I just want to tell you how good customer relations can make or break a deal. I was recently looking to make a large purchase from Musician's Friend (website) purchasing 25 Rogue guitars, wall hangers, and method books. I sent them an email requesting someone get in contact with me so that we could work out the details of this purchase. This is the non customer-friendly response I received from them (*notice: some info has been edited for privacy purposes*):

It doesn't look too bad, but this is the only response I received from them. There was no phone call or no follow-up. I let this hang for a whole month to see when they would call me and they never did. Instead, I received this e-mail:

I couldn't believe what I was reading! My question was far from solved and it surprised me that this was the only interest they had in such a large purchase. I guess they didn't need my business after all. This is an example of poor customer relations because there was not a very personal response, nobody called me as requested, and instead of trying to follow up on the inquiry, they automatically changed the status to 'solved.' Because of these issues, I didn't push the issue and they lost a valuable customer...a band director who is always looking for music-related things. Since I needed these guitars for my general music class next year, I went to a place where I had previously ordered equipment, Sweetwater. I sent an email to them the exact same way and this is the response I received (question first, then response).

Now talk about a better response! It was truly impressive what a friendly email can do for business! I ended up making the purchase through them and will continue to go to them first for anything I'm looking to purchase. I felt so bad for Musician's Friend that I sent them a message telling them about their poor customer relations and how it cost them business from a band director...and once again their poor relations struck:

It doesn't seem like they even care they lost a customer.  Their response to my feedback was the same type of response that turned me off them in the first place! I have since taken them off my music sites links on the front page and have decided to share this experience with you. Never settle for less than good customer service, you deserve better, and if something goes wrong you want the company that was there to serve you from the beginning!

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Summer is here and I've been doing a lot of landscaping work and thinking about everything that needs to be done before the beginning of the school year. I was going through my old e-mails and I found this little gem. Since football season is approaching and NCLB is a pretty big issue in the educational realm I thought it would be appropriate:

This is football version of what is going on in education right now. For all educators in and out of the education system:

1. All teams must make the state playoffs and all MUST win the championship If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable. If after two years they have not won the championship their footballs and equipment will be taken away UNTIL they do win the championship.
2. All kids will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time, even if they do not have the same conditions or opportunities to practice on their own. NO exceptions will be made for lack of interest in football, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities of themselves or their parents. ALL KIDS WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL!
3. Talented players will be asked to workout on their own, without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time with the athletes who aren't interested in football, have limited athletic ability or whose parents don't like football.
4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in the 4th, 8th, and 11th game. This will create a New Age of Sports where every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimum goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child gets left behind. If parents do not like this new law, they are encouraged to vote for vouchers and support private schools that can screen out the non-athletes and prevent their children from having to go to school with bad football players.

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The great thing about being a teacher is that when the summer months roll around I can be soaking up the sun and enjoying some time to myself. Now I can already hear what you're saying if you're not a teacher (if you are you are probably not even going to read this until the fall since you're enjoying your break already) "Must be nice to have the summers off." I hear this constantly and it does get annoying after a while. I'd like to throw this little bit of information out. Some people think that we teachers should get paid for just babysitting and guess what...I'm okay with that! I found this post in the Omaha Newsstand:

"Since school teachers are really just glorified babysitters, let's just pay teachers the going rate for babysitting.

Let's pay them $3 an hour per kid, and they work 8-4, with a half-hour lunch. After all, why should we pay them for 'planning' or to eat?

So that's 7.5 working hours a day, and an elementary teacher works with about 20 kids a day.

So $3 X 7.5 hours a day X 20 kids = $450.00.

And I'm sure not paying them for weekends (more 'planning') and I'm sure not paying them for summers off for 'training' or advanced 'education,' so really, we are only going to pay them for 180 days a year.

So $450.00 X 180 = $81,000.

And just to be nice, if you have a master's degree, I'll give you $4.00 an hour.

That means we are going to pay teachers/babysitters $81,000 to $108,000 a year and not a penny more!"

According to the Columbus Dispatch, the average teacher in Columbus makes $59,713. This figure is still $21,287 less than a babysitter would make for the amount of work s/he would be doing!! If you ask my opinion, I'll let you pay me as a babysitter and I'll educate your kids too! The moral of this story..."Don't walk up to an educator and say that it must be nice to have summers off."

I hope that each of you had a happy and safe summer!

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As a first-year teacher I was very nervous about entering the classroom on my own. Up to this point I had always been observed by other teachers and supervisors. I was never allowed to be teaching on my own without the presence of at least one of these individuals, but now it was just me. There were many mistakes I made but there were many successes as well, here is some advice that I would give to you beginning teachers, no matter what your subject area is:

1. Be confident in what you’ve learned. You have spent countless hours studying, attending class, taking tests (Praxis II anyone?). You have done the time and you know a lot. Just trust what information your brain has stored. No matter what you think you do or do not remember, you can be sure that you know more about your subject than the top student in the class.
2. Admit when you don’t know something. This is hard for many of us. We want to make the students think we have it all together and we know everything about our subject matter. This simply isn’t true because we are only human after all, we can’t always have photographic memory (I have photographic memory, I just ran out of film long ago). If don’t admit you don’t know and try to fudge your way through, students will find out; there will always be a student who doesn’t believe you and looks it up himself. Rather, just admit that you’re not sure but tell them you’ll find out and make sure you do it! You’ll learn something you didn’t know and your students will be able to rely on you when they want to know something.
3. Ask for help from other teachers in the building. Let’s face it, it is your first year and there is much to do outside of planning for your lessons and teaching your classes. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but it is a sign of strength. It tells other teachers that you admit you don’t know it all and can’t do it all, but that you’re not afraid to ask for help when you need it. The other teachers in the building are your allies. The better of a relationship you create with them, the easier your time at that school will be.
4. Seek advice from your out-of-school colleagues. Whether you recognize it or not, the teachers you did your student-teaching with, your collegiate academic advisors and your buddies that you graduated with are all your colleagues. Talk to those people who have been in the field longer than you and seek advice in whatever situation you find yourself. They did it when they were in your shoes, and your students will call you when they begin to teach. Here again, seeking advice is a sign of strength because it means you are actively seeking ways to be better at what you do.

I know there is much more that I have learned, but these are just some simple things that apply to everyone. Just be confident in what you know, admit when you don’t know and seek help from others. Are there any other quick tips that you would include with these four?

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