Magnolia Restaurant and Sushi Bar
Posted by Super J in Food Rants on July 1st, 2009
As a few of you know, in addition to my day job dealing with PoolDawg’s marketing needs and blogging in the voice of a ceramic bulldog, I also teach at Westwood College. Typically, the two courses I teach are Internet Marketing (naturally) and Customer Service. The reason I’m bringing this up is that I had a really unique and wonderful customer service experience that I wanted to share.
A couple of months ago, we went out to dinner at Magnolia Restaurant. The food was delicious as always, but there were some issues from a service perspective. I spoke with the manager about these issues and in addition to profusely apologizing, he asked me to give them a chance to make it up to us.
No business is perfect, so when a restaurant offers to make good, I’m usually up for giving them a second chance. This past weekend, my parents were in town, so for their 43rd anniversary, we decided to take them to Magnolia’s. Per the manager’s request, I called in advance to let him know personally that we were coming.
When we arrived, we were immediately seated and presented with glasses of champagne on the house. Our waiter, Peter (who I really recommend you specifically ask for if dining there) was exceptionally knowledgeable and attentive to our needs. The food and presentation were amazing as always (I had the Peppered NY Steak with a beef crepinette, whipped potatoes, pearl onions and a grain mustard sauce) and we had an amazing experience.
When I was presented with the bill, the manager immediately came over and knocked 50% off the cost of our bottle of wine (which was unexpected, unnecessary, but greatly appreciated) and personally thanked me for giving them the opportunity to prove themselves to us again.
I can’t tell you how impressed I was with the overall experience. It is rare that a business will own up to making a mistake and then go to the lengths that Magnolia did to rectify the error. If you live in Boulder county or are visiting, be sure to check out Magnolia, a real hidden gem in Lafayette.
Yiddish Word of the Moment:
Geshmak
Definition: Delicious, tasty, yummy
Example: Give me some more of that geshmak pepper steak!
Am I Lazy or What??
Posted by Super J in Family Rants on June 28th, 2009
Its been quite a while since I update my little blog, almost two months in fact. Since I last blogged, I spoke at the DMA’s ACCM conference with science guy Steve Spangler, went to my 20th high school reunion (yikes!), had a run-in with a giant snapping turtle and did a bunch of stuff at work.
I continue to be impressed with anyone who can get in 3-5 posts per week in their blog. I think my mid-year resolution will be to blog more. I’m not sure how I’ll find time to do it, but dammit, I need to blog if for anything just to work on my ever deteriorating writing skills.
This past weekend, we took the kids and my folks to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I’ve been to quite a few museums in my lifetime, but I really must say that this one is my favorite. First stop was the gem and mining exhibit. This is always a favorite stop for the girls.
After checking out all the big, pretty rocks, we headed over to the museum’s new exhibit, Expedition Health.
In addition to seeing what cheek cells look like and finding out what happens to a granola bar on the way down and eventually out, can I just say that I totally kick ass at Mind Ball! They have this game where you strap this belt to your head and control the movement of a ball based on how relaxed you are. If you can push it to your opponent’s goal, you win. Apparently I’m way more relaxed than my kid, because I totally smoked her at Mind Ball.
Ok, that’s all for now. I am determined however to be more diligent in my blogging. It does raise the question though… if you write a blog that no one reads, does the blog actually exist? Kind of like that whole tree falling in the woods thing, dont’cha think?
Oh, I’m also going to stop obsessively checking my rankings on Google. Rankings fluctuate too much and we’re taking more of a holistic approach to SEO lately, so why stress about it.
Yiddish Word of the Moment:
Farcockteh
Definition: Crazy, screwed up, messed up.
Example: I can’t deal with Google’s farcockteh algorithm anymore!
Should I Give A Tweet?
Posted by Super J in Entertainment Rants on April 10th, 2009
It seems that in the past nine months or so, Twitter has gone mainstream. Honestly, we’ve been really dragging our feet jumping into the Twittersphere, mostly because I’m having trouble justifying the time expenditure on it. PoolDawg has a Twitter account and I try to “tweet” (how much do I hate that phrase) for PoolDawg at least once per day, but when will I see a return on my time investment?
Rather than judge this tool as of having little value simply because I don’t get it, I decided to look at one of the companies that has really embraced the tool - Zappos. Zappos has dedicated an entire area of their site to Twitter and their CEO account currently boasts over 390,000 followers. With that many followers, there must be something interesting being said, right? Apparently not, as the posts coming from this account talk about red eye flights, coffee with mom and spicy pork rinds. OK, maybe Twitter is a tool to put a personality and a “face” on the company. I get that. After all, I spend a couple hours per week trying to blog in the voice of a freaking ceramic bulldog.
I guess that’s the point though. While Twitter isn’t going to show a clear ROI, what it just might do is improve your customer loyalty. When customers feel like they “know” a company, they’re more likely to buy from you. It builds relationships and trust. Thanks to Twitter, Zappos is not a faceless corporation. Their customers can see that their employees (everyone is allowed and encouraged to use Twitter) are real people with real interests that their customers can identify with. If Twitter can help a large company build a rapport with their customers, it just might be worth doing.
Yiddish Word of the Moment:
Goniff
Definition: A scoundrel, a rogue, you get the idea.
Example: That goniff Huck Finn tricked me into painting his damn fence again!
I Hate Goatheads
Posted by Super J in Exercise Rants on March 16th, 2009
I finally get to live in a house that’s close enough to work for me to ride my bike and what happens? Attack of the Goatheads. For those not familiar, goatheads are these stupid little thorns that seemingly have no purpose but to puncture tires.
Halfway through my bike ride (on my brand new bike mind you), I look down at my front tire and realize that either I have a flat or I’m just a lot heavier than I think I am. Sure enough, goatheads in my front tire. So now I have to drive to work instead, which means I have to take time out of my day to exercise, which means less time to do whatever it is that I do when I’m not working.
Yiddish Word of the Moment:
Mashugana
Definition: Crazy. Typically used to discribe someone rather than something.
Example: Oy, did you see that mashugana lady pushing her cat in a stroller?
Two Weeks To Go
Posted by Super J in Real Estate Rants on February 23rd, 2009
Daily Obsessive Google Rank Check:
Pool Cues: #1
Pool Cue: #1
With the inspections behind us, we’re now two weeks away from moving out of what was our home for the past 12+ years. My wonderful wife has been packing and taking care of pretty much everything, which has been interesting for the control freak in me. I’m pretty blown away by how stressful this has all been, although knowing me, its more about me creating stress where there is no stress than anything else. Anyway, here’s a shot of what will be the new house (assuming nothing goes awry at the closing).
How pimp is that backyard! Sure, it will take 4x as long to mow the lawn, but I get some privacy and some space which is what I really wanted.
Yiddish Word of the Moment:
Goy/Goyim
Definition: A gentile or non-Jew.
What on Earth was the Goyim doing hanging out in the Shul this morning?