ANOTHER SUNSET - BOOK RELEASE AND SIGNING EVENT

  

ON FRIDAY DECEMBER 5TH 2014 FROM 4PM TO 8:30PM AS PART OF THE WALLINGFORD CENTER HOLIDAY STROLL, JASON ZANDRI WILL BE AT HUBCAP WALLINGFORD FOR THE FORMAL BOOK RELEASE AND SIGNING EVENT FOR HIS INAUGURAL NOVEL “ANOTHER SUNSET”.

JASON ZANDRI WILL BE ON HAND SELLING HIS BOOK AT HUBCAP WALLINGFORD AND HE WILL SIGN ALL BOOKS PURCHASED THERE OR BROUGHT TO THE EVENT AS PURCHASED THROUGH RETAIL OUTLETS

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON “ANOTHER SUNSET” OR TO ORDER YOUR OWN COPY PLEASE SEE http://www.zandri.net/anothersunset.htm

TO CONTACT THE AUTHOR WITH ADDITIONAL QUESTION ABOUT THE BOOK OR THE EVENT PLEASE EMAIL HIM AT JASON@ZANDRI.NET

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HUBCAP WALLINGFORD PLEASE SEE http://www.hubcapwallingford.com/

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON WALLINGFORD CENTER PLEASE SEE http://wallingfordcenterinc.com/

Patient Appreciation Day Food Drive

Join Bennett Family Chiropractic as we spend a day of gratitude thanking you, your friends and family for being a huge part of the health movement in this community. Please stop in the office and donate non-perishable food items to our Patient Appreciation Day Food Drive on November 17th and 19th. We can help others in our community have a full Thanksgiving table. In return for your donations, Bennett Family Chiropractic is offering complimentary consultation and examinations! Each person will receive one gift certificate to be used by anyone by the end of this year, 2014. This certificate includes a complete history, consultation, exam, and Thermal Imaging Study. X-rays will be taken if necessary and are charged separately. This is a great opportunity to see if chiropractic care can help you with any health struggles you may face or gift the certificate to someone else in need. Have a blessed and healthy holiday season!

“Bennett Family Chiropractic’s mission is to ensure the health of the next generation. Educating and caring for families and helping the community to achieve optimal health, stimulates though and encourages individuals to take charge of their health.” –Dr. Bennett

Dr. Stephanie Bennett

Bennett Family Chiropractic, LLC

950 Yale Ave, Suite 29

203-793-7147

www.bennettfamilychiro.com

Customer service praise – this time for a big box store

From time to time I will praise a local business that gives good service and / or goes above and beyond to offer exemplary examples of fortitude in trying to correct an issue.

This isn’t to say a large corporation cannot do the same but due to their large size and the diversity of their employee pool it can be a crap shoot.

When “they” get it wrong, I let them have it. When they get it right I should scream just as loudly and that is why I have written this post.

This was my recent experience with Staples (online) which has a store location here in Wallingford (the email I sent to Staples Corporate is below).


SUBJECT: Premium Customer Service Received regarding my Staples Pink Mesh Chair order 

To All concerned,

I wanted to take the time this morning as I commute in to work on Metro North to NYC to express my thanks to Tracy Combs (primarily, as I worked with her directly and extensively) as well as Matthew Robinson who assisted in helping me to resolve multiple issues with my order of the Staples Pink Mesh Chair.

To be completely fair, Staples lost money on this order. Between the courtesy credit to part of my order for the troubles and the amount of “manpower” dedicated to resolve the issue, this was a cost to the corporation.

I want to offer a little back ground on the issue because it was not something simple to address so please bear with me on the lengthy email. I promise you, it’s worth reading every word to fully appreciate the entire situation.
My wife and I recently bought our eight year old daughter Angela a desk for room to work on her laptop I repaired (second hand) and to do other school work. When I logged on to the Staples website to let her pick out her chair this is the one she wanted:

So we went about placing the order on Saturday September 6^th and received an email stating “Expected Delivery: September 12, 2014”.

Much to our surprise on Monday the 8^th we received an email that Order 9712990805 was out of stock, the order was cancelled, and that the item is expected to be back in stock in 5-7 business days. I didn’t tell my daughter and I was a little disappointed after it showed in stock but it happens so I just would re-order it.

On Saturday the 13^th I went back online to see the item in stock again (the same way it was listed prior and shown above as “In Stock Online”) so I placed the order (number 9713268047). On Monday the 15^th I got the same form email that the chair was out of stock, the order was cancelled, and that the item is expected to be back in stock in 5-7 business days. I contacted support via email and asked them to NOT cancel the order but to just fill it when the chair came back in stock but they couldn’t do that as it was already canceled and they had no way to override the system automation. I also asked “why is this still showing as “In Stock Online” but I never got a follow up.
I asked my daughter at that point if there was another chair she might like as there was an issue with ordering this one and she looked around disappointedly but really was set on this one (although she did choose another one). I try to look at things pragmatically but when it comes to some simple things like a favorite whatever that is going to make my kids happy (my daughter or any of the three boys) I try to make it happen. We don’t spoil our kids but we know life can be a tough ride so the little niceties – we like to try to deliver on them.

So with that mindset, on Wednesday the 17^th I decided to try the order again (9713439416) and it was cancelled – again. It was at that time I called the service center and began dealing with Tracy Combs. She is the epitome of customer service. Throw away whatever training manuals you use presently to train staff and let her write them. She took my call, listened to every word I said, understood the problem from a practical sense (ordering and fulfillment). She was genuinely empathetic, understanding that I was emotionally upset over the whole scenario – from the amount of time and effort I put into this and due to the fact my daughter was set on this chair. Tracy was sympathetic to the problem and made zero excuses – she looked over the three orders and didn’t know why (at the time) they were showing available for ordering and kept cancelling out. She engaged Matthew to help her as she was going to be out for planned time off and he stepped in and followed up over the weekend and into Monday.

On Monday the 22^nd I tried the order again (9713589090). Tracy basically “watched” it enter the system and fail out. She had followed up prior and found out the ordering system issue (internal pricing error) and escalated it so that it could be corrected. Basically because of that pricing error, the chairs WERE in stock but the orders were being cancelled because of that issue. She was hopeful that it was corrected for this order but it wasn’t.

She continued to work on the issue over the week and on Monday the 29^th we entered order 9713834969 which was finally successful as the internal pricing error was corrected.

All the work and effort produced this result on the evening of Wednesday October 1:

As I said before, Staples lost money on this order. Between the courtesy credit to part of my order for the troubles and the amount of “manpower” dedicated to resolve the issue, this was a cost to the corporation. What Staples has gained is my further loyalty to a corporation that takes the time to care about one customer despite having hundreds of thousands of others.

I’ll make sure to let as many other people that I can know about this as well.
In the meantime I wanted to make sure the people that helped make my daughter happy, that helped resolve the issue to make that possible, received my personal thanks and that people in Staples Corporate knew these details as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email in its entirety and I hope everyone has a great week and weekend.

Jason Zandri

As time moves by…

A little more of a personal thing than a “Wallingford” thing but I felt like sharing it anyway.

At the beginning of the year I had the chance to buy two sets of three ticket packs to Fenway Park as part of a small package deal.

Little did I know at the time that I would be picking two great games versus two great opposing ball clubs for the 2014 season – The Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees.

I couldn’t have known at the beginning of the season that Baltimore would be in first place and that the Red Sox vs. Yankee game would be the last game that Derek Jeter would play.

So let me set you the stage – I am a die hard Red Sox fan since the early 70s.

 
While I didn’t go to many games as a kid with my father to Fenway or Yankee Stadium (I think it may have been three games in total over my whole childhood) I did get to see some greats play.

I was able to watch these greats over at Fenway Park (as shown above in 1977 at the ripe old age of eight with my then seven year old sister who would not be caught dead in a Sox hat these days). 

Rice
Fisk
Evans
Lynn
Yastrzemski
Eckersley
Stanley

And over at the arch nemesis Yankee Stadium and the House that Ruth built:

Gossage
Guidry
Hunter
Righetti
Munson
Chambliss
Dent
Nettles
Randolph
Stanley
Jackson
Piniella
Rivers

I couldn’t tell you where I was when any of these players played their final game. I only follow baseball casually (as much as I still maintain my claim as a die hard Sox fan).

What I can say is I remember 2004 and 2007 vividly (for obvious reasons – again, as a die hard Sox fan). I also realize that 2018 is coming shortly and from 1918 forward things were tough for Sox fans for that little bit of time.

I don’t know if my kids are able to follow the game as I did; I was really into it then (and I still have some of my baseball cards!) and I wanted to introduce the game to them.

I have taken them a couple of times now to McCoy Stadium to see the Paw Sox play. (Alex even got a game ball!)

 
A few years ago I bought a package to tour Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park and I took Andrew with me (he was seven at the time in 2011).


 




 

I don’t know if the kids will remember the exciting games, or if it will be the hot dogs, or the time in the car, or maybe Dad dancing with them to “Dancing with Myself” or singing along to “Sweet Caroline”, or perhaps the sportsmanship shown on the day Jeter retired or any of the number of other things that went on during the game and the time at the ball parks. The impressions left on each of them will be different.

I selfishly hope that when they look back that the thought that crosses their minds starts with “I remember that day – I was there with my Dad when…”

I am not destined for greatness but that will not stop me from attempting great things and if all I manage to do with my life in totality is to have been able to keep four kids well grounded, excited to learn, grow, and engage, then I have achieved more than I ever thought I was capable of.

Happy 5th Birthday Alex

My youngest child is my son Alex – born on September 4 2009 at 10:20 in the morning (5 days early).

He weighed in at 7 pounds 11 ounces and measured 19 3/4 inches in length.

Like each of my four children, he has a strong personality and a happy and wonderful nature. He reminds me, without knowing otherwise, that living life simply is such a wonderful thing. Alex is my daily reminder of this.

So on your 5th birthday Alex and as you start Kindergarten this week, I want to wish you all of life’s simple pleasures – no one I know will get more from them than you.

Be happy, be strong, be gentle, and be kind; the rest will work itself out in the fullness of time.

I love you Captain.

Daddy.

 

  

 

 

Happy 10th Birthday Andrew

It is hard to believe but ten years past on August 8th, 2004 I became a father for the first time.

I would become a father three more times but Andrew was my first.

I miss him – he and his mother, sister, and two brothers are away in Poland for their annual holiday.

Another year goes by and I don’t get the chance to see him on his birthday but I take some comfort in the fact that I know he is enjoying his time and his extended family in Poland

Happy birthday little man – I’ll see you in 24 days.

I love you

Dad.

Upcoming Public Information Meetings regarding improvements to be made at railroad grade crossings in Wallingford and Meriden

 

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) will conduct two public information meetings regarding improvements to be made at railroad grade crossings in Wallingford and Meriden.

 

The meeting in Wallingford will occur on Monday, June 16th, beginning at 6:00 p.m. in the Community Room of the Wallingford Public Library, located at 200 North Main Street.

 

 

The meeting in Meriden will occur on Wednesday, June 18th.

 

The meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the Griffin Room of the Meriden Public Library, located at 105 Miller Street.

 

 

All persons interested in this project are welcomed to attend the meeting(s) and discuss the project with Department personnel. 

JUNE 7TH FAMILY FUN DAY WALLINGFORD GET-TOGETHER - POT LUCK STYLE

SATURDAY JUNE 7, 2014 2PM – 6PM
PRAGEMANN PARK

WALLINGFORD, CT

RAIN OR SHINE

Come out for a chance to get to know your fellow Wallingfordians!

Admission is free, so bring your family, friends and favorite outdoor game for a good time.

Burgers, hot-dogs and water will be provided, 

but feel free to bring a dish of your own to share!

Hosted by:
The Wallingford Democratic Town Committee – District 7

Questions or Concerns?
Call Kaitlyn Romania @ 203.747.0396

Happy 6th Birthday Adam

My third child and second son Adam Jozef was born on this day on May 17 in 2008 at 3:29 in the afternoon; he was 3 days early.

He weighed in at 7 pounds 1 ounce and measured 19 inches in length.

So on his birthday, (and every day), I wish him all the happiness he can come into on his own and all the success that he has the opportunity to obtain. As he gets there, I hope he learns to appreciate “the little things” that life has to offer and returns to the world at least what he takes from it. 

Happy birthday Adam; I wish you many more. I hope I can continue to be half the father you think I am as that is still ten times more than I thought I was capable of.

Love, Daddy.