the art of being thankless...

i would like to know how people live in the cold. how? it is miserable. it's not even that cold here and i hate it. nothing is glamorous about the cold. sure snow looks pretty for a little while, then it's just gray slush. (i think last year's snow ruined me. an entire week trapped like a rat in my house...) no one can pull off the "snow bunny" look without being downright freezing. i also hate going out when it is cold. what do you do with your jacket when you are hot? i'll tell you what...i just don't wear one out. don't care. i have a strange aversion to having to hold things for extended periods of time. i will literally barter with myself based on how much whatever i am holding costs...

long story short. i am cold. i shouldn't be. i am sitting in front of a propane powered heater. and i have it set on high. but i am. i am cold. the only place i like being cold is in my house when i am about to go to sleep. that's it. i have more pairs of uggs than one human can possibly need, but whatever. i also know they are ugly as sin, but they keep my toes warm.

again, i ramble and for that i apologize. i also must apologize to my very best friend candice, who informed me that my dad is not the only one who reads my blog ----ohhhhh hey candice. again, the rambling. i promise i will get better about it...that's a big 'ol fat lie right there folks.

i really wanted this post to be about thankfulness or rather the lack there of, but i seem to have gotten of track a smidge. go figure.

that being said... when did people become so ridiculously obnoxious? have people always been this way? i was having this discussion with darwin yesterday because i was frustrated from the lack of thankfulness there is in our business. it's as if no matter what you do, someone is going to find a fault in something and then they come to you and decide that it is your fault. i mean what?

darwin and i deal with this a lot. i understand wanting to be happy with the product (insert whatever widget you wish) but when did we become the people who obtain something to complain about it? why in the world does that ever make sense? no matter how hard darwin and i try to explain how something is going to look, take a customer's drawing and make it into something, explain explain explain,  people come back and say, well we didn't quite understand and we just aren't happy with it.

OH REALLY.

there is this thing in life that you can do...it's a simple thing. they teach it to you from an early age. hell, i don't even think you have to be taught it, i think it just happens naturally as you get older. and by older i mean start to crawl, talk, walk (that whole stage of life). it's to ask questions people.  if you want to know more about something, if you don't quite grasp something, if you think something is wrong - ask a  question about it.  it's not exactly as if it is rocket science. it's a simple question.

maybe questions aren't really the problem. maybe people are the problem. if you like something. like it; don't let others tell you that you don't like it. you have opinions. use them. and while you are at it be a bit grateful for what you do have. it's not easy. but do it. the last thing that i want to deal with during the day, is someone who has decided that a "one of a kind piece" just isn't really what they had in mind, and would we mind refunding them and bending over backwards to make them happy. well you know what my answer to that is? ABSOLUTELY NOT. this relates right on back to my being bullied post. don't tell me something that you picked out, tallied, wanted, annoyed the ever living daylights out me to make happen, isn't what you wanted. um, actually, it's exactly what you wanted. just because you've decided that maybe you wanted something else instead, gives you no right to complain about the quality of what you do have. NONE.

so be a bit thankful. also, don't blame the little man. if you do something wrong, blame yourself. not everyone else. darwin and i don't get to blame anyone. so why should you get to use us as your scapegoat? i know, life is tough, get a helmet, but ya know what? i am flat out tired of that excuse. how about trying this hat on for a little while - be content and thankful. manners get you a lot further than you think....

ciao.

telephone wars...

slow down, you move too fast, you've got make the morning last...

i often sing this song. i also think i have written a post with a similar theme; hell it may even have those lyrics in it. i resisted the crushing urge to put down: monday, monday. can't trust that day. i know for a fact i have used that one.

back to the task at hand. well the one of 18 tasks at hand. telling you all my life story through a series of funny events that happen to me in and around work. they always relate back to something i've previously done. i try to tell that story without giving out too much detail. i like secrets. well that's not entirely true. secrets can just about ruin anything. i think legitimately the only thing secrets can't ruin are surprises. but that's probably because surprises are glorified secrets with a big bow wrapped around them. alas, that is a discussion for another time and another place, and preferably with a few cocktails attached.

i don't do a lot of the philosophical inner search that is the big rage these days. not a huge fan of fads in general, but sometime i find myself racing so fast that i literally feel as if my heart may explode out of my chest. i am having one of those moments. i had one this morning as well when my alarm went off at 6. i hadn't slept well, i was cold, and the last thing i wanted to do was leave my happy place. that dream world where everything ends up sunshine and roses, and if something bad happens, all you have to do is wake up and take a deep breath and go back to sleep. if life were that easy i would most certainly have things further figured out. i can guarantee you that. if it was just as simple as i am going to sleep through this trial and tribulation until it becomes a treasure of sorts, then i think the entire world would be asleep. nothing, and i mean absolutely nothing, would get done.

but man could you imagine the i don't want to be here anymore button? that would be a disaster. because you have to face those trials and tribulations. if you don't you can't grow as a person. if you can't grow as a person, then you are a glorified toddler, and that is just terrible. i mean i laugh and i joke as if i am not a four year old playing an adult, but in reality when things need to get done, i'll get them done. albeit begrudgingly.

now comes to the point, where i stop babbling - ha, right - and wheel this puppy back on course. as you know, or may not because i don't really think anyone actually reads this except for my dad - HEY DAD!, but we've started a furniture line - Urban Reclaimed. this furniture line i think may be the death of me. my previous posts talk about starting the company and figuring out which way is up and which way is bankrupt (see what i did there...), but today i am realizing something i've always known about myself....public enemy number 1 for me is the telephone. ever since i was little, i had a strange aversion to the phone. i am a girl, i should love to talk on the phone for hours, right? well i must be wired wrong, because if my phone never made another annoyingly pleading noise at me again, i would be just fine. but that apparently is not how the world works....damn.

so now here i sit facing the conundrum that is the telephone. because in order to make sales happen, i have to use the phone. the biggest problem i see here, aside from the phone having to be used, is the fact that i am absolutely terrified of sales calls. e-mail me or text me all day and i will make it happen. use the phone...hmm, not so much. now the flip-side of this is that i am actually quite good at using the phone when it comes to solving bills, calling for pricing on stuff, lying to customers (that's a joke...), ya know, the keep the company afloat things. i am good at that. the moment you tell me it's a sales call. WHAM, i am instantly nervous, nauseous, and a clammy mess. it's an attractive look.

so now is where i sit at a crossroads. how does one overcome their fear of the phone? how does anyone do it? well, they repeatedly do it until, it no longer scares the absolute dog shit out of them. i am not a big fan of that tactic. i am as i previously stated, a big fan of the hide under the covers until it passes over tactic.

i guess what i am saying is wish me luck...why does it always have to be about luck? why don't schools have a class on proper phone techniques? why? i'll tell you why, because no one in their right mind would sign up for it. you would have to rename it something. something like - you will make an A in this class if all you do is bring your cell phone....that would get people coming. not staying, but coming.

so cheers to the telephone. if you wouldn't mind letting it kick to voicemail when i call for sales, i would greatly appreciate it...

ciao.

woosah...

darwin taught me to drive the truck with the trailer attached. now let me preface this with a couple of things. i drive the big truck all the time (i would say trucks, but sadly i don't know how to drive a manual) and i have driven the big truck with the trailer attached to it. i have also parked the trailer - getting better at that one. however none of these things actually involved being on the road per say. so wednesday, when it was finally not horrifically gross outside, darwin and i made a venture to the new shop. i am sitting on the computer, trying desperately for it to speak to me about launching a furniture line (Urban Reclaimed - shameless plug), when darwin calls my name.

this usually ends one of two ways: dot, i am hungry or dot, where is something i misplaced 8 months ago, but it is very imperative that i have it at this exact moment in time. both of those situations i am very adept at handling. i micromanage most everything, so i am pretty good at knowing the answer to both of these questions. micromanaging my life - whole 'nother ball game that i am in the bottom of then 9th, bases loaded, 2 outs, 2 strikes, 3 balls....ya get the point.

wednesday was different. different how you ask? well darwin asked me if i knew where the lumber company by the new shop was and i said no. his response, oh good you can drive me there...EXCUSE ME, SAY WHAT?

let me preface once more. i am a nervous person by nature. i don't do confrontation, i don't like the phone, i don't like certain movies that make me uncomfortable, i will most decidedly bolt from a situation that will become too uncomfortable, i don't like long silences (i can tolerate them, but i don't like them)...you get the picture. nervous person. it's a characteristic that i am not terribly proud of, but have learned to mask and move right on through. there are a lot of "woosah" moments in my life. so you can imagine the nervous energy when darwin told me that i was going to drive the truck and trailer to said lumber company, pick up a pack, with him in the truck....

hopefully this will go better than the "teach dot to drive a stick shift in a warehouse" episode.

it went fine. surprisingly well. darwin is a remarkably good teacher. i mean it's not like i just got my license and am driving for the first time. but still, darwin has been hesitant to teach me to drive the truck and trailer, so this was a big step...for the two of us.

with that, i have learned that lots of things in life are like the lesson in driving the truck and trailer. without being loaded down, you can speed up a bit and brake a bit later, but you ultimately have to pay attention to your surroundings. with a load you have to be more cautious, a lot more judicious with your decisions. it makes perfect sense to me. life is a big ball of confusion. sometimes you are less confused and you fly right on through. sometimes you are way confused and you have to slow down and rethink your steps.

ciao.

p.s. keisha (the big truck) does NOT like it when it's cold. i think this is my perfect relationship...