…Working my core

…Working my Core
Well school’s out.  I live for times like these. Nope.  I’m no longer in school (well, sorta, does online study count J?) but I have 2 that still are.  When school in Jamaica is out, my normal 1 ½ hour commute becomes a 40 minute one.  Can I get an Amen? This allows me lie in bed a little later.  I normally rise at 4:30 to exercise.  This morning my alarm went off at 6:00.  I had put out my work out clothes from last night (cause you know that if I don’t do that, I have another excuse NOT to get up and work my butt) and I had already determined that I was gonna do the Pilates routine…such a great workout!  My core gets tested, my spine lengthens and I’m left feeling all supple and energised.  I really, really enjoy Pilates…once I get into it J. So anyways, the alarm went off.  I promptly turned on my lamp and reached for my kindle.  LOL!  So much for putting out the work out clothes from the night before.  I’m decisive, if nothing else.  And in a split second I deferred my work out from this morning to tomorrow morning. Not an ounce of guilt.  And I sank with pleasure back into my pillow, pulled the comforter higher (it’s deliciously chilly in my neck of the woods now) and proceeded to pick up where I had left off the night before.  I’m in the middle of “Love..From Both Sides” by Nick Spalding.  I’m starting to chuckle as I type.  Here’s one review from Amazon:
‘Absolutely hilarious. Seriously, I’d warn you not to read it in public as people will look at you strangely as you attempt to do that supressed belly laugh thing that makes you look demented. Anyone who’s ever had a cringeful date that’s ended in humiliation (that’s pretty much all of us, then!) will heart this.’ 


Listen to me…my core may not have been tested by Pilates, but five minutes in, my core was certainly contracted as I convulsed in laughter.  I struggled to maintain control in deference to my sleeping husband.  But the tears streamed, the core contracted and I had to rise quickly from the bed and head to the kitchen, where I grabbed on to the counter and had a good belly laugh!!! 
Breakfast completed, coffee had (sweetened with organic coconut sugar- delish! –that’s another blog post though) I retreated to complete my ablutions. I will spare you the gory details, but once again, my core contracted as I sat on the throne reading more of Mr. Spalding’s work, trying desperately to control my laughter since I was the only one in the house up at that hour.  It was an exercise in futility.  After a couple minutes of trying to stifle my laughter and control my core contractions, I gave up.  I put down the kindle and let it rip…the laughter that is.  I threw my head back and I roared.  I let the tears roll.  I snorted.  I screeched.  I moaned.  I roared some more.  The laughter throttled down.  I wiped my eyes and then it began all over again.  This went on for some time.  I was indeed working my core! That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it! 

Be warned: the book has in some “language” and “explicit scenes”.  If it were a movie, it would be rated A18

less than stellar Customer Experience at Lee’s Food Fair, Red Hills Road.

I had a most unpleasant experience this evening at Lee’s Food Fair Limited, Red Hills Road branch.  I am a regular shopper there, have been for years.  I also shop at their Washington Boulevard Branch from time to time.  I find their prices to be reasonable, they have a nice enough fresh produce section and their meat offerings are fresh and competitively priced.  But this evening…
I had picked up the children and needed to buy some groceries having just returned from an extended stay overseas. I had put in a full day at the office, the kids likewise had had a long day at school and we just wanted to get the grocery shopping chore out of the way and head home to deal with homework, have dinner and prepare for the coming day.
I left them in the car, and headed into the grocery store.  I started at the left hand side of the store, where the fresh produce section is.  I wound my way efficiently up and down the aisles, picking up just what I needed.  I eventually made my way to the opposite end of the store, to pick up what were supposed to be the final items on my list: chilled meats…you know, boneless chicken thighs, perhaps and piece of beef pot roast, maybe some pork depending on price.  The shelves were empty.  Nothing. No meat. No sign. Nobody.  I looked around in wonderment, tired, slightly confused and became aware of rising irritation levels.  I inhaled deeply and then pushed my trolley to the door to the supermarket’s back-room.  I asked if I could speak to someone from the meat department.  I really needed boneless thighs.  I had promised my son to make garlic chilli chicken for him after he hugged me on my return and told me that he really missed my cooking.  After almost 5 minutes, a gentleman in a butcher’s apron sauntered out and informed me that “the fridge nah work”. Duh.  So can I get two trays of boneless chicken thighs please?  “Mek mi see…mi nuh tink we have none”.  Waiting…waiting…waiting…while he disappeared behind the doors. Enough is enough.  I headed to the check-out area.  While the cashier rang up my items (sans boneless thighs), I requested to speak to the Manager.  “They are all in a meeting”.  Businesses in Jamaica keep forgetting that the Customer is the reason why they are in any meeting to begin with; if we don’t buy what you are selling, you have precious little to meet about.  I refused to budge.  I spoke with two customer service reps behind the front counter and explained that I needed to speak to the manager, please tell him/her that I am waiting, and will continue to wait.  I was determined to speak to a manager.   
After 10 minutes, a lady approached me having descended the stairs.  I will spare you the details of my rant.  I will spare you a replay of my emotions that were out in full force.  I will summarise my issues as follows:
1.        How dare Lee’s not demonstrate respect for the Customer by advising them that some core products will be unavailable by way of a simple sign at the entrance to the supermarket?  Give us the option to shop or not.  Do not treat us like a captive audience, taking our time, energy and money for granted.
2.       Mrs. Lee (I asked her her name after I introduced myself…she did not think it necessary to introduce herself to me.  Perhaps she thought she knew me?  Or that I knew her? ) said that no one told her that the fridge had broken down. Top management has FAILED, if their Supervisors did not find it necessary to advise them accordingly. Top Management has further failed if not one supervisor could summon up initiative to get a sign in place.
3.       Too often simple back-office fixes can result in a way more pleasant experience for Customers.  There were other fridges/freezers functioning in the supermarket.  All it would take is for someone with just a little energy to rearrange some of the items in these functioning freezers, and use freed up space to merchandise the now displaced offerings from the chill area, ensuring that signs in the malfunctioning zone pointed valuable customers to the new location, complete with an apology for the inconvenience.

Mrs. Lee apologized, but I feel strongly enough to take the time to document this entire episode.  My time is very valuable.  I felt taken for granted.  I hope Lee’s finds out why their supervisory staff have demonstrated such a laissez faire attitude towards the business that pays their salaries.  I hope the person in charge of operations is made to answer for the lack of a work-around to a very real problem that the business experienced today. The Customer has options.
So disappointed with what happened to me at Lee’s today.

about high school graduations in Jamaica

So I was griping about Miss World’s graduation, scheduled for about 2 1/2 hours from now…after all, she doesn’t even know if she has passed her CSEC exams yet!  And here in Jamaica, you don’t get to progress without CSEC subjects in hand.  I was going on and on about how schools ought to wait until exam results are out before this big hoopla with cap, gown, pictures, rings, balls and the like.  But my good friend Raymond forced me to think.  Yesterday he offered his congrats to Miss World and commended me for being a great mom.  I fended him off, remarking that results are pending.  He replied with his usual forthrightness: “It doesn’t matter what the results are, Kelly.  Rachael is a good girl.  And you did your best with her.  It could have been way different”.  His comments marinated in my sub-conscious, and today I realised and accepted and celebrated.  Rachael marks the end of five years of high school today. She made the honour roll every year since grade 7.  She completed piano up to grade 4 level.  She found her niche in the glee club at her school and the Music House became her haunt…a place where she automatically went to even when she didn’t have a rehersal or class there. She writes so well.  She took to high school like a duck to water after feeling like an outsider at prep school, being such a quiet, introverted child.  She is a funny, smart, witty and gorgeous girl who has stayed off drugs and did not get pregnant. She started grade 7 with her parents going through a dramatic and painful separation.  She endured this, including moving house, her mom starting a new job and never missed a beat.  Grade 11 was rough…for both of us.  I felt that she lost focus and was not doing all she could to win.  Both of us know what I mean, and we await CSEC results in August.

Our children are NOT us.  We have been blessed with these little people, to nurture them, to provide for them and to help them be all they can be. I know I have not consistently been the best parent in the world for sure.

So today I celebrate with our daughter for completing five years of high school…for making us proud along the way.  And we’ll be there no matter what to support and love her into her future.  Congrats, Rachael. we love you.

Rachael in Grade 8
Rachael the Graduate

garbage collection and citizens associations

This was published in the Gleaner on Saturday May 24.  I shared it on Facebook, and a friend asked a question which I have not answered yet: “Do you have a citizens association in Coopers Hill?”
She set me thinking… The simple answer is “no”.  The logical response then ought to be: ” So start one, Kelly”.  I’m sure I could.  And yes, I have a raft of (valid) excuses: I have a full-time career, I am at school and I have school aged children who still need close supervision. But truth be told, I really don’t want to start a movement.  (I might be more inclined to join a movement.) But here’s the ugly truth: I don’t want to get too close to my neighbours. I don’t want them to get too close to me. I want to pay my taxes and my bills and I want the system to work: electricity and water on demand, regular garbage collection, a responsive police and fire service and I want my neighbours to keep their grass low. And sure, I know the reality: the system doesn’t work as it should, and perhaps my constant cries would be amplified if shouted through the collective voice of a citizens association. Selfish? Perhaps. OK.Yes: it is selfish.  My FB friend has thrown out a challenge which is bothering me…  We’ll see…

Coopers Hill Tired Of Trash Service

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130525/letters/letters6.html

Published: Saturday | May 25, 20130 Comments

NSWMA boss Jennifer Edwards (left) and Local Government Minister Noel Arscott (in truck) had better get a handle on the shoddy garbage collection in Coopers Hill. - File
NSWMA boss Jennifer Edwards (left) and Local Government Minister Noel Arscott (in truck) had better get a handle on the shoddy garbage collection in Coopers Hill. – File
THE EDITOR, Sir:
Up to the time of writing on May 19, it has been two weeks since garbage was collected in Coopers Hill, St Andrew. This is how it has been over the past couple of months.
I don’t need to elaborate on all the undesirable effects of uncollected solid waste: rodent and insect proliferation come readily to mind.
What is really happening? Even as we pay dramatically increased property taxes, what are we to expect where garbage collection is concerned? The Government’s absolute failure to get this one little thing done underscores our belief that it is merely paying lip service to preservation of the environment.
Inconvenient though it may be, citizens with vehicles can load up their solid waste and take it to a public skip for disposal. What of those unable to do so? Well, what you get are garbage-strewn sidewalks, roaming dogs pillaging the mess, ad hoc stinkness, unsightly dumping sites springing up on the gorgeous hillsides that God blessed us with, gullies clogged with bags of solid waste, and the constant burning of garbage by those suffering at the hands of an administration that refuses to collect garbage in a timely manner.
What are we to do? Jamaica of yesteryear was a place that held ‘girl pickney’ to high standards of hygiene and cleanliness. “You cyaan do dat! You is a gyal pickney!”
Separate standards
I certainly do not impose two separate standards of hygiene in my household, one for my son and one for my daughter. But if only out of respect and deference towards our ancestors, I am imploring Madam Prime Minister, the first female PM of Jamaica, to hold her local government minister, Noel Arscott, and head of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (ironically a woman too!) accountable in this regard.
Let it not be said that you presided over a nasty administration and a filthy country, Madam PM. Please treat garbage collection as a priority. Allocate the necessary resources and insist upon an efficient operation. 
Frustrated Property Tax Payer 

Coopers Hill, St Andrew 

about the J.P.S. Co. cries of doom and gloom!

So ever since the Jamaica Public Service Co. Ltd. has been sounding off about its financial woes, a growing sense of dread has been overcoming me.  The latest wail is that the company will be out of cash by August.  Now I am not fretting for myself, for reasons which I will outline shortly.  But I am thinking about the few businesses plodding along in this extremely hostile context that is Jamaica today.  We already are burdened with the highest energy costs in the region, and if you layer uncertainty of supply atop burdensome expenses, well…you can see how this will end. Let’s go back to the JPS’s latest alarm: out of cash by August.  That is a holler for attention at the very least, but it must be some sort of call to action too.  What do they want?  Are they setting the stage to justify a rate hike? It is a fact that electricity usage has declined… Is this an index of economic growth/decline? Not sure. But for sure, ordinary citizens have really had no choice.  
We’ve had to become Electricity Nazis in our own homes, using energy efficient bulbs, patrolling for lights being on for no reason, forgoing use of the electric water heater, unplugging everything once we are out of the house and there are some like my household who are almost totally off the grid.  Yup. Some years ago, H had the foresight to begin to phase in the use of solar energy.  To be totally honest, it was the unreliability of service from the JPS that prompted this move.  The feeders in this area are old an unreliable and post-hurricane conditions were absolutely unbearable. But even though we would have light with or without JPS, as I said, I couldn’t help but worry about industry and therefore the state of the overall economy…the broader context within which I live and make a living. 
So I was talking with H tonight, rehashing the day’s events.  And he told me a story that lifted my spirits and gave me hope to press on.  He decided to use the services of an automobile AC technician along South Camp Road.  He only saw the sign, it was conveniently located (for him) and he only needed re-gassing…nothing complex.  So he turned in and saw a modified shipping container serving as a small admin and waiting area.  There was a steady stream of traffic in and out, including taxi men and commercial trucks, including trucks belonging to a well known haulage company.  He took comfort in that fact, and noted that the owner was the head technician, moving around briskly and quite business-like. But he had to wait.  H hates to wait.  But as he sat waiting he noticed that atop the modified container, sat 2 solar panels.  Wow!  H’s fine engineering mind sat up and started noting the technical details of this AC business set-up. What he figured out and later confirmed in conversation with Mr. AC was that the solar panels provided enough energy for Mr. AC to run his AC repair business.  
This simple entrepreneur had done his sums and determined that his competitiveness hinged on his ability to minimize his energy costs.  Hence his current independence from the unreliable supply characteristic of the JPS and his lower energy costs.  
H remarked that he is seeing more and more windmills on residences in St. Elizabeth too.  Think of the new Digicel building Downtown, Kingston.  Red Stripe recently announced plans to invest in their own energy plant.  I am hoping that as JPS and the Government of Jamaica continue to piss around and play games (WHERE IS THE ENERGY POLICY?) we the people will do the necessary and invest in alternative energy sources.  
And don’t gripe about the cost.  Plan. Start. Phase in the darned thing. Incremental improvement may be the way you have to do it.  Ain’t nothing wrong with that! So many people are comfortable borrowing money to buy a car, a liability that depreciates with every revolution of the tires.  Buy a small car for cash and invest in alternative energy instead, People! That is worthwhile debt.
So I have to believe that the entrepreneurial class will not roll over and die.  I have to believe that we will find a way to survive and thrive despite this Ineptocracy. (in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) – a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.
  

about the scrap metal “trade” in Jamaica

I felt the need to rant after reading an article in the Jamaica Observer last week.
Here’s my letter that was published April 16 2013:

Dear Editor,
I make reference to your article carried Friday, April 12, 2013 “Mark your metal, Hylton urges”. This is not the answer to the problems associated with the restarted scrap metal industry.

To begin with, there is no manufacturing now taking place in Jamaica that produces enough scrap metal to sustain any sort of trade in this form of waste. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong here.
It means that the players in this industry will have to resort to other sources of metal to sustain their operations. Hence stolen cables, vandalised properties and compromised infrastructure like bridges, manholes and the like. I would like Minister Hylton to advise us how to “mark” kilometres of cable to prevent theft. I’d also like Minister Hylton to tell me how to “mark” my wrought iron gate, fence and garbage receptacle to prevent theft. His response to an industry that, I argue, offers a net negative value to the nation speaks volumes as to his absolute lack of appreciation for business basics and operational efficiencies. It is not enough to assure Flow, one of the most recent victims of stolen cables, that “rigorous regulations governing the scrap metal trade would make it difficult for stolen material to be exported”. He just does not get it.
The bottom line is that Flow is minus the use of its asset right now, whether the cables are exported now or later, representing a loss in terms of a reduced asset base and reduced income from customers to whom they cannot provide the service without these cables.
Get real, Minister, and get a grip.
Kelly McIntosh

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/results/Get-a-grip-on-scrap–Minister-Hylton_14077880#ixzz2QdflqU6b

about how we treat Jamaica

This is a very difficult post to make.  My island, Jamaica, is one of the most beautiful places on Earth…from the gorgeous, magical seven mile stretch in Negril, to the hills of St. Andrew and Portland.  But let’s go back to Negril…
I have been going to Negril at least twice per year since the birth of Miss World. It remains my absolutely favourite place in the world.  I lie on the beach and people watch.  The water is always calm.  It’s blue and gorgeous.  It is shallow for yards out.  There is never ever any loud music to intrude on my thoughts.  All I need is my rum, a glass, and a bucket of ice.  Vendors go past offering everything from weed, to fruit, to juices, to pastry to music for sale.  But they are never pushy.  And it’s all part of the magic that is Negril.  And then in the late evening, it all comes together in a perfect finale: the Negril Sunset.  I dare you to find another to rival it.
We always, always, always stay at Negril Treehouse. yup, the same property where Stella got her groove back…or at least, where they filmed the pool scene in the movie of the same name. 
View from my room at Negril Treehouse
Yes, this is shameless plug for this facility, and no they aren’t paying me for it.  It’s owner managed and you feel Gail’s presence everywhere all the time.  Sure, it’s an older property, but the gardens are beautiful and authentically Jamaican, and the rooms are clean with all the basics: bathroom, hot water, beds, cable TV and AC.  And it is right on the 7 mile stretch.  An added bonus is the fact that included in the reasonable rates is a top notch full breakfast inclusive of Jamaican favourites, fresh fruit and awesome coffee all served by friendly, attentive staff.
Repeated stays over the years have afforded me the opportunity to observe the receding coast line.  Yes…once upon a time, there was sand between the beach bar and the water line.  Now the sea laps up quite aggressively against the bar.  
The sea lapping at the bar at Negril Treehouse
Sure it’s picturesque sitting in the bar sipping on your rum looking down into the gorgeous sea, knowing what it was before, and extrapolating forward, well, it’s just plain scary.
See the damaged wall from increasing battering from the sea
Close up of the damaged wall
(Futile?) efforts to halt the march of time…
So where do we go from here?  Perhaps it’s time for me to get active in conservation efforts for what it’s worth.  That 7 mile stretch was given to Jamaica by God.  We didn’t have to create it, we didn’t have to buy it.  All we are asked to do is to take care of it: don’t dump raw sewerage in the seas, protect the reefs, don’t eat parrot fish (OMG!), don’t steal sand!  …and that’s another story altogether…the sand stealing, I mean.  We continue to abuse nature’s gifts to this island: tearing down forests for the rapidly growing charcoal trade (Haiti: here we come!), creating garbage dumps any and everywhere and clogging our gullies.

The same “doan cyah” mentality is evident in how we treat our heritage sites…Port Royal, Three Finger Jack monument in St Thomas, that Columbus site in St. Ann, Lovers Leap and Fort Charlotte to name a few are run down and unimpressive. 

Fort Charlotte in Lucea…a potential moneymaker in ruin!

Fort Charlotte in Lucea

They represent potential money earners for the communities within which they exist and for Jamaica as a whole.  I’ve been on a quite a few glossily presented (pricey) tours overseas that lack half the authenticity and wow factor that our own history offers us.  To be fair though, I saw adverts last week for private persons to take over the management of specific heritage sites.  That’s a win-win approach. 

It makes me sad and scared at the same time.

about surviving in the Information Age

I wrote to the Gleaner and they published it as an article:

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130319/cleisure/cleisure3.html

Spark Youth Interest

Published: Tuesday | March 19, 20130 Comments

Kelly McIntosh, Contributor
The evidence of poor problem-solving skills and the lack of ability to think critically is all too evident in the state of Jamaica today. Sure enough, corruption is at the root of many of the issues that beset our nation, but we cannot downplay our collective ability (or lack thereof) to make sound decisions and to tackle complex issues.
We need to start now, as early as possible in the education system, to teach our young how to analyse problems, how to approach solutions, and how to think critically.
When I was younger, the challenge was ferreting out information to do projects and complete assignments for school. Many of us can remember having to go to an actual library and being guided by the index cards housed in the wooden catalogue drawers.
Fast-forward to 2013: the challenge now is to decide what information to discard! Students simply Google the question or the topic. I have had to teach my own children basic research skills like cross-referencing and fact- and source-checking as they wade through the plethora of available information.
I do not think it is possible to critically analyse any issue without a sound grasp of language. Again, we are at the mercy of this new information age. Children write in shorthand, use creative acronyms, and learn to express themselves in 140 characters or less (think Twitter!). And while creativity is good, and the ability to summarise useful, this must be balanced by other opportunities where ideas can be fleshed out and opinions challenged and defended.
Here are my proposals for equipping our young for success in the information age:
1 Encourage reading from early. This is best done by giving children access to information about what interests them. Your son who is interested in animals, for example, will not read that book that you thrust into his hands with the best intentions in the world about toys coming to life after dark.
2 From as early as kindergarten and basic school, emphasise compre-hension. Have the children do more than merely answer questions based on facts contained in the passage. They must be encouraged to criticise and imagine. This can be done individually, by writing, and collectively, in the form of class discussions.
3 Treat maths as a language describing a situation, yet providing the way to a solution through the application of basic steps one after another. Emphasise the understanding of the fundamentals over mechanical replication. The children need to be taught to determine what the particular maths problem is asking them to do and what information is provided. Once they understand the fundamental operations, application in search of a solution becomes intuitive, rooted in common sense, and not necessarily the purview of the ‘math genius’ in the class.
4 Relate everything taught to everyday life, so applicability is always at the forefront.
5 Simply have conversations with your children. When driving, turn off the radio and, most definitely, put down the cell phone. Ask them about their day. Talk about something you read in the papers or saw on the news. Ask them their opinions. Have them defend their point of view.
Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and kkmac218@gmail.com.

my children: A Mother’s Reflections

We’ve been compiling a list of “Interesting People we’d like to have at a Dinner Party”. To qualify, you have to be an original thinker. You have to be articulate.  If you have a personality quirk or two, all the better!  No, I’m not going to release that list here and now, but I’d like to talk about 2 people who have already qualified.  One is Little Master and the other is Miss World.
After a lie-in, I got up refreshed this morning and ready to enjoy Sunday.  Only Little Master and I were up.  Our body clocks are in synch in a kind of “early to bed, early to rise” kinda way.  The other inhabitants are the exact opposite.  So still in our PJs, we jumped into my car.  Destination: Red Hills for the Sunday papers.  En route I had a most fascinating convo with this 9 yr old.  Essentially he lectured me on the importance of brand in gaining market share.  He spoke at length (and oh so eloquently and knowledgeably too!) about Nintendo, Sega, Sony and the like and the fact that Nintendo has managed to remain the preeminent gaming system because of their “lovable mascots”. 
I couldn’t refute him as I am oh so ignorant of all things gaming.  But he cited facts, history, trivia about home consoles, arcade consoles, lawsuits and Atari, 16 bits, 64 bits, target audiences and the like.  Amazing how our children have their own personalities and thoughts.  Who would’ve known that Little Master would become/is becoming an authority on all things gaming.  And Nintendo has an avid fan and admirer right here in Coopers Hill, St. Andrew, Jamaica.
Miss World now does not wear her heart on her sleeve like Little Master.  She is our go-to person for all things tech.  She taught me Blogging 101, Twitter 101, how to rip audio from video, where to get great MP3 files, how to create a playlist, what a meme is and on and on.  She still keeps me clued in to the norms and rules of social media, rolling her eyes and sighing when I’ve violated one of the many in my tweets or when I’ve used a current term inappropriately.  I find out what’s going on in her world through her tweets and blog.  Man!!!  I am laughing here just reflecting on how my almost 17 year old is her own person.  Yes, sometimes her tweets border on PG13.  Yes her blog posts are peppered with choice language.  But if you know me well enough, you know that I have a pretty liberal stance on language: there is no such thing as indecent, only inappropriate, and at the same time I try to challenge her on being articulate in Standard English.  Without apology. 
  But back to Miss World’s mind.  She is her own person.  She is expressive. Funny as all hell in a dry, irreverent, disrespectful kinda way.  I crack up at her running commentary on twitter, while trying to be Serious Responsible Mummy as I admonish her: “remember that what you put into cyberspace remains there forever, Missy!  And be kind!!!”.  She is nearing the stage to decide what she wants to do with the rest of her life.  And not unlike me when I was her age (shhh…nuh tell her, do!) she doesn’t know what she wants to do.  I have to confess, these days my chest tightens when I think about the future where she is concerned.  I worry about if I’ve done enough to prepare her for life “on the outside”.  I worry about mistakes she will make.  I think about what I’ll do to the perpetrator of her first heartbreak.  I want with all my heart for her to be able to use her God-given talents to contribute to the world and to make a living and to be happy all at the same time.  Ah boi….
My two are wonderful people.  I just hope I am doing enough as their steward right now, preparing them and equipping them.

LOGIC ONE CABLE TV PROVIDERS

So I decided to document my issues with respect to service reliability of my cable TV providers.  I emailed the owner/manager and then hand delivered a hard copy to her office.  Within one hour of my dropping off the hard copy, I received an email from her.  I’ve decided to post my letter to Logic One Ltd. and their response.  Here you go:

MY LETTER TO LOGIC ONE LTD.

Dear  Mrs. Francis:

On Friday November 9 2012, I lost service at my residence.  It resumed sometime on Monday November 12.  I reported the loss of service via telephone on the evening of the 9th to a Customer Service agent named Trudy-Ann.  I felt as if I was a bother to Trudy-Ann.  She sighed at my questions and was unable to give a clear answer as to what was happening in the area.  She suggested that it was perhaps due to a power cut.  I spoke with Mrs.Levy on Saturday the 10th.  Mrs. Levy was extremely polite and apologetic.  To this day I am still not clear what caused the loss of service.  I was told that the lines were cut.  Then I got a voice mail on my mobile phone confirming this.  Then I was told by Mrs. Levy that Hurricane Sandy damaged the fibre optic cables.
On Saturday November 17 2012 I once again lost service at my residence at about 1:00pm.  I reported the incident by telephone immediately to Mrs. Levy.  She suggested that it was perhaps due to a power cut on the line.  She promised to call me back at 3:00pm that afternoon to confirm if service had been restored.  I did not get this call.  Today is Monday November 19 and I still have no cable TV.  I spoke with a Customer Service agent, Zoe, who acknowledged that a team was just sent to the area.  This is disturbing to me: 48 hours after loss of service, a technical team is just being dispatched. 
Please advise/confirm the following:
1.       My bill for November will not include the days that I was unable to enjoy the service that I pay for: this stands at 5 days as at time of writing.
2.       What is the procedure for reporting emergencies outside of regular working hours?  I am not always able to get the mailbox having dialed the Logic One number.
3.       How do I know for sure that my complaint has been noted outside of regular office hours?
4.       What is Logic 1’s agreement with its customers in terms of response time and resolution time when complaints are lodged?
5.       What was the real reason for loss of service Nov 9-12 and for Nov 17 until now?
I await your feedback.
Regards,
Kelly McIntosh
LOGIC ONE’S RESPONSE
Afternoon Ms. McIntosh,
Let me first apologise for the numerous interruptions in service due to damage sustained to our external plant as a result of Hurricane Sandy.  Although the damage was not devastating, down trees caused breaks and stress fractures to our wires some of which were easily repairable whilst others were not.

As it relates to Nov 9-12th, we assumed it was a power outage after we discovered there was not power at our device, only to discover that our main wires ( both fiber and coax) had been cut, this took us the better part of all day of the 12th to locate and repair the damage. The Nov. 17th complaint was due to someone cutting trees and chopping our main wire again and repairs were once again effected on the 19th.  Mrs Levy advised me that a call was placed to you last night, at which time you confirmed service had been restored.

Emergency calls are received by our in house voice-mail. Once a complaint is made in the week it will be addressed the following day and a call must be returned to the subscriber acknowledging complaint.  On the weekends, the voicemail is checked remotely and calls returned to subscribers to either try and assist or if it is an area problem a team will be dispatched; however it is very important that you leave you name address and phone number in order for us to contact you, as this is normally omitted.

Complaints are normally repaired within 3-5 days depending on the nature of the complaint and subscribers availability.

Based on the number of days lost in October and now November we have decided to waive November fees, based on the fact you already paid for October and $2 towards November, this would easier than to re-calculating.

Whilst preparing my response a copy of your email was hand delivered.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me or Mrs Levy.

Regards
Paula Francis
Manager

MY RESPONSE TO LOGIC ONE LTD.
Dear Mrs. Francis:
I appreciate your reply.  Thanks for the explanations and the apology.
Re: your SLA of repairs to be effected within 3-5 days, I am humbly requesting that you revisit the lower limit and challenge your operation to respond within at least 36 hours.  Track it too, and use this metric to challenge your team to be the very best providers to your Customer base.
Best regards,
Kelly McIntosh