Canadian Lyndsay

In the past six months, twice I’ve had to spend some time in emergency room waiting rooms. There was an identical, although probably coincidental, occurrence. Both times, CSI was playing on the TV.

Now, I enjoy watching CSI now and then. But I find them to be the most graphic of all the crime shows. And so I ask you…

Why on earth would an ER play violent, depressing TV shows?

I get that it’s not intentional. But why not try to keep the TV tuned to something a bit more uplifting, like a sitcom or something. Both occurrences I mentioned resulted in people being upset and uncomfortable and in one case someone actually got up and shut the TV off.

You’d think a hospital could consult a psychologist about ways to keep people calm and patient in a waiting room – where people are usually neither calm OR patient!

I have very high standards of customer service. Having spent many years in the industry myself, I know what I’m capable of and I expect the same of others. More often than not, I end up frustrated and disappointed. But not this past Saturday.

There was some noise coming from the suspension of my Mustang, so I took it in to Keystone Ford in Winnipeg, where I bought it from. As I was waiting in the lounge for the shuttle to take me home, my salesman (John Scott) walked past and stopped to chat with me.  He knew all the details of what I had bought and the circumstances around it, like why I love Mustangs, the fact it wasn’t my first, etc.  Now, he may have seen me, recognized me and looked up some details – but I like to think he remembered me just enough to go to that effort.

At any rate, it was a small thing that went a long way. Kudos, a 2 minute conversation resulted in my probably coming back to him in the future when I need a new car.

You know how sometimes you get a call and you don’t know who it is, so you race to Google and search that number and hope a result comes up.  And many times, it doesn’t.

So, here’s a list of numbers that I’ve encountered this problem with, and the resulting person on the other end. I’ll add to this list as I find more.

204-927-4263 – Goodlife Fitness
204-989-9888 – Ashley Furniture

1-800-395-8813 – Rogers Telemarketing
1-888-764-3771 – Rogers Telemarketing
1-877-343-3683 – Royal Bank (RBC) Telemarketing
1-888-236-6283 – Canadian Blood Services

Am I dreaming?? Spring in mid-March????  BRING IT ON!

Sunday, February 28, 2010 at approximately 3:30pm PST. Vancouver Olympics, Gold Medal game for Men’s Hockey. Canada vs. USA. Game tied 2-2 and it’s now in overtime.

The worst place you could possibly be? Anywhere without a television.

That’s what many passengers felt who were due to board an Air Canada flight in Vancouver were faced with as Air Canada employees were announcing final boarding calls. After repeated pages for passengers to board their flight, and those passengers not budging from the seats in front of any TV they could find, they finally delayed the flight until Sidney Crosby’s golden goal sealed the deal that saw Team Canada win gold.

Read the article here.

For an airline that is under constant scrutiny and comparison to WestJet for their customer service (or in many cases, lack thereof) this is such a great story of doing something for the passenger. I don’t know how many people were MIA when the plane was boarding, but it was obviously enough for AC to decide to hold the plane. Luckily, that goal came just 7:40 in overtime. And as a result, passengers were able to see Canada win the gold and still be able to take their flight without being left behind.