Frugality

Post from Career Encouragement blog

Besides thinking that SephardiLady will enjoy reading this, here were some good points from the post:

- Cheap isn't necessarily frugal. If you're paying a lot of money for mediocre service, and switch to something less expensive, great. But if you are getting a great product, you should think whether that's the item in your budget to spend less on or whether you should instead leave that alone and cut somewhere else.

- We want to be paid a fair wage for the work we do, and receive a raise over time. But when other people raise their prices, we get angry. Again, if you don't think you're getting a good value, then switch to a cheaper service. But if the person is doing an excellent job for you, they might deserve to be paid more just as you would want to be.

Love your fellow Jew

It really bothers me when Jewish people don't feel a connection to other Jews, ad instead look for why they are different.

Aish put out this short movie, which makes the point that there are so few of us around, so we'd better just love each other instead of looking for division.

Appreciation Day

Kelly from FLYLady sent out a challenge to show our appreciation to other:

Dear Friends,

When was the last time that you expressed your appreciation for
excellent service? Have you had an great experience with someone that
just went above and beyond for you? You may have said thank you and
really made sure that person knew that you appreciated them, but you
can take it to the next level.

I challenge all of you to write a note or call a supervisor of someone
that has given you great service and make sure they know what a great
job that person is doing. There is nothing better for a supervisor or
an employee to receive that kind of acknowledgment.

Take a few minutes today to share your appreciation of great service.
If it was three weeks ago or yesterday, doesn't matter, it is never
too late to tell someone thanks you. It could be the grocery store
clerk, the UPS person, your hair dresser, a department store clerk
etc. Anyone that has really made you feel that you were important
even if they had been at work for 12 hours and were so tired, they
still gave you incredible service. Thank you's, gestures of gratitude
and appreciation are few and far between these days - you will feel
great, the supervisor will feel great and most importantly the person
that helped you will know that they are truly appreciated and very
special. This is another way of Paying it Forward.

Have a great day!

Kelly

Cute

I am trying to figure out how to put these on the side of the blog. In the meantime, I found these cute charts on lilypie.com:

Why People Don't Bother To Vote...

People denied the vote in New Mexico - they were unprepared for people to actually exercise their right to vote, so there were not enough ballots or polling locations.

And this has nothing to do with a fixed election, since it was only the Democratic primary. (The Republican is held later, according to the article.) Although, their own governor was a candidate until recently, so maybe they figured everyone would vote for him?

This is the real reason people don't go to vote. Why should I take time away from work, or pay a baby-sitter, or whatever other inconvenience, only to stand in line forever and then find out that my vote may not even have been counted because of incompetence? I had a number of issues over the last few elections that were only resolved because my father is active in politics and so I knew what the correct procedures were - one time it was an issue regarding an absentee ballot, and the other time the people at the polling place were just completely incompetent. That was on top of super-long lines. And my husband didn't vote in 2000 because they forgot to send him an absentee ballot.

Nice Person and Honest in Business

I just wanted to write about a great experience I had yesterday meeting a person who was both an honest businessman and super-nice. A frum couple opened a vitamin and health food store in our area, and since they recently added Sunday hours I decided to try my luck at finding a kosher vitamin that I would be able to swallow. (In my experience they've been pretty gross and too large so unfortunately I have not been taking a daily vitamin.)

EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE: The first thing I noticed is that it is a simple but well-put-together store. It doesn't look cluttered and doesn't present itself as a specifically frum establishment. When I walked in, the owner was providing in-depth assistance to a customer. He made a point of greeting me, and a few minutes later acknowlegding again that he would be with me momentarily, but also gave the other customer his full attention without rushing.

HONEST IN BUSINESS: He did not encourage the customer to buy things she didn't need, but suggested she speak to her doctor before buying other things. Then he said that he sometimes gets discounts from his supplies and will pass that on to his customers. He pulled out his records to confirm how much he had paid for the item, and then gave her a discount! I would imagine that this is the halachic standard for business, yet how many people would do this?

KNOWLEDGABLE ABOUT PRODUCTS: Then I received full attention to my vitamin search. He made four different suggestions, all of which showed excellent product knowledge. Did you know that if you get a capsule vitamin, you can break it open and mix the contents into pudding instead of swallowing it whole? He made sure to let me know what the price was for each option as well. And he carries free samples of a number of products.

NICE PERSON: After all this, we ended up schmoozing for about 20 minutes because he also moved his family from a warm-weather town to Cleveland around the same time we moved, and he knows our friends who moved out here with us. When another person came in that he knows, he introduced us.

Besides his naturally friendly personality, which is unique to everyone, none of this should be impossible for other store owners. A clean store, friendly face, and some knowledge about what you sell, plus not trying to cheat people.

Kindness Blog

Kindness Happens

Really nice blog where various bloggers (including some familiar in the J-blog world) share stories of things they have personally experienced or witnesses.