Blog June Post 10 - A lesson in customer service

Tonight I am a bit worked up and while I would not normally share my disgruntled customer post I made to Trip Advisor and also posted on my FB page about a local business, tonight I will.  All in the lesson of good customer service and loyalty to locals.  What follows is a rant:

I have eaten and picked up takeaway from the Urunga Bowls Club numerous times since it first opened. Unfortunately, tonight I was made to feel embarrassed because I am local but not a member and apparently to pick up your takeaway order or to eat in the restaurant, you have to be a member if you are local. If you are not local, you are fine to just scan your license and in you go. I do not understand why as a local I should be made to pay a yearly membership to pick up a take...away meal. I also don't understand why the staff do not inform you of this when you phone them for your order. And I also don't understand why there isn't consistency in this rule, as other times I have been able to enter without being made to feel like a criminal. I was made to feel like I was committing the worse crime. The "Bouncer" called out to me and then berated me in front of the other people who were coming in the door. If you want locals to visit your club, then treat the locals nicely. Urunga Bowling Club, you have lost any future business that you would've had from me!! And I will be spreading the word to other locals about the way I was treated!!

Sorry for those that have already read this on my FB page but I am so upset and embarrassed about this that I just felt the need to share it.

I do realise that this may actually be an accepted protocol in all clubs in a Australia, and if it is, then I think it needs to be reviewed.  Or perhaps someone could let me in on the logic behind it.  But to me this is like saying to someone, I'm sorry but you can't use the library unless you have a library membership card - as in you can't even walk through the door unless you have a library membership card - where is the sense in this!!

Ok rant over and I'm so worked up I can't even share a mantra today!

Double post Friday #blogjune #12 and #13

Yep, I'm playing catchup again today with a double post.  Sorry I missed yesterday but I was a bit tired and unmotivated.

So 2 mantra's today:

1. You don't have to be great to start but you have to start to be great.  Really a no brainer that one - you really should just have a go and then you are better or greater than the person who didn't even try!
2. Work like a horse and you'll look like a fox.  Hmm, not sure on this one.  Work hard and you'll look better than a horse?!?  Maybe I want to look like a horse??  Or maybe foxes are more attractive than horses - goodness knows - I'm not touching that one but I'm open to interpretations if you'd like to share?

Yesterday I put my new running shoes to the ultimate test (I had worn them for a 5k at lunch time at work on Wednesday and they were a bit loose around the heel so I adjusted the lacing for this run).  I ran 14k.  Now since I'd played around with the lacing, I had no heel slip but by the end of the run my feet were rubbing on the arch so I had some blisters starting there - never ever happened to me before.  So I think I will have to play around a bit more with the lacing.  But the shoes are a beautiful colour - remind me to upload a photo in my next post.

Yesterday I also completed the 5 day Health and Safety Representative course I had been doing over a 6 week period - I know makes no sense, 5 days over 6 weeks, well we had a week off due to me going to Nundle for the library zone meeting.  So now I am a HSR and I can issue PINs - (Provisional Improvement Notices) - break into the song "I've got the power" by Snap!  Oooohh nice little visual dance in my mind - shaking it, shaking it, grooving it, grooving it!!  Right what is in that hot chocolate I'm sipping on!!

While I am passionate about workplace safety, the training did kick me up the bum to be more on top of things like workplace inspections and safety plans.  I look after 3 branch libraries and I must admit that I'm a bit behind in this area.  As I also do frontline customer service, it is hard to get out to the branches to complete these actions but it's really no excuse.

But really what I really enjoyed about this training, was being able to meet and work with other people from my organisation that I very rarely get to see.  The training was made up of those on the Health and Safety Committee and are a mix of indoor and outdoor staff.  So it was great getting to know some other staff and be able to work with them.  The training also was held at one of the council depots in their new training room.  So even being in a new area was great.  I will miss the Thursday training sessions.

Today I have an RDO (Rostered Day Off) so after I drop Miss A at school, I'm off to do grocery shopping and then having my hair cut and coloured.  I'm leaving it to the creative juices of the hairdresser to decide what colour and style - she did a great job last time.  I may even post a photo on here!!  I also hope to fit a little run in today at some point.  I had a great session at bootcamp this morning.  It was basically around our mats - 20 squats, 20 push ups, 20 crunches, 20 bicycles, 30 sec jog on the spot, 30 sec jog on spot with 4 legs in and then 4 legs out (I know makes no sense), 30 sec pendulums (hope I've spelt that right), 30 sec high knees.  Then we repeat with the reps going down by 2 each time but the jogs, pendulums etc staying at 30 seconds.  It's quite a challenging class even though you aren't running around ovals or anything.

Tomorrow morning it will be social run and then breakfast - please stay away rain until after our run!!  It's been 2 weeks or longer since we've had a good social run.  I was tapering (not running) last Saturday due to my half marathon on Sunday and the week before it rained so only I went out for a run while everyone else stayed in bed.  I actually miss the breakfast company more as we all sit down at a local café and have breakfast and chat together - makes a great start to the weekend!!  I don't care it if rains the rest of the day because then I can laze around the house reading!!

Hope you all have a great day!!

Do the best with what you have and you'll soon be doing it better #blogjune #7

I'm following up my late post that I was supposed to do yesterday which I did this morning with this post that is on time today!!

Today's mantra: Do the best with what you have and you'll soon be doing it better.

I'm not sure where to take this one.  I think going from working in a big metropolitan library to working in a small regional library, I have automatically did the best with what I have - not sure if I'm doing it better though!!

I have to say that one thing I do feel I'm doing better, and it probably comes from working in a small town, is customer service.  I have always felt the need to greet customers by name and you will note that I often mention this in my posts.  I feel it gives that extra service and it is amazing that by addressing someone by name often results in a smile!

As for providing a service, in the beginning when I first started working here, the overall library service budget was tight.  We did the best with what we had.  We still do to an extent because my libraries don't have an events or activities budget so we can get very creative when coming up with children's activities.  It helps that we sell honey for a local provider and they in turn donate us a bit of money for each pot we sell.  I'm sure some fellow professionals are a bit shocked that we do this, but we are a small town!  I often joke that all we need is a couple of bread making machines going in the workroom and a cow out in the park, and we can then provide bread, milk and honey and our library users will not have to go anywhere else but the library!!

Now to exercise - do the best with what you have and you'll soon be doing it better!  Well I often laugh (well quietly to myself) at people who are unfit but won't exercise till they get fit.  You have legs and arms - use them - do the best with what you have!!  And you will get better!!

I was absolutely hopeless at running - I hated it!  I thought I was dying when I ran.  I would gulp for air and just couldn't run very far at all.  I thought, what's the point!  But little by little, I ran and I ran with others (do the best with what you have - you have friends - you have people that run - use them!) and then I was doing it better!!

Tomorrow I'm off to the Macleay River Marathon to complete my second half marathon of the year.  I'm travelling down on my own because it will be an early start - leaving home at around 5.30am.  The race starts at 7.30am but I have to pick up my number etc.

I'm not aiming for any PB as it is a different track to the half marathon I did in Port Macquarie.  There are going to be some sneaky hills and a killer one at the end.  However, 2 weekends ago I did the Bellingen Show Fun Run - 10km from Glennifer into Bellingen.  It was roughly 5km of up hill.  It was tough.  But I survived and I did it.  Yes I had to walk some of the hill but I've also been doing lots of hill repeats with my running group, so I'm ready!!

Just a word of warning - I plan on having some bubbles post race tomorrow, so there may or may not be a post tomorrow evening - and if there is, it could be a very interesting one!!

Blog December Day 1

As a personal challenge I am going to try to blog every day of December.  This will be a challenge as my parents are coming up this week so perhaps I will miss a couple of days but hopefully I will have a bit of time in the day to do some reflection.

I don't reflect enough so blogging will force me to reflect.

To kick off, on Thursday I attended the Public Libraries NSW North East Zone meeting in Taree.  It is the last time the librarians and councillors who attend the meeting get to catch up for 2012 and the first time for some of the new councillors who were elected in September to actually meet.

I will discuss the meeting in more depth in a later blog post.

My two councillors were unable to attend so I travelled down with our new Information Services and Collections Librarian.  We decided that we would do a library road trip on our way back on Friday.

So while this post will be short and sweet - I will share with you some photos I took of some of the libraries we visited.

Our first library was Great Lakes Library - Forster branch.  I didn't take any photos here because I have visited this branch before and must upload the photos from this visit at some point.  So I will share later.

Next we went to Harrington Library.  It is 4 years old and located within the towns new shopping centre car park.

Then on to Wauchope Library.

Both libraries were small branches but I find visiting smaller branches very worth while as my branches are small and I can get some great ideas that I can implement in my libraries.

It is worth noting that when I visit libraries, I first go to the customer service desk and introduce myself and ask if I can take photos.  Most times I encounter a proud and enthusiastic library staff member that is happy to provide a tour and answer questions.

Sometimes I have visited a library where staff have not been very helpful.  I sometimes drop a note to the library manager (especially if I know them) and make them aware that my encounter was not a friendly one.

I'm sure other library staff do this too - well I would hope that if someone visited my branch libraries they would let me know if the customer service was not up to scratch.

What are your thoughts on this?  Would you contact a manager about customer service or would you let it slide?

Sorry this post is a bit rushed but Saturday mornings means chores and I have lot to do with the parents visiting this week.  More later!!

Name

"And now we're grown up orphans
And never knew their names
We don't belong to no one
That's a shame
But you could hide beside me
Maybe for a while
And I won't tell no one your name
And I won't tell 'em your name"

I don't know if it is the heat that is keeping me awake or the excitement that I will be seeing my brother and some of his family tomorrow. I haven't seen them for over two years!! Maybe it's a combination of both - and perhaps it's because this blog post has been floating around in my head for days.

You will note that I started this post with the lyrics from one of my favourite songs - Name by Goo Goo Dolls. And while the song is a little bit on the sad side, the theme of this blog post is not sad. It's all about names!!

When I worked for larger institutions, I found that there were a few regular library users who I would get to know their names and take pride in using their names when I served them. I think it makes the user feel a little bit special that you know them by name. Of course, there is always a bit of an awkward moment when you are unsure if you should refer to them as Mr, Mrs or Miss so and so or just by their first name, but once that's worked out then calling them by name usually results in a nice little smile appearing on their face. Like you've made a difference to their day! Well that's what I like to think!

Now I work in a small library I can honestly say that I know the name of 90% of the people that walk through the door. Sure I have my days when their name might escape me but you can always "cheat" a little by checking the returns list or waiting for them to hand you their library card!! What other ways do you "cheat"? Yes I know I won't be the only one who does have their secret ways of remembering names.

I once had another librarian visit my library and they commented on how I spoke to everyone who came into the library by name and how good they thought that was. I was a bit surprised as I thought that is what most of us strive to do - am I wrong??

There are a few people who I get stuck with their name. I was very proud today when a regular came in and I said her name to her quietly and she said my name back - we were both proud we had remembered the others name - although I did have a name badge on!! 8-)

So do you make it a goal to remember everyone's name and call them by name when they come into your library? What are your secrets to remember people's names? Do you feel special when your regular library, cafe or shop staff person remembers your name and uses it?

"I think about you all the time
But I don't need the same
It's lonely where you are
Come back down
And I won't tell 'em your name."

Better Late than Never

So here I am for my attempt at #blog12daysxmas I was asked by one of my twitter followers if I was going to attempt this - at first I thought "no I can't do this - what will I blog about and I am going away next week and will have limited internet access." But in the end, I couldn't sleep because some ideas started forming in my head and even though I am tired and it is late - here I am doing my first blog post - which as supposed to be on Christmas - I think - but it isn't.

Better late than never!

I thought the theme of my blog posts for the #blog12daysxmas could be what I struggle with most as a manager of three small branch libraries. Better late than never is pretty much a good way at summing up how I sometimes feel my POW runs. We pretty much play the constant catch up game. We are a library service with not a lot of money. We are located in regional parts of NSW and are made up of small LGA's.

We don't have access to the fastest internet speeds and we have been neglected in the past. So we are playing the catch up game. Lots of things we have implemented over the last 2-3 years are things that most libraries have been providing for years. It was a shock to my system to come into a library that did not have a DVD collection or a decent webpage with access to an online catalogue. We have that now and we also have a facebook page, online computer tutoring, downloadable audio books, and free wifi access in all of our libraries. A lot to be proud of.

But I can't help but think that libraries are still playing the catch up game. We are still being fairly reactive than proactive and I'm not sure how we can turn the tables.

For example, when I play around with web 2.0 tools, I'll often think, how can we apply this in the library?? Then I think of my community and think that perhaps they are not even at that point yet - there are still plenty of people out there that don't know how to use a computer - so do we need to offer these tools/utilise these tools??!!

I am constantly asked if we offer ebooks. Well only about 5 people have come into my branch and told me they have a ereader device and do we have ebooks - does this mean we should be offering downloadable ebooks to those 5 people? Or do we spend those funds on providing more print material for the majority of our users? Or are we going to be too late to jump on the band wagon if we don't offer downloadable ebooks now??

I think the point here is that we have to be looking at our community and what they are doing and what they are using or what they will be using (however one finds that out). And we must be satisifying those needs - not 5 years down the track but now. Better late than never is not really good customer service.