How Can I Help You?

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During an illustrious *ahem* career, I have always worked in customer service jobs. I’ve answered phones, assisted enquiries, made appointments, and even helped out Santa. I can’t imagine not working in a role like this – it’s what I’ve always done, and I think that I’d go quite batty if I was left to my own devices on a regular basis.

People are the best part, and the worst part of a job in customer service. Some days you will have a string of customers who make you laugh, take an interest in what’s going on, listen considerately to what you are saying, and are just pleasures to deal with. Those days you leave work with a spring in your step, and an absolute faith in humanity.

And then there are the other days; the ones where you encounter twat after miserable sodding twat. They leave you feeling wrung out, prone to headbutting, and with an absolute certainty that society is going to hell in a handbasket and that it would just be best to debunk now. You can’t predict it – one second you’ll be having a lovely chat with someone, the next second *BAM*… they’re staring at your chest, breathing heavily, and patronising the shit out of you.

You always hear about how you should be good to the people that serve your food in restaurants and cafes. You know that there’s a great window of opportunity for them to tamper with your mushroom fettuccine, and that it isn’t out of the question for bodily fluids to become involved. You know that, you abide by that (if you’re clever), and you eat your pasta without any contamination.

What people don’t seem to think about is that ANYBODY in a customer service job can make things difficult for you, if they feel like it. Sure, you probably won’t actually be consuming anything that they’ve handled, but paperwork can be misplaced, waiting times can suddenly inexplicably double, previously known information can be spontaneously forgotten, and, “Oh sorry – did I just hang up on you?”

For the most part, us customer service people are well-balanced individuals. We are not generally given to physical violence and attempting to place curses upon the people that we encounter. A “please” and a “thank you” can go a long way to ensuring that we don’t actually give you the wrong directions to the nearest service station.

Don’t patronise us. Don’t use the fact that we’re wearing a name tag as an excuse to stare at our chests. Don’t have a domestic at our counter. Don’t answer your phone while we’re serving you, and expect us to stand there patiently while you try to figure out what’s for dinner tonight. Don’t ask us a question, and then interrupt us halfway through our answer. Don’t get angry with us if the information that we are giving you is displeasing to you. And for god’s sake – use your manners.

Receptionists are people too, damn it.

PLEASE NOTE: I’m not saying that I’ve ever done any of this stuff. I’m just saying that if I wanted to, I could.

Teddy Bear's Picnic (Sans Bears)

A while ago I made a new product for my Turning Trixie market offerings. It's a little picnic set which includes a bottle bag, two placemats that have a handy little pocket and loop for your cutlery and napkin, and some dandy mismatched cutlery. The two that I've made so far are from an old curtain, and it's all just a bit cute.

On the market day I had a bottle of wine as part of the display - I went all classy. I was going to take some new photos today of the sets to put on here, but I've run out of class (wine) so I'm just going to stick with the market pics.

{Photo by Naomi}

And after you're done picnicking, the placemats handily roll up and can be carried in the drinks bag. See the handiness! See the multi-functioning item!

{Photo by Naomi}

I also went on a little op-shopping trip the other day, and I scored. SCORED. There are some days when you just happen to be sitting somewhere, playing with your fringe and wondering if maybe you should part it on the other side, and suddenly you're struck with the overwhelming need to go to a particular op-shop.

Sometimes it doesn't pan out. Sometimes you drive hell for leather to that op-shop, only to find stained 80's clothing, hundreds of white shirt buttons, the ubiquitous Kamahl records, and hostile volunteers who just won't smile, however damned hard you try.
But sometimes it DOES work out. And they're the days that make that instinct worth following. The days that, for example, you spend the princely sum of $23.50, and walk away with 4 dresses, a cardigan, a jumper, a piece of fabric, 2 doilies and 6 tablecloths.

Suffice it to say, I'm a pretty happy, tablecloth-laden kid.

In A Whirlwind

In the past few weeks I've been crafty...

I've done a Made With Love market...

I've been on a road trip to Hobart with the boy and his kidlets (via Tasmazia)...

I've flown to Sydney...

I've had a good hair day (whilst wearing my latest op-shop triumph)...

I've caught up with my friends...

I went to some cool markets...

I've communed with animals...

I've spent some quality time at my Mum's place...

And I hung out with one of my favourite little families, who just welcomed their new addition during the week...

So now I'm home. Halfway through a seven day work week, planning Christmas presents to make, and finally writing a blog post.

It's months like this that make me realise that I'm actually a pretty lucky chick.

Adventureland

PLEASE NOTE: This blog post is not related to the movie of the same name. Adventureland, the movie, sucked. I wish to have no affiliation with it. The end.

Hanging out at City Park

Last weekend, the boy and I went to Launceston to take advantage of some el cheapo hotel rooms that I scored through work (have I mentioned how much I love working in tourism??).

I've not done much exploring in Launceston. I've driven through it, past it, and (I now realise) judged it purely on first impressions. I didn't like it. It looks grey, and busy (in comparison to the fair old town of Burnie), and I couldn't understand the appeal.

I do now. Launceston has brilliant cafes, a park with monkeys in it, a couple of fab vintage clothes shops, fantastic old buildings, a park with monkeys in it, a lovely cobblestone-type mall, and a park with monkeys in it.

Monkeys. In a park. Monkeys.

D and I drove up there after work on Friday night, and generally lived it up in the snazzy hotel room. We ordered room service, I locked his wallet and phone in the room safe while he was out of the room, and we pretended that we were rich and that this lifestyle was normal. We know how to have a good time.

On Saturday we got up early and explored. Oh, the exploring. We went to one of the best cafes that I've ever been to for breakfast (Fresh). Fresh is totally organic, and has a lot of vegetarian options (otherwise known as hippy food). It was tasty, it was funky, it was just fantabulous.

Fresh

Armchairs on the pavement outside Fresh

Chai latte *nom nom nom*

From there we went vintage clothes shopping, and I finally got to visit Nanna's. I've been wanting to visit Nanna's ever since I first saw Bianca from Goodnight Little Spoon talk about it, and it's everything that I thought it would be. Awesome clothes, chicks wearing kerchiefs serving up old-school milkshakes, laminate tables and vintage teacups - I didn't want to leave. And once they played The Smiths on their stereo, neither did D. Really, if you go to Launceston, go to Nanna's. Do it.

Drawer of fabulousness at Nanna's

Awesome decor

One of the few moments where I stopped squealing

We spent the afternoon wandering. I finally cracked under the pressure and got an i-Phone. We had a picnic in the park, and visited the monkeys. We went to the Queen Victoria Museum. We walked until my tootsies requested that we stop. We managed to fit in so much goodness, it was amazing that neither one of us imploded from a happiness overload.

My favourite portrait at the museum

On Saturday night, we made our way into town to grab some dinner from an Indian restaurant, and avail ourselves to a few beverages from a local barkeep. While we were sitting at the pub, Bianca rode past on her pink bike. I'll admit to being a bit excited. D missed the whole thing, because he was facing away from the window, and all he knew was that one moment I was sitting on the seat next to him, and then I was suddenly standing with my face smooshed against the window, talking about how cute her bike is.

And THEN (this story will end really soon, I promise) we drove down the Evandale and checked out the markets. Another thing that I can highly recommend. We didn't have much time, so we kind of just did a sweep of the area, and had very targeted browses (D - records, me - craft stuff) and then reconvened for more wandering.

Rusty old Vespa at Evandale

So, by and large, a radtacular time was had by all. All two of us. Just goes to show that you can't accurately judge a place from the drivers seat.

Girl + Boy

Mad Like A Hatter

For the month of October, Stitch 'N' Bitch are holding an exhibition in the gallery at the Wonders of Wynyard. The theme is Mad Hatter's Tea Party and it promises to be all sorts of craftacular brilliance.

I haven't mentioned it before now, because I left my entry until the last minute to do. The. Last. Minute. I finished it today (started it yesterday), and the exhibition is being installed on Monday. I hoped that if I didn't mention it, nobody would notice the tardiness *peers around suspiciously*

I've made a few little top hats, similar to the hat that I made for the March Made With Love. The original intention was to make a plethora of hats (man, I love the word plethora) and have them arranged on a cupcake stand.

Original idea: fail. It turns out that I didn't have a spare week to make a dozen hats. So, I just ended up making three, and hoping, again, that nobody notices the difference.

To see other madly-inspired projects, go here and here. Oh, and here. And check this out while you're at it.

Flagged

A couple of weeks ago I made some bunting as a custom order for a friend of mine. Her friend is having a bubba, and she wanted something for the room of the new little kidlet.

It was great to get back into the scrappy swing of things - I haven't done anything like this for a while.

And before we proceed, I apologise for the quality of the photos. It was late. I was fatigued. The lighting was not ample. I wasn't appropriately attired. The moon was in the wrong phase.

It has nothing to do with my photography skills. No-thing.

And I Was One Dollar Short

A couple of weeks ago I did a very quick trip up to Sydney. Reason: to see one of my favourite bands from back in my school days reform for a gig.

There was squealing involved.

The day threw into vast relief how very Gen Y my friends and I are, and how very Gen Z most of the other festival-goers were. I don't often have a chance to feel old - in fact, I quite regularly have the words, "You'd be too young to remember that" said to me. That's what happens when you're the youngest in a workplace - people lord their knowledge of ad jingles from the 80's over you. You just wait, 80's people... you just wait. One day I'll have an enviable knowledge of jingles. Then you'll be sorry.

Anyway, on the day:

Gen Y: Suitably attired for the scorching heat in singlets, tee-shirts and shorts.
Gen Z: Scantily attired in teeny, tiny, little itty bitty shorts and midriff tops. 90's outfits worn in an ironic fashion. Bumbags included.

Gen Y: Maintaining a moderate level of hydration with lots of bottles of water.
Gen Z: Getting drunk.

Gen Y: Applying sunscreen when sitting in the sun.
Gen Z: Getting drunk.

Gen Y: Reclining in the shade when possible, to try and stave away sunstroke.
Gen Z: Getting drunk.

I had a few soap-box moments when I wondered if their parents knew what they were doing, and then I remembered that I'm not 70. Not that there's anything wrong with being 70.

The band that we had gone specifically to see was One Dollar Short. They are a band that I saw quite a few times back in the day. My first mosh-pit was at one of their gigs, and their songs formed the soundtrack for much of those angsty adolescent days.

Their set was unreal. My friend and I kept turning to each other and screaming the lyrics, and really getting into it. They sang the old favourites, and were just all around brilliant.

And then the coolest thing happened.

A couple of hours after their set, we bumped into the lead singer, Scott. We spoke to him. We got photos with him. We gushed at him. And he dealt with it all exceptionally well.

I may even have uttered the words, "I flew from Tasmania to see you!"

I know that I'm cool.

Wayside

Now, I know that I’ve been fairly absent lately – both physically and mentally. The monkey in my brain is struggling to keep up.

The reason is because of some extra work that I took on – the graphic design work for the Bloomin’ Tulips Festival in Wynyard. For my New South Welshman friends, think Blue Mountains Winter Magic Festival with more flowers and less hippies. The work meant that I had a pretty hectic schedule for over a month, and a lot of things fell to the wayside in the meantime (like sleep, regular meals, a social life… you know, the usual).

The work itself was fun, challenging, occasionally traumatic, but overall a great experience. Posters of my design are scattered throughout the north-west and tourist information centres over the state, my ads have been in the paper and online, and I’ve even done program and ticket designs. My Mum’s pretty proud of me.

I did the design for the Mayoral Ball poster and other assorted paraphernalia. The theme was Mary Poppins, so I went with the whole chimney-sweep dance thing. I always loved that bit in the movie when I was a kidlet, and may have even danced around the lounge room in the mistaken belief that I was every bit as footloose as Bert.

I also did the poster for the festival itself, which ended up being the most challenging. The brief was to come up with something that encompassed the entirety of the festival – balloon animals and all.

My favourite design that I came up with, and that I’ve been getting the most comments on (cue swelling of head), are the designs for the cocktail party. I came up with a cocktail party duo – a guy and gal ready to get their party on. The posters are displayed alternately throughout shops, so that people walking around will see one in one shop, and then the other half of the couple in another shop. I love my couple.

This is the first time that I’ve done graphic design for quite a long while, and was the cause of a fairly public freak-out at the beginning of the process, but it’s finished now, and all in all I’m happy with the results.

Now I think that I may just have a nap.