Get going and get smart

I don't claim to be an expert, just an interested amateur but I do have a certain amount of experience to share and here is one secret for customer service I learnt a long time ago.

S = Smile
M = Make Eye Contact
A = Attend
R = React
T = Thank You

Imagine going to a counter in your local shop and getting that treatment, ok now imagine getting that treatment at every shop, ok now try and stop smiling ;)

If you are lucky enough to be in contact with the general public in any service capacity try this out, you'll be amazed at just how effective it is, once you've found out, try telling your colleagues about it, spread the word, create a revolution in your own workplace, dare ya !

Why should I ? I hear you say, well do it for selfish reasons if you like, if you follow this simple mantra you will:

• Do more
• Do it easier
• Enjoy it more

Don't believe me?

Say you work in sales, every day you go in an grind your way through 8hrs of "customers bloody customers" until the end of your shift, you get a measly 30 mins for lunch and maybe a 15 min tea break and all for minimum wage.

Sounds horrid, how does this sound?

You go in every day and work 8 hrs meeting hundreds of smiling people and help them get what they want, time flies so much that you almost always forget to take your lunch break until you're reminded by the supervisor and just yesterday you spent your tea break helping a little old lady called Mabel get round the store for her weekly shop.

Well I know which sort of day I'd like.

Still not convinced?

Try this one small test then, Smile, really smile at the next three people you meet, bet you see a change in them and bet you feel a change in you too.

Remember nothing will change if you do nothing about it so take a chance and give it a go, I'd love some feedback on how it goes for you.

John Anslow

The Curry Club Tel:822226 in Callows Yard Castletown is the place to get a curry south of Douglas, I just had a great meal there and I'm here to tell you the restaurant passes on all fronts.

Service: as you know I'm big on good customer service and this place had it in buckets, discreet and attentive at the same time we were made to feel welcome and honoured guests, shown to our table and waited upon as and when we needed it, in fact the anticipation was so good that I felt like I'd strayed into "Mr Ben and the curry house" at times.
Food: well I can hardly say enough about the quality and freshness of the food, you can tell if it's been languishing in the fridge since Saturday or if it's been freshly prepared for the Sunday crowd and this was fresh.

After the standard poppadoms, which actually weren't standard being some of the best I've had in years with imaginative sambles, we started with Prawn Puri and Onion Bhagee and both were tasty and freshly prepared, the Prawn Puri made use of lentils which I'd never had in one before and was flavoursome in the extreme without being too spicy, the Bhagees were more onion than flour as is so often the case.

We then had Chicken Korma and Lamb Balli Ram, Pilou Rice, Peshwari Nan and Bombay Aloo, superb is the only epithet applicable, rich and tasty and the Nan was divine !

Stuffed to capacity we managed to slip half a Kulfi down each and that though shop bought was also lovely.

We drank a ginger beer and a pineapple juice as the restaurant is unlicensed but other diners were brining their own with no issues, in fact the waiter asked if we'd like to pop out to the co-op and get some ourselves before we started.

All round a great meal beuatifully presented at every stage and much enjoyed by us both.
Price: £25 a head for drinks, starters, main and a cheeky Kulfi ice cream is pretty good value in my book and we will definately be back, best to book though as they did over 100 covers on Saturday night according to our waiter.

ps great after dinner mints too :)

Till next time, remember Service is not a dirty word.

Why the Patchwork Cafe in Port St Mary is always full

I could end this blog with one word "Service" but that would be pretty boring so I'll expand on that a bit "Customer Service" lol

Ok so seriously what makes The Patchwork Cafe so different from all other cafe's between Port Erin and Douglas that I'd rather drive back from douglas for lunch than eat in one of the numerous eateries in the capital?

When I walked in today I was as usual greeted with a smile and by name by Rich the owner, I sat at a table and proceeded to watch the interactions between the staff and the customers as I usually do, everyone walking in was greeted most by name and shown to a table immediately, one group were unlucky enough to come when all tables were taken but Rich glanced about and estimated a 15 minute wait, instead of going away disgruntled they happily agreed to return and amazingly 15 minutes later when they returned a table was indeed free for them.

Ok so good estimation true but why were they so happy to wait to be served?

Well any cafe rises or falls on two things, the quality of the food and the quality of the customer service and yes the Patchwork Cafe has buckets of both, with Rich front of house and Adrienne creating great food fresh to order they excel in both.

Despite their already winning ways they are always keen to innovate and have introduced film nights and afternoons where the cafe is packed every week with people enjoying not only good food but great films, I hear music is next on the agenda and I wonder how long it will be before the Ashcroft's outgrow their premises and start looking for something bigger?

Want to learn more? try their facebook page and if you're lucky enough to be on the Isle of Man and pop in, tell Rich I sent you :)

Patchwork Link

John

14 North

Last Friday I was lucky enough to go to 14 North on the quay in Douglas IOM for the PokerStars Human Resources Christmas party.

I'd never been to 14 North before and was unsure what to expect, having eaten in a number of restaurants on the IOM with mixed results, immediately on arrivingy mind was put at rest by a lovely warm welcome, our waitress took us upstairs to our table and settled us in with friendly chat and many smiles.

14 North is not the largest of restaurants being a former private residence with the ground and first floor being devoted to tables and chairs and the kitchen either downstairs or out back I didn't see it what it lacks in size it makes up for in Intimacy.

Our table of 20 almost took up the whole of one side of the upstairs room so our noisy chatter didn't disturb too many regular diners, I knew they were regulars by the way they interacted with the staff and by the smiles on their faces.

It took a while for our meal companions to assemble and while we waited our waitress fetched us drinks having guided me skilfully to a lovely cocktail.

Eventually we were all present and watered and the pre-ordered starters began to appear, delivered hot or cold as appropriate they were unanimously agreed to be tasty, I'd ordered a spicy sausage flatbread that when it arrived could easily have served as a main course, it was hot spicy and delicious and I was forced to control myself to leave room for my main course.

Without asking my waitress offered to wrap it for me to take home which was a lovely touch.

The main courses duly arrived also piping hot or suitably chilled I had a steak which for a change arrived cooked as ordered medium rare, I enjoyed it thoroughly but couldn't finish it and yes my waitress took it away and wrapped it for me to take home, everyone at the table and from what I could see the restaurant enjoyed theirs just as much as me.

Pudding for me was cheese and biscuits which arrived sans butter, quickly and courteously remedied and was composed of four flavoursome local cheeses and 8 assorted biscuits that I enjoyed too.

At last replete from a lovely meal we left vowing to return and I for one will surely be back, 14 north get in there as a football playing friend of mine would say.

Why do they do that ?

I just spent a very frustrating hour trying to get Access 2007 to display a custom menu on a form, I remember doing this a while ago and it wasn't that hard.

Adding a custom menu to a form adds value by making getting around a lot easier for users which is probably why Microsoft decided to remove this functionality when they "upgraded" the software to 2007.

I'm not one to stand in the way of progress but sheesh, it's like upgrading a car by making all the buttons on the dashboard black with black lettering that lights up black when you press em !

Am confidently expecting the next iteration to disallow the use of alphanumeric characters.

Ok end of rant back to the day job.

John

Verifying my blog on Empire Avenue

EAV:c1560821196111c3

Ok so what's that all about I hear you ask, well I was recently put onto Empire Avenue by my boss who is a social media genius by the way called Jon Weedon, here's a link to his blog so you can bask in his awesomeness http://jon1.com/

Empire Avenue to get back to the subject in hand is a social media share dealing networking sort of a thingy that is really quite addictive if you happen to be a social animal like me, stop laughing you lot !

Ok so why am I posting a long number, well as part of setting yourself up and earning EAV's (the currency of the game) you have to verify your blog hence the id number, see simple huh?

Ok so why not follow this link and have a look, yes I get EAV's if you do, I'm obviously now trying to beat my boss and have a long way to go so any and all help will be appreciated :)

http://empireavenue.com/?t=moy8idj

More to come on this I feel sure.

John

Back with a reconciliation

hello everyone, been a while aye?

While I've been away much has happened to me, around me and by me and I'll try and bring you all up to date as quickly as I can.

Firstly I am now in a new job that has probably the longest title I've ever owned, Senior Manager Online Training and Intranet Development which basically means that I have two full time jobs to hold down, it seems incredible to me that only 12 months ago I didn't really have one !

Secondly I am still at the same company and still on the Isle of Man which is good news all round, though Fraggle Rock may be cold wet and insular it is also beautiful, safe and secure, having said that over the winter I'm afraid the UK and the rest of the world or "Across" as it's locally referred to were cut off for quite a few days as the ferry wasn't able to get across to Heysham, I hope you were all ok and not too worried.

Thirdly there's some great and some terrible customer service over here to report on so look forward to some more posts soon.

Gotta go as work beckons, take care all I'll be back soon.

John