Archive for September, 2007

Greatness Through Service

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

This is a rant i’ve been wanting to write for quite sometime. It’s gonna be long, so make sure you’re sitting comfortably before going through it. By the time you’ve reached the end, you’ll feel that i’m some fanatic about Napoleon Hill’s newly revised “Think and Grow Rich” book or just a disgruntled customer.

Being an observant Jew, it is somewhat difficult to find places to eat. You can’t just go into an restaurant or pizza shop everytime you get the munchies. The place has to be kosher and in good standing with a kosher hashgacha (Kosher certification agency). So this greatly limits where a Jew can go. In the area where i live, there are for sure about 15 – 20 places to eat. Some are meat only establishments and the rest are pizza shops.

Lately, I’ve been paying attention to the way these store owners work with their customers. Since jewish customers don’t have too many places to turn to for kosher pizza (or anything – pizza is just an example), they kind of have a “**** you” attitude towards the customers. as if to say that since the customers aren’t going anywhere else, they can be screwed around with. I feel this most when the prices of pizza have jumped to $2.75 for a slice and the guy at the counter shouts “take your pizza!”, and the portions are bite size. he might as well be saying “here is a plate i just pooped on – now is your chance to eat it! woo hoo!”.

This doesn’t apply to just kosher food. Jews shop mainly with jewish business people. and in the whole industry, people are getting screwed b/c the businesses know that jews have to shop by them. one place i know sells furniture. it’s a well known place with some nice stuff, but they offer poor poor service. but since the customers won’t go anywhere else, they’re willing to be abused on price and service. i hate to sound like an antisemite, but there is a better chance you’ll get quality service when you hire a contractor non-jew than when you hire a jew.

I went into a kosher Dunkin’ Donuts today and the lady behind the counter was kind and sweet and gave me service with a smile. i felt good and got my food quickly without hassle and at a low price. yesterday i went to a kosher bagel place and not only did i wait LONG in line, but the service isn’t quick, with a smile, and at the end – the guy at the register ASKED for a tip. WTF?? a tip? i didn’t tip the dunkin donuts girl b/c i don ‘t think it’s a specialty skill to stuff donuts into bag. i most certainly won’t give someone a tip just b/c they asked for it. i tip my barber and (imy”h) a cleaning woman who uses their hand, skill and creativity to do their services. waitresses have to really impress me to get more than a 10% tip. it’s not a big deal to carry food from the kitchen to my table. but if you smile and try to make me happy, i’ll do likewise. it’s really hard to even find good service in a kosher restaraunt.  thats cuz they all have the “you can’t go to too many other places-and even if you do, other people will still use our services cuz we’re jewish” attitude.

i know in my mind that people don’t live life with ordinary moments and that when they want something done, they want it with the same magic that they live their lives with. when they walk into a pizza shop and pay $2.75 for each slice and $3.00 for a small fries, they want more than the value of their dollar. i can understand increased prices based on increased rents, but don’t screw your customers with bad experiences. in non-jewish circles, if ANYTHING happens to upset the customer, the customer gets their meal free AND an apology. but in jewish shops its “eat this **** and take it like a man”.

one of the lessons which we can learn from ALL the mitzvos is that everything requires ACTION. even if it is an INACTION. but there are thoughts and intentions that go into our hand movements and anything. when we shake the lulav, it’s not just waving a branch. it can be magical if you think about it. and if you give charity, do it with a smile and it’ll have a different effect. if you’re a JEW and are working to be “greater”, what does that mean? it means being great at enhancing the things you already do. maybe i wrote about this before. non-jews who are lets say owners of pizza shops, work hard to be experts at what they do (generally). if they’re plumbers, they’ll be kinder, cheaper, and probably give WAY better service. i hate getting BAD service from jews b/c it’s a chillul hashem and reflects on who they are as a person. when you give good service, and practice giving good service, it’s a kiddush hashem and makes you a better Jew. kind of like conditioning your actions.

people in a business just for the buck and not into what they do won’t last long in the business. unless they are jewish and other jews are suckering themselves into giving them money. then they’ll have a nice business but won’t happy living their lives. wtvr.

in my own business as a computer technician, i’ve made the decision that i won’t give my customers that attitude. even though there aren’t too many other technicians around here and i could have that attitude. i’m not trying to toot my own horn, but i try to provide my customer with a positive “i won’t screw you attitude”. sometimes Esther wishes she was a customer.

take a look at microsoft and apple. two famous rival computer companies. both were nice and humble in their beginnings with customers. now, apple is working harder and harder each day to develop new ideas and inventions to cater to the customer. microsoft is screwing people who started using pc’s instead of mac’s because windows was cheaper and now windows Vista is poo-poo. who would you invest with?

Whatever. I just hope Jewish businesses get their act together soon. Because when the competition arrives with great service (and better prices), they’ll all go out of business (or change).

Work, Yom Kippur, etc.

Thursday, September 20th, 2007

dog

This year I really like my class, they are not too difficult and a number of them actually come from whole, 2-family homes. Yay for families, makes things a lot easier for the teacher.

Today one of my students bought an adorable stuffed dog into school. Only when he came closer, I saw that it was REAL!!! Now, I am not an animal lover by any stretch, but this was such a cute, fluffy, cuddly one, that I took it from his arms and began to pet it. For the first time in my lifie, I actually wanted a dog :) .

What else is new – Y”K is tomorrow, I’m trying to decide what to cook for each meal. Nothing too spciy or fancy. Last year I got my finger stuck in the pasta machine trying to extract some dough for kreplach…blood…hatzalah…b’h everhything ended OK. Wow it’s been a year and I am a lot more on top of things (and less ambitious).

Yom Kippur is a serious day, kind of scary, but more just draining. Physically, spiritally, emotionally. But there’s no better feeling than walking home from shul, literally feeling like a malach. This year its on Shabbos so that means no avinu malkeinu until Neilah.

Adiel has been very wrapped up in the editing of our DVD, me not as much. Hopefully it’ll be finished in the coming weeks, won’t that be exciting?!

Gut Gbentched Yor to all of our faithful readers, may you be written in the Book of Life and Good and may we share in many Simchos this year!!

My First Website

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007

my first website:
MY SITE
i was skinnier and hotter back then.

Rosh Hashana 5768!

Sunday, September 16th, 2007

Shofar

We had the most enjoyable 3-day Yom Tov ever, due mostly in part to the wonderful guests and hosts and other people that we spent time with the past 3 days. I’d love to do a whole write-up of all the yummy food served, but as today is a fast day, I’ll spare everyone the agony.

Let’s hope all of klal yisrael is written up in the Book of Life and is ready for a wonderful year ahead!

Just for fun: where we’ve been in the US

Monday, September 10th, 2007

Where I’ve been in the US



create your own visited states map

Where Adiel has been in the US


Similar amounts of states, but I did more western and he did more midwest. All in all, lots of states to still visit.

So – where have YOU guys been in the US?

Shabbos and Sunday

Sunday, September 9th, 2007

Shabbos we spent with the Langsners…it was wonderful spending time with Rabbi and Mrs. and Pinny, Shaindy, Rochie and Shabsy. We were up till 1 Am shmoozing. Shabbos day we went to a kiddush of my cousin MIril’s baby girl. They live 10 blocks away, and we surprised everyone except my aunt. THe kiddush was fun and the meal was really nice, we saw a lot of cousins and other friends we hadn’t seen in a while. Best thing about a kiddush meal — very few speeches :) .

Today, we went to Yossi S’s son’s bris in Passaic. Nice to have a simcha to start the morning and the week and nice to have a big brunch too :) . Then we went to visit Uncle Yehuda in the hospital, Columbia. Baruch Hashem he looks relatively well and is recovering nicely, and we had a wonderful time visitng with him. He really inspired us as he told us about the heart failure that was plauging him the past 5 years, and how it really got much worse over the last 1.5 years, and even more so over the last few months. According to him, he felt he had 3 months left to live!! B”H, he was able to get the heart transplant and the surgery was a success. It was amazing to hear about what was going through his mind as he was wheeled into surgery and then after when he b’h awoke. He still needs our tefillos as infections are very common and dangerous with a post-transplanted patient. Please keep Yehuda Aryeh ben Shaindel in your tefilos, he is still considered a ‘choleh sheyesh bo sakana’ until hearing otherwise.

Now, I’m putting together cooking and baking lists for Rosh Hashana as well as shopping, cleaning and ‘to do’ lists. Lists are more fun than real work :) . We’re IYH going to be home for the holiday, with very special company, Mommy and the boys. We’re splitting up cooking, and going out a couple of meals, but there’s still a lot that needs to be done. More on that to come soon…

Back to Another Year of Teaching

Friday, September 7th, 2007

Woo Hoo!

Last year I only taught 1 period everyday from Monday thru Thursday and this year I get to do 2 periods a day. Woo Hoo! Aside from an increase in pay,the school has also provided me with an extra classroom so that during times when we’re not doing computer projects, i can explain the material in a standard classroom without the distraction of the computers.

Looks like a good group of kids, even though some kids spoil it for everyone.

I think i’m going to step things up a notch with these students over what i covered last year. This is despite a successful curriculum. I want to make sure these kids understand how technology can work for them and above all – how to use it.

May this year be a great year of teaching!

Going Over Budget

Monday, September 3rd, 2007

I run a tight ship. You should see my home, office, the way i run a classroom, the way i micromanage people etc. When i was a manager for OffLeaseComputers.com (it eventually went out of business6 months after i left), i learned that the greatest successes come from properly planning and executing according to your strategy. Even in the planning, we had to make plan “B’s” and “C’s” in case something went off. But we anticipated something to go wrong. if all worked out fine, we ended up being ahead of the game and then could double our efforts to get really ahead for the next set of challenges.

in this production, i made plans and strategies for things to be executed a certain way. But even with all my efforts and over planning – it seems that somethings can spring up that are above what anyone can plan. i guess thats why they’re called surprises and that’s why people repeat “it’s only in the hands of Hashem” .

the only thing which really bothers me about this is that these surprises cost money. the budget was so carefully planned to the last dollar. my heart palipitates when i see that the video editing isn’t as tight as i want it to be and that all the footage we shot and want on the DVD is double the size of standard capacity. that means people will be buying this product and it’s going to be LOADED with tons of stuff and extras and bloopers. but it’ll be at a slightly higher price than what the customer should be paying for.

someone told me tonight that unless you are very liberal with budgeting, you will ALWAYS go over budget. for a tighwad like me, that’s NOT GESHMAK!