So, the best laid plans and all that. My Sunday was supposed to go like this: A quick trip to the grocery store early enough in the morning to avoid lots of shoppers, then home to do just a little bit of cleaning, then work all afternoon on the quilt I’m making.
Well, it’s now 3:30 in the afternoon on Sunday as I prepare this post to go live on Monday, and all I’ve accomplished today is getting a flat tire and waiting endlessly for roadside assistance to come and give this old lady some help. (Hopefully, quilting can commence in about an hour.)
Thankfully, I was in front of a donut shop when the tire went flat. Not a horrible place to be, although I was trying not to eat too many donuts while I waited. The shop owner was kind enough to let me stay as long as I needed to, which ended up being three solid hours.
The roadside assistance is through my insurance company, who contracts to Urgent.ly, a company that has a terrible communications system. (I did not know that until today.) The voicemail does not provide an option for “press zero to talk to a real person” so I had to press numbers and answer questions via texting, which is my favorite way of communicating – NOT!
When a young girl finally called, it was to inform me that she was still trying to find a driver in my area. Then I received a couple of texts with the same message. Then I heard nothing for almost 90 minutes, followed by a text asking if I was still needing assistance. Well, duh!!
A little while later, that girl called again to inform me that the service provider they had originally set me up with was not responding to her calls, so she contacted another who was 90 minutes out. This was close to 3 hours into my wait.
In the meantime, my daughter contacted me to let me know that she and her husband would come to help. So, they drove 30 miles to change the tire.
What a relief.
When I tried to cancel the request for roadside assistance, there was no option for that in the voicemail system at Urgent.ly. I was not going to jump through hoops to get the cancellation done, so I texted the last number connected to a call from that young girl. I hope she got the message and sent it on to that person who was supposed to come. But if it didn’t happen, I really can’t feel all that terrible about it.
Now for some good news. My short story collection will be coming soon from Next Chapter Publishing, the folks who released Evelyn Evolving and did that terrific book cover. I received a copy of the cover for the new book last Thursday, and I love it. I showed it around at the Book Fair at Holly Lake Ranch, and even showed the server at the charming Italian restaurant, Taste of Italy by the Lake, where we had dinner on Thursday.
The publisher indicated this is a draft, and I do hope nothing changes in the final. My daughter, Dany, who creates some of my covers for the books I self-publish told me there are often little things to tweak that graphic artists know and see that we mere mortals do not. 🙂
Now for some fun with Slim Randles. Enjoy…
Ran into Herb Collins the other day down by the school. He volunteers there, from time to time, helping kids with their math homework and trying to recruit future members of The Great World of Business.
He loved business, back in the days when he lived in the city and ran the pawn shop. For years now, ever since he hung up his jeweler’s loupe, he’s told us that there was an excitement to making the right deal.
“It has to be right for the customer and for me, or it isn’t right at all,” Herb always says. “You can do that and make several people happy and earn a living. There’s no need to take unfair advantage of someone just to add to your bank account.”
Our little town is a bit tame after city life, but it’s Herb’s wife’s home town and she wanted to come back here to live after he retired. So, to satisfy his need for being productive, Herb turned to helping kids understand how wonderful business can be.
He’s advised kids on the most effective way of delivering newspapers on their bicycles.
He’s suggested advertising gimmicks for kids with summer lemonade stands.
And he’s helped several boys market their skills with a lawn mower.
You can take the man out of the business, I guess, but it’s hard to take the business out of the man.
So, after the shaking hands and the how-are-yous, we talked about kids and business, and the new crop of youngsters coming up this year. I couldn’t help thinking ol’ Herb might jump at the chance to dive back in the world of commerce again, but he disabused me of that right away.
“All through with that,” he said, shaking his head. “I was a successful businessman and now I’m successfully retired.”
Successfully retired?
“That’s right,” he grinned. “I have a wife and a television set, and they both work.”
Brought to you by Home Country with Slim Randles, the radio show now on 70 country classics stations nationwide.