Email ElizabethCustomer Service at its Worst at an Apple Store
If I didn’t experience this with my own two eyes, I would not have believed how I could find customer service at its worst at an Apple store. Seems crazy, right? Usually, every Apple store I’ve ever been to has been fabulous, just like Apple products themselves.
Now, it goes without saying that I tend to hold high expectations of service from other people, so you know that I am often disappointed when they do not measure up. Some people who probably don’t know any better would say I am the kind of person who is hard to please. Mostly because I expect people to behave in a respectful manner and to do a good job.
On my first visit to the Apple store in Kona, I asked the guy if I could buy a MacBook Air with a 1.5 GB hard drive. He told me to go online and order it there. Which seemed odd. I’m not sure that they are really an Apple store but they do sell Apple products. He was nice enough, though, and showed me a few computers. When I decided on the specs, he said I should bring the MacBookAir back to the store when I receive it, and for $75 they would transfer all of my data from MacBook Pro to my new MacBook Air.
What a deal! I hate doing technical stuff myself and was also a bit worried about the quality of my Time Warner WiFi at the house. It tends to be sporadic and drops off at times. I should mention that I specifically asked if I should make an appointment to do this and was told no, I did not need an appointment.
Couple days later, my MacBook Air arrives via UPS. I grabbed it and ran over to the store. This is when I encountered customer service at its worst at an Apple store. Two rather disgruntled customers left the store almost immediately as I arrived, saying something about going to T-mobile as the guy was no help. Maybe that colored his attitude?
Big smile. Aloha! I am here to transfer the data on my MacBook Pro to my MacBook Air. The store was empty at this point. Snot-nosed mouth-breather stood there chewing on his hair and staring at a bug on the floor. What he said next stunned me: It will take 4 to 7 business days. Seriously?? Who can be without a business computer for a week? That is not what the other guy said a few days earlier.
Well, we have other computers to work on before yours, mouth-breather said. Although, like I mentioned, the store was empty. Nobody else was there.
OK, fine, I’ll migrate the information myself. But I still needed a case for the MacBook Air because it’s so much smaller, I might drop it. Mouth-breather waved his hand toward a shelf, there is all of our MacBook Air cases, he said.
I pawed through the collection, found a clear case. Will this work, I asked?
Sure.
Removed it from the package and started assembling it on my computer. I got the back on but struggled with the front portion.
“Ah, we don’t let customers take product out of the packaging,” he says. Too late for that remark.
I overlooked that snotty comment. “If I can get this on my computer, I will buy it. Here you try it.”
He could not snap it on, either. Oh, no wonder, it did not fit my computer. Wrong case.
Can’t help you, he says. We don’t carry cases for the new MacBook Air.
Can you at least tell me how to transfer the information myself? I haven’t migrated data for maybe 10 years. Does it take a Firewire? Do I need a special connection?
He mumbled something about needing a hard drive, and well, let’s just say if he had to perform that service for me, the odds seemed high he would mess it up.
If this is not customer service at its worst at an Apple store, I don’t know what is. Of course, it is Hawaii, so there is THAT. Not even a I’m sorry. No Aloha in that place.
As I left the store, he opened the door to holler at me in the parking lot, “I’m sure the other guy just miscommunicated.”
I am not.
You may laugh at me for expecting good customer service, and I do not care. I would never treat my clients like this. This would be telling like my sellers in Sacramento to go look at Zillow and not waste my time by asking for a professional CMA. Or directing our buyers to find their own damn property online. We do not sell Sacramento real estate like that, no sirree.
Fortunately, the Apple customer service guys online are so danged helpful, I’ll never have to go to that store again. And so glad I bought my new iPhone XR in Honolulu and not there.
Number One Agent at Lyon Real Estate
Imagine my surprise to wake up in Hawaii on February 1 and discover my company named Elizabeth Weintraub as the number agent at Lyon Real Estate for the month of January 2019. I have been working from our vacation house in Hawaii since November. Won’t be returning to Sacramento until early March. One of my team members contributed a sale to January, but all of the other closings were my listings.
When I mentioned this accomplishment to my sister, she asked me how the other agents felt who are working so hard in Sacramento, while here I am lounging about at Kona Haven Coffee (with phone in hand, I should add). I don’t know how the other agents feel. Maybe they feel like they should go to Hawaii, too, and then sales will pick up. But if the sales aren’t happening where they are, being in Hawaii won’t change that.
Fortunately, many of the agents I know at Lyon find my situation amusing and have sent congratulatory emails.
We have about 1,000 agents at Lyon Real Estate. Becoming the number one agent at Lyon Real Estate is no easy feat. It requires focus, concentration and dedication. Just goes to show, though, that like anybody can become president (and sadly has), anybody can be the number one agent at Lyon Real Estate.
I don’t always tell my clients where I am because they might not understand. If they ask, I’ll tell them, but why do they need to know? They could get upset because a) they are not in Hawaii, and b) they might feel like I should be physically in Sacramento at all times. However, most of my clients feel that as long as I respond to them immediately, which I always do, they don’t really care where I am.
My method of operation is simple: business comes first. I answer my phone when it rings, and respond immediately to text and email. If there is a problem, I take care of it, but usually I see them coming a mile away and send problems on a detour. This is what experience brings to Sacramento real estate.
So don’t hate me because I’m the number one agent at Lyon Real Estate. I earned it. Nobody is handing me success on a silver platter.
Buying a Home With a Video Camera on the Doorbell
When showing a home to buyers, approaching a home that sports a video camera on the doorbell is asking for trouble if you’re not careful. Buyers might not even notice the camera, so it is up to the buyer’s agent to have that conversation before coming close enough to the house to be recorded. It is very common nowadays to discover a video camera on the door bell.
When I listed a house in Natomas with the video camera, I asked the seller if it was working because it did not chime when I pressed the button. Sure enough, she had the original Ring Doorbell. Those batteries don’t last very long and their range of motion is such that it uses more energy than is necessary. But buyers should act as though all the video cameras on the doorbell work.
At our house in Hawaii, I had installed the Ring doorbell, and the battery issue was always pressing. Such a hassle to remove and charge. I thought I had solved it by installing a solar panel, but that did not charge the battery. You know why? Because the Ring Doorbell was not in the sun. Duh! Double duh! It needs full sun to charge a solar panel. Period sun or filtered sunlight won’t cut it. So I bought the upgraded version, the Video Ring Doorbell 2. Plus I bought an extra rechargeable battery for it, and so far that’s been working great.
Worked so great that when I looked at my Ring app the other day because it notified me when I was the gym, I saw a police officer standing there. Uh, oh, busted, what the hell have I done now? Turns out he wanted to know if I had a video of an intruder who broke into my neighbor’s unlocked car.
It picks up the sound of anybody approaching the house. When I listed another home in West Sacramento, the seller had a blast sitting back in his office chair and playing his videos of buyers. Buyers who gushed and oohed and ahhed over the house. At least they were saying complimentary things. Which is better than, Oh, my gawd, look at the flooring, absolutely atrocious.
Good thing none of those types wrote an offer because it would prejudice the seller. Sellers do not want to hear their house is a piece of crap and their decorating taste sucks.
Many sellers have security systems with cameras that record sound and movement inside the house as well. Don’t assume that you are not being watched. In fact, assume that you are.
Try not to linger outside of the house in full view of the video camera on the doorbell, too. Smart technology is everywhere, and everybody is listening. Even the television could be recording you.
How to Cure Health Problems You Did Not Know You Had
Believe me, I did not start out trying to cure health problems I did not know I had. Most of the time, if I’m breathing and can see when I open my eyes in the morning, I am content. As a general rule, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about my health. The most consideration I give is when I’m about to see my primary doctor for an annual checkup. Then I put together a list of irritating or annoying things, and she fixes them.
Never anything that’s a big deal. But as we get older, and I am heading toward 67, you and I might find that things on our body have stopped working in the way that we were once accustomed. We don’t realize it because we tend to compensate for it. Especially if we are a top Sacramento Realtor and always way too busy to spend a lot of time trying to cure health problems.
We leave that to our doctors. And therein lies the problem, for me at least. Because, by the time I visit my doctor, I have already compensated for some stupid defect and I don’t mention it. Or I hope it will magically go away. That somehow the passage of time will autocorrect. Except autocorrect doesn’t always work. Hey, when you get a text from me that says HO Away, you just have to sound it out, for crying out loud. Don’t text me back to ask what does HO mean.
I realized I had limited motion when I attended a Yin Yoga class a while back. Practicing yoga has been on my mind for years, I’ve just never acted on it. The instructor asked me if I had any questions. Yes, I mentioned once having the good fortune a few years ago to score tickets to a concert at The Crest Theatre to watch Mark Lindsay from Paul Revere and the Raiders fame.
That guy was born in 1942, 10 years older than me. Yet, there he was on stage, kicking a leg over his head. When he bent at the waist to bow in front of the audience, he could kiss his knees. He folded in two like an envelope. So impressive! I want that flexibility. So our yoga instructor gave me the Mark Lindsay pose. I learned a lot of poses, actually. Some of which are very hard, which only involve standing on one foot.
By the end of the class, I was sweating and panting, and all I did was stretch. And that’s when I discovered one of my legs would not move in a certain direction. Felt pain on the outside of my thigh. As though it was restricted. So I Googled those muscles and figured out which one it was. Followed by another search for relieving pain in that muscle and how to strengthen it.
The next few trips to the gym focused on working that area to try to restore movement. I used only low weights on the machines and moved slowly, not enough to cause any pain or harm. At a friend’s suggestion, I booked an appointment with a medical therapist who practices a wide range of massages, including relieving pressure points.
At home, I used my bands to strengthen that side of my body as well. I began to feel better and stronger. I lost weight, too. Sure enough, today, I can move that leg without pain. It’s incredibly empowering.
Yeah, people tell you all the time that you lose muscles when you age, but if you’re like me, you just pooh-pooh it. Never used those muscles when I was younger and nothing bad ever happened. So why should I have to care now, was my attitude. But it is true. You lose muscle if you don’t work it. It’s not gonna continue working for you if you don’t support it. This is not like TSA workers who had to show up for work like slaves without payment during Trump’s self indulgent and utterly childish government shutdown. No, sirree, those muscles go on strike when you’re getting old.
Well, I did not enjoy a lot of balance, either. In my defense, why would anybody stand on one leg when you have two perfectly good legs to hold one up. It can be challenging to balance on one leg, though, especially with my hands twisted into some weird contortion over my head. But I am doing it.
I have learned that I can’t reply on my body to just perform like it always has. Nope, need to nurture it and build those muscles for support. Makes total sense to me now. Plus, I’m very proud I could cure health problems I didn’t know I had until I stopped to acknowledge the pain and took charge of my health. Nobody else is gonna do it for you, you know.
Whose Fault is Your Unhappiness?
The pursuit of happiness, an unalienable right offered to us in the Declaration of Independence, does not guarantee people won’t point fingers when they ponder the question: whose fault is your unhappiness. For starters, the Declaration of Independence does not provide a blueprint of where to find happiness or even that a person will ever become truly happy. Just that we all have the right to attempt to be happy, as long as we aren’t hurting anybody or breaking laws.
We can do pretty much what we want to do as long as it makes us happy. What I find is many people might not know what makes them happy. Never pondered that aspect of living. Maybe they never considered the state of happiness as something to obtain? Some also tend to believe they don’t deserve happiness. Not true. Everybody deserves bliss. Not surprisingly, the wickedly depraved often believe happiness is overrated, and they will tell you that, because they can’t achieve it.
People don’t like to think about the phrase whose fault is your unhappiness because it’s way too convenient to blame somebody else. Point the finger elsewhere. Make it all somebody else’s fault. There is always some other person or circumstance holding you back, right? Lots of excuses. Not enough money. Not enough time. Not smart enough. Not enough experience. People will object. Fear you will fail. Can’t, can’t, can’t is such a negative and defeatist attitude.
As gently as I can say this, that person holding you back is reflected in your bathroom mirror every time you step out of the shower.
Reminds me of a situation a few years ago. I had ordered a car built with all the options I wanted and exactly the way I desired it. Was very excited. Waited a long 6 months or so for delivery. When I got to the dealership, the car was missing an important option; they had messed up my order. So, it would take another 6 months to build another vehicle.
At least a good 30 days had gone by before I heard myself repeating whose fault is your unhappiness, Elizabeth? I had blamed the dealership for screwing up. That’s why I didn’t have a new car. In reality, that was an excuse to be unhappy. I did not deserve unhappiness. Did I really need a custom built vehicle or could I let go of that idea? What I needed was a new car, and the reason I did not have a new car was because of my attitude.
Instead of wallowing in whose fault is your unhappiness, which is a sorry state of affairs, I decided instead to comb a number of dealerships, found my dream car and bought it.
However, happiness is not directly tied to material objects. You absolutely do not need wealth. I made the long trip across the International Dateline to Vanuatu 5 years ago to check out what is billed as the Happiest Country on Earth. People danced to music in the streets. A maid at my resort took me to a Kava Bar in Tanoliu and then to her modest house to share a fresh coconut. Her village was still governed by a chief. They cooked meals over a fire pit outside and lived entirely off the land. Not an unhappy person in that group.
Happiness comes from not always embracing certainty. From pushing yourself to do things that are uncomfortable. The funny thing is once you experience the uncomfortableness of a new experience, it becomes comfortable.
Nobody else is in charge of running your life and pursuing happiness but you. Empower yourself to step outside of your usual boundaries. Amazing transformations will take place. I promise you.
Sorry we are experiencing system issues. Please try again.
