What happened to "Have a nice day"?

I just came home from the famous big W store. You know the giant - rah-rah- we are the greatest privately owned super department store with happy faces posted on all of our price tags store. And when you leave- the greeter makes sure to tell you - "have a nice day". As I went to pay for my purchases, and was standing at the check out with several items that added up to just under one humdred dollars, there were two clerks standing there talking amongst themselves. Neither said hello as they scanned my goods - but continued talking about their life, their day at the store and what they were doing after work. Then one says to the other - "You are such a 'sl_t" and then starts to laugh. The other repeats the insult back to the first. This went on several times - in front of a customer! My question is- when did the customer spending hard earned money become the spectator to the crude comedy performance - and lose their status as the 'raison d'etre' for the company? Don't companies exist because there are customers? What happened to manners and acceptable speech? Since when did insults such as this become so common place that there is no longer a shock value to them? Do we stand by and watch, or do we demand a refund? Do we call the manager out and have the two repeat their perfomance? As long as we accept this kind of behaviour, we will continualy be subjected to poor manners, poor service, and leave the premises with a lot less than a "nice day". Conclusion? Yes I called out the manager and repeated the conversation. She was shocked at the behaviour - or at least appeared to be. For her the customer was right.

Tired of mousy attempts at business

Maybe it's just me, but I am tired of these half hearted, half assed attempts at running businesses. They say that women are starting businesses at twice the rate of men, but my question is - if this is true - where are they? As a business owner, striving for excellence in what I do, I run into women daily who also have their own businesses. The problem is with many of them is that they do not take these businesses seriously. They claim that they want success, but their actions defy their words. "I can't make it - I have to take Billy to a birthday party". "Oh geeze, that is the night that the kids have soccer - I am going to have to pass on that meeting" I have never heard these comments come from a man who owns his own business. Women pride themselves on the ability to multitask, but I often wonder if this in the end will be cause for their demise in the entrepreneurial world. Trying to do it all, and be everything to everyone results in lack of focus. My father was a good - maybe not great - but good business man. I recall he was absent on business trips, and sometimes worked late. I accepted that for us to have food on the table, he sometimes could not be by my side at soccer games, recitals and other events. He sometimes was absent at the dinner table. But I knew he cared about me. Coming from a farming background, I also understood that there were times that work was more important than play. 'Make hay while the sun shines' was a common phrase in out family. Could it be that we are really playing at business and still relying on our spouses financial support? Would we be more committed if we had to balance the books and show a healthy profit every year? Would we miss that little league game a couple of times if our family's financial future depended on us attending a meeting or event? Perhaps it is time for women in business to recognize that to achieve success with their businesses it is going to require committment. That might mean that they need to have less guilt and more organization when it comes to missing family or community events. Missing a learning or networking opportunity for a soccer game or birthday party reveals the level of committment to success of the business. Try explaining that to your banker next time you need a business loan. For more articles like this please visit http://www.roaringwomen.com Mandie Crawford