in Him does help support us form getting bogged down in the mire of despair that we could be. He is the snowshoe that keeps us on the surface and traveling down the path. In a note written by Sue Dorian thanking people for their support after the passing of her dear husband Paul, she noted that she could rejoice in his passing because she knew through her belief tat Paul was with God in heaven, but on the earthly side there was a void in her life now that could never be filled. Her belief in Christ is keeping her from getting to mired down in the snows of life, that our earthly bodies can find ourselves

Cold and Impersonal?

I can't believe it has been three weeks since I last posted on my blog. Time sure has a way from slipping away from us. It has been a a hectic three weeks and there is a lot to be excited abut. With the Budget Committee for town we wrapped up our meetings and the public hearing and submitted all our paperwork to the town and the state. I have also become involved in the committee to bring the moving wall to Center Ossipee for Memorial Day Weekend of all days. I have been asked to serve on the executive committee for the project and we are all very excited about this opportunity. The honor of this appearance of the wall on such a solemn holiday is immense.

Now to the reason for this post. I got tired today of being house bound because of the depth of the snow in the yard. The weather was fantastic, about 4 inches of fresh powder sat on top of the ice encrusted snow out in the field, all four feet of compacted snow. I went out int he barn and dug out my old snowshoes which I have had for about 30 years. They are made by an old Indian in a traditional style. Varnished wood and gut webbing with a modified neoprene binding. There is a basic simplicity to the design of these shoes. They have been hand crafted and worked with a quality that is hard to imagine. Tref Bolduc was the maker of the shoes with a quality that is seldom seen today. The warmth and sturdiness of these wooden shoes can not be equaled by the cold impersonal metal contraptions they sell today. Yes the newer models may be lighter weight and easier to care for but they lose the personality of the traditional snowshoe.

This is so true in all aspects of our society. We go for the cold and the impersonal rather than the warmth and caring. Rather than the local hardware store or lumberyard people shop at Lowes, and Home Depot. Rather than the local supermarket people shop at the warehouse stores such as Sams and BJ's. The cold and impersonal has become the mainstay of our society rather than the customer service of the smaller stores.

When I as out at a training class for Pella they gave us a book about customer service. The gist of the book was about how to make you customers happy, and give the personal touch. There are several stories in this book about how people have made the difference. The first story is about a boy with Downs Syndrome who wanted to make his mark on the customers of the store for which he worked. He decided he could find a quote of the day and print it out and put one in each customers order as he bagged the order. The result of this little initiative was people were willing to wait in line for Johnny's quote of the day. His personal little touch made each persons day just that much more enjoyable. People would stop by the store daily just to buy a small item so they could get Johnny's quote. Other departments started doing small little things for their customers as well making the store a much friendlier place to shop. I reflect on this often as I watch my wife go about her daily job at a small grocery store. She takes the time to make her customers experience in the store much more pleasurable. There was on little lady who unfortunately passed away recently, but she would come by the store and being legally blind she could not see the things she needed to get, so Janet would take her around the store and help her do her shopping. She jokes with customers and tries to make their visit to the store a more pleasurable one. She refers to them all as her customers. She enjoys her job and she tries to show that to each and every customer that walks through the store.

I don't know why we settle for inferior products and impersonal service. We seem to have grown used to it as a normal course of life. I usually shop at Freedom Hardware, when you go to the counter and ask for an item someone comes out from behind the counter and takes you to the product you are looking for. Recently I had to go to another Hardware store in the are to get something. I walked up to the counter and asked where the gaskets were, one guy just pointed in the general direction of the stairs, another said it was downstairs. When I went down the stairs there was an employee sitting at a work table downstairs , just sitting there not really doing anything, I again asked for the gaskets and he just pointed to a rack. When I was over at the gaskets I was hesitant about which one I needed, he never asked if he could help me, or what exactly I needed, he just kind of grunted at me about the whole think being kind of complicated. This is a prime example f what our customer service has become.

I have been a salesman most of my adult life, and I am a customer service fanatic. I believe follow though is one of the most important things you can do.When I sell a customer a window package I try to give them a small gift to show my appreciation for their order. It may be something as simple as a framed poem I wrote, or a copy of my book. I did a job once for a gentleman who was restoring a camp back to original condition. It had a lot of native American decorations, so I found a small knick knack that fit in with the decor of the house. He loved it.

Let's put the customer and the service back in customer service, and not settle for the inferior service that we seem to have become used to.

When you can't afford it

I was in a training class for Pella Windows with a gentleman from Idaho, when we were leaving the training session we got to the airport in Des Moines Iowa well ahead of our scheduled flight departure, so we grabbed a bite to eat in one of the airport restaurants, and believe me there are not a lot to choose from in Des Moines. However while the group of us were eating lunch, Greg said something his father had told him once, and that was "If you can't afford it, buy the best" I thought this was kind of a strange statement to make, as if you can't afford it you tend to buy whatever is the cheapest, or least expensive. The conversation then drifted off to business prospects and how we were viewing the building industry in different parts of the country, and sports teams and all the other little mundane things you talk about when you are waiting for a flight in an airport.

On the flight home I thought about that comment a little bit, and then put it out of my mind, but I kept finding it came back to me and I think about it a lot, and the more I think about it the more I realize, that it is absolutely true. When we can't afford things we tend to buy the bargain basement products, because they are cheap, and that is exactly what they are cheap. they don't stand up and they tend to wear out a lot faster than if you had invested some more money and bought a little more expensive of an item. I think about some of my investments in products. My wife and I live in a very old New England Farm House at the Gale Farm. It was moved to where it now stands in 1840 and the construction techniques used in the house seem to show it was built in the early to mid 1700's. When we bought the house it needed a lot of work to say the least, and one of the things it needed was windows. I tried to save the old windows but the frames where rotting and the glazing wouldn't stay put, as well as I may have just as well had a big hole in the wall to let the heat out of the house. We were newly married, and having just got out of the service, I did not have a lot of money to invest, I bought the cheapest windows I could find, because come on, every one knows a window is just a window, right? Well I put the windows in the house, and it did make the house a little more heating friendly, but when I look back at houses I call on that had put in a little more expensive of a window, they are not having to think about replacing the windows again, and they are not having to fuss with storm window units. and they are not having to put plastic up over their windows when the temps drop below freezing to keep the cold from coming into the house. Yes I paid less for my windows, but how much more have I paid for storm windows and heat and labor over the years in order to save a few dollars up front. There are many aspects of this adage. Tools, I have bought the cheapest tools I can find because they will work just as well only to have them snap, batteries wear out well ahead of time, strip out , and a myriad of other complaints.

I see the same things in batteries. As typical kids today my kids have the toys, IPODS, Cameras, and a myriad of other electronic gadgets, and I have seen them buy the bargain basement batteries and have to replace them in only a couple of days because they wear out, when I invested in a rechargeable battery system for them they have cut down on battery usage big time and in the long run the charger and rechargeable batteries end up costing a heck of a lot less money in the long run. SO the next time you go to the store and think about buying the cheapest, is it going to be the cheapest in the long run, or is it going to cost you a lot more money over time than a little larger cost up front.