Morning Hat and other Stories

Morning Hat

Morning Hat

Three Sisters

My two sisters and I (one older and one younger) met in San Francisco last year to clean out the house that my aunt, who had passed away, had lived in for 40 years.  It was a daunting assignment, but we had fun while we were there. One morning I came out of the bedroom and my two sisters were already at my Aunt's kitchen table. I had spread a washcloth on my hair to mat down the ones that were standing at attention. My young sister looked at me and said, "What, is that your morning hat?"  Ha!  I just thought of it as a washcloth, but she added a zing to it and it became my morning hat. Then she cross stitched a one for me! Use phrases with spice like: nap victim, or Aunt Minnie in radiology, or hashtag, instead of number sign or octothorp, or pie instead of pizza.  Just spice it up!  Quality Service lesson: Rename things to make them more interesting!


Traditions are Memorable

When I was in elementary school in Nanakuli, I was always excited for the last day of the school year because that meant I was off for the summer. Three months of hunting for lizards and lizard eggs, traipsing the neighborhood to visit with other kids, going to the beach, playing croquet, and even playing in the old outhouse on the property. But the school added icing to the excitement by giving every student one of those cardboard luau cups of Kalua pig that the administrators had cooked in the ground. If you want to learn more about how Kalua pig is made, visit Veena's Market's blog. The link is below.  For those of you who have never tasted Kalua pig, you are missing out. Go to the Hawaiian food restaurant in your town and try it or even better, fly to Hawaii and check it out. Once you taste it, you will want this recipe so you can make it at home in your own crockpot. You can use kosher salt if you can't find Hawaiian sea salt. It's so easy! But if you want to cook it in the ground in an imu, here's an instructional video.  Every time I smell Kalua pig, I think of those luau cups that were handed out by the teachers to each student every year on the last school day before summer. It was a wonderful tradition that I will never forget.  Quality Service lesson:  Give your customers a tradition that they can be a part of and will remember forever. They will be so excited about the tradition, they will do your advertising for you on social media.

Photo borrowed from http://veenasmarket.wordpress.com/

Festival of Love

Mommy/Sonny Selfie

My husband understands the meaning of Quality Service. Right now his job is caregiver even though he does not get a salary for it. There are intrinsic rewards for him but not monetary.  His nurturing care of his 92 year-old mother has been an inspiration to me because of her many illnesses all through which he has kept her spirits up and kept her going. He checks on her constantly and makes her laugh with every visitation. When she calls him, he answers the phone, "Howdy doody Mommy Tooty Fruity!" and he tucks her in at night with a phone call that usually ends with a funny dialogue about bedbugs. He makes sure she takes her pills and eats her meals and drinks her water. They go for drives around the property in her golf cart and he takes our little rat terrier down to visit her during the day. She loves the quality service that he dishes out!  Quality Service lesson:  Care about your customers, even if they aren't paying you for a specific service right at the moment. They (or their family or friends) could become a valuable customer in the future. 

Remember - every day is Aloha Friday! Take the Aloha Spirit with you wherever you go and make it a good one!