What in the World has Happened to Customer Service?

What in the world has happened to customer service?

Customers are Ignoring You (Photo credit: ronploof)

It used to be a high priority for the service industry to ensure that customers were satisfied with products and services in order to ensure they would come back.  Nowadays it seems that businesses have thrown away the mantra that the customer is always right and instead are content if each interaction between customer and customer service representative ended in conflict.I think customer service representative are going that extra mile to prove they are right, instead of taking a step back, hearing what the customer has to say – removing them if there is a scene being made – and resolving the issue.

In times of recession, especially now that we really have a global economy, it’s even more crucial for businesses to retain customers instead of trying to get more of them.

I have 2 recent examples of horrible customer service which I will outline, then I will describe how I feel it should have played out, according to my beliefs and experiences and according to how we were taught in graduate school.

Example 1)

I was standing in line at Old Navy in the Promenade mall with about 8 other people waiting to pay – there were two cashiers – and an obvious delay.  The manager arrived and suddenly the line went quiet to listen to an exchange that went something like this;

Manager: “What seems to be the problem?”

Customer: “I’m trying to return these items I bought at Old Navy in the States”.

Manager: “We don’t accept items bought in the United States!”

Customer: “When I bought them, I specifically asked if they could be returned or exchanged in Canada and the cashier said yes they could.”

Manager: “They can’t.  We don’t.  We cannot sell items bought in the US”

Customer: “Well, then can you please exchange them.”

Manager: “No.  It doesn’t matter if we take them back or exchange them, it still results in us taking in products which were bought in the US and we cannot sell them, so no, we cannot accept these items.”

Customer: “But I would not have bought them if I knew that was the case.”

Manager: “Well, they shouldn’t have told you that…”

Customer: “So you expect me to go back to the US to return these or leave the store with them and never come back?”

Manager: “You know.  I’ll take them this time only.  But items bought in the US can never be returned or exchanged in Canada.  They should not have told you that…”

Manager now walking away: “… and it says so on the bottom of the receipt!”.

So now after this played out in the store in front of a good 20 customers I wondered the following.

1) Would it have hurt for the manager to accept the items before irritating the customer and explaining that it is not policy to accept items from the US.

2) Once it escalated why didn’t the manager take the customer to a different station so as to not draw attention to this conflict.

3) Why was it necessary to add – when walking away – that it said so on the bottom of the receipt.  That was a low blow and very unnecessary.  Instead of having to prove herself right this manager should have ended with something along the lines of; “Sorry for the inconvenience”, or “Sorry for the misunderstanding”.

How many people in that line up left the store wondering if they should be coming back?  I’ll bet there was more than one of them and that is one too many when there is so much choice for the consumers dollar.

Example 2)

The Pickle Barrel at Yonge and Eglinton.

We had an early dinner with family and family friends at the Pickle Barrel and Berry and Linus really wanted the chicken fingers and fries.  (Since I know you wanted to know – Stewie ate an adult hamburger which he felt was overcooked, dry, and all his fries, his Grandpa’s egg and then his sister’s chicken fingers).

After a couple of bites of her first chicken finger, 2-year-old Berry held it up to her mummy and said, “spicy”.

We sluffed that off as meaning hot, as in temperature hot.

She took another bite, drank some water, ate her fries, nibbled a little more, then started peeling the batter off and trying to eat the chicken.

With 3 children, we assumed she was just playing, she was not complaining and we finished dinner.  We also saw that she ate very little so we figured we would have to feed her at home, as happens quite often with her and Linus.

But Linus, still hungry, wanted to finish her food, and he took one bite and said, “Wow.  This is spicy”.

I took a bite and my wife took a bite and were overwhelmed with the taste of black pepper and the longer the food was in my mouth the spicier it got.

Whew!  My tongue was tingling.

We called over the manager, and explained to her that we did not feel that chicken fingers from the children’s menu should be laced with black pepper and we asked her to remove these items from our bill.

The first thing out of her mouth was “I’m sorry”, which we appreciate, but then she said, “I’m not sure I understand.  No other kids complained that they were spicy and none of the other orders of chicken fingers were returned tonight.”

I think she was calling us liars…

“You can go to the kitchen and try one for yourself”, I said.

“Well, I will go back and talk to the chef”, she said.

“And take it off our bill” my wife reminded her.

Here’s my issue here…

We told her they were super peppery and that the kids couldn’t eat them, and that we tried it too, so we had 5 people taste these and they were still sitting on the plate.  It’s not like we were making this up and yes, she should have taken away the plate without question, brought it into the kitchen and asked the Chef to try it before passing judgement.  She was apologetic, but too little too late.  It left a very bad taste in our mouths, especially in light of the fact we told her we would need to feed the kids again as soon as we got home and they were exhausted and really needed to go to sleep.  She dismissed that and wanted to make the point that no one else returned their chicken fingers.

The whole concept of customer service is to provide the best possible service to your customers so they will return, tell others and tip well.  IT’s getting lost on people in the service industry who do not know how their actions impact the organization as a whole.  If each person in a customer service role were able to see the dollars attached to their actions they might react differently, I believe.

This hits home to me, as I personally feel giving quality customer service is one of the most important things an organization can do to stand out from their competitors.   I often find there is a fine line between explaining and making excuses and when someone is asking you to explain your decision or actions they cannot accuse you of making excuses.  Making excuses is telling a customer that the other store should not have told you that information or that no one else returned their chicken fingers.  Explaining is what customers are asking of customer service representatives when they are met with resistance trying to do what should be a normal transaction.

I recall many years ago making a decision on how to solve a problem dealing with the government and my manager asked me to explain why I took the path I did, and I began to explain in detail what I was thinking.  I was interrupted and asked why I was making excuses, when in fact I was just responding to the question about how I came to this thought process.  Yes, I admit the desired actions were not met, and I was hoping that by explaining my thought process that I would learn a different way and succeed on my future attempts.  If I were making excuses I would be blaming others and not takingresponsibility for my actions.

All I wanted was to provide the best customer service possible… Something I think is a lost art nowadays.

How do you feel about customer service?  Does exceptional customer service change your mind about an organization.  Does it even exist?

Related articles

• What has happened to Customer Service? (attilaovari.com)
• Customer Service: Need it be Amazing? (customerthink.com)
• The 6 Worst (and Best!) Phrases in Customer Service (customerthink.com)
• The Number-One Way to Improve Customer Service (smallbizdaily.com)
• Customer Service…That extra something (themarlincompany.com)

Repost: Thoughts from April 2007

Here is what was going through my head April 2007.

• Former Conservative politician, until she crossed the floor to become a cabinet minister for the Liberal party, Belinda Stronach is not seeking re-election in the next election.  HA HA HA.  I knew (and probably blogged) that once she became a traitor and left the conservative party, crossing the floor to join the corrupt liberals for a cabinet post, that she would be going nowhere in politics.  Clearly I was incorrect.  She is going somewhere… out! Bye bye Belinda, you turncoat, and take Tie Domi with you.  That former Toronto Maple Leaf pugilist, who was married when you an him hooked up and you deserve each other.  Opportunists.  Besides, Tie’s segment “Win, Lose and Tie” on TSN is brutal.  I turn the channel when it comes on.  It’s painful.
• In other thoughts… It looks like rain outside… I don’t have an umbrella.
• I’m really jacked that the Raptors are in the playoffs – but I hate that they are playing Vince Carter and the NJ Nets because I’ll be REALLY upset if we lose to “them”.  Ever since “Wince” left the Raptors, I have always wished him to lose or get hurt, flop on the floor like he did in Toronto and please continue to tip off the opposition on plays in NJ like to did in TO. 
• I received my grades for my two most recent business graduate school classes… both A’s. Only 4 more classes to go then I’ll have my MBA and can use it to get out of the government.  YAY.
• Happy to report that my wife and I have something new in common, besides our kids, marriage, house, etc. I love to garden and she does too.  And she is quite good at it too.  We have seedlings now sitting in the living room soon to be headed in the garden, of all these funky heirloom fruits and veggies.  She picked them, she planted the seeds, we watch them grow. Fun, fun, fun!
• Need sleep… I am painting the basement – kids playroom… It had to happen sooner or later.  We bought some red, blue and green paint – bright kids colours and I am painting the entire space they use to play in.  Part of the wall is going to be a magnetic chalk board.  Wondering how to get the red paint out of the carpet and I dropped the tin and of course it opened on the carpet.. A lot!.  It is fire truck red.  OY. 
• So let’s recap… Baby up at 5am, I leave for work at 7am, get home before 6pm, bathe and book the kids to bed, then after chatting with my wife and taking care of classes, I set out around midnight to paint until 1 or 2am and then do it all again the next night.
• Sleep???  Over-rated. 

Want to work for me???

No?  Good idea.  We’re not hiring right now, plus, we’d probably only want to hire contract staff for our proxy season.

I’m sure you would probably want something in your field, not taxation, right?

Well as soon as those folks at the government found out that I had resigned – so about 10 days, I have had 5 people – 5 honest to goodness people – call and email me asking for jobs.  They want to work for me.

In the 10 plus years that I worked in the public service I witnessed only a few people leave to jump back into the private sector and not one comes to mind that was there as long as I was.  The transition really was not that difficult – I studied how to manage in graduate school since I couldn’t get any hands on experience there.  I really wanted to manage, they really didn’t want me to.  I always thought I would be a great manager and I owe it to all the shitty managers I had in the government.  They taught me how not to manage and my studies taught me how to manage. 

Now I have 10 staff under me, and probably 3-5 more within the next few weeks, with a potential for 6 more by the end of June.  I guess those brainiacs at the government were right afterall.  Why would they want a competent manager working for or with them?!?  It would throw off the mix…

Why, why, why???

Why did facebook have to add a new application to the Jedi vs. Sith application that also keeps track of stats and is Star Wars themed?!? It’s not like I was already trying to kick the Jedi vs Sith habit, but now I have a new addiction… damn!

Why does my oldest son – hereinafter referred to as Linus (see UrbanMummy’s blog for the reasoning) no longer deem it necessary to sleep through the night? He sleeps from – on average 8pm to on average 1am, then he sits in his bed wailing, usually something to do about wanting his mummy, or not wanting to be alone. Then I hop into bed with him and once I fall asleep, he leaves his room with his blankie, walks quietly down the hall and jumps into Mummy and Daddy’s bed with Mummy. Grrrr.

Today I received my degree in the mail and 3 advanced diplomas in, as far as I can figure, in classes that I excelled in. So I now officially have my MBA.

Urbandaddy, MBA.

Now I can focus on my Masters of Marriage…

For all my readers who are celebrating Christmas, we here at the Urban Daddy household wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

What a week – Graduate School assignments and missing colleagues – Shoot me now please!

My last post was over a week ago and it feels like this week took 3 weeks to complete.  Of course, it didn’t help that I was sick this week.  I picked up what has been going through the family.

At work this week, I experienced some unbelievable issues with a colleague who left me as a back-up on his voicemail.  He was on a 2 week vacation overseas – went to visit his family, however his family started calling me 2, 3, even 4 times a day (from overseas) enquiring as to his whereabouts.  Bizarre that he would tell me he was heading over there then not go see them, and also bizarre that they would call me asking if I knew where he was.

I forgot to tuck a GPS into his shoes.

Fearing he might be in harm, I notified all the relevant authorities at the office, only to hear that he had beeb in touch with another colleague to find out the progress on one of his accounts.

Even more bizarre, his mother, suspecting that I knew something but was holding back information, called the Prime Minister’s office and I was ordered to take action and contact his family, which I did.  I explained that I was only his back-up, knew nothing about his plans, nor where he was did not sit well with them.

Not in my job description!!  LOL

Thankfully, he returns tomorrow (Monday) and boy am I going to kick his ass.

 

On the school-side, I had 4 assignments due by this weekend, finished 2, one goes in tomorrow, and I have a presentation tomorrow night that I have not even started… Oops. This group assignment is VERY stressful because we are world’s worst group, everyone is so busy with courses, assignments, work and family. I let them know going into the weekend that I would not be available until after the kids get to bed because of family commitments and tossed up the idea of working on an assignment worth 15% instead of one worth 1%. They met and decided to complete it during the day when they had time, so come the weekend they were eager for me to finish my piece.  They even sent some pretty nasty emails to me through until they realized I had blocked off the weekend to complete my piece and we would be done well in advance of the deadline.

I think they learned that the work done in getting a MBA is as important as the people you meet through networking and completing assignments.

So we finished up, went over it together and got a fantastic review from the Professor already.

 

On Friday we joined Linus on his class trip to the Whitimore Farm. It was a lot of fun. Warm weather, loads of pumpkins, pictures of kids on hay, and a huge long slide on the side of a hill. We took in all the sights then went on this slide, which required all kids under a certain age to be in the lap of parents to ride. I took Linus down it and the second time we got in the tube and layed down and started down very slowly. We got half way down when I heard a noise that sounded like another kid coming down the slide, when WHAM! I was hit hard in the back of my neck/head by the head of some toddler who went down by his self. Instant headache. The slide is like 50 feet long, we were just over half way down and that made it worse.

Needless to say, the kid was crying and his Mom was at the bottom peeking in. I told he what he did, that he should have waited and that is why parents must accompany kids – but she showed no concern to me or to him.  I mentioned to her again that he hit his head very hard on mine, but she took him out, ignored me, and went to try and torpedo some other unsuspecting parent or child.

 

Oh well, back to work. I have a PowerPoint to do!

It’s about time!!!

Imagine starting your day at 6:30am, starting work at 8am, working until 5-5:30, coming home for a nice dinner with your family (thanks hun), getting the kids ready for bath and bed, then at 8-9pm, juggling housework, spouse time, and school. Crazy, huh? I get asked all the time how I do it.

Well I do it because I have to… I want to.

But the real problem I have is with this issue… The herniated disk in my back.

With all that is going on around me I have little time to tend to my back exercises and stretches, and since my employer (6 months later) has not provided me with my ergonomic needs, I spend every other day in pain. I stopped taking meds a long time ago – I’d rather be a whiner than a druggie.

So over the past 6 months I have witnessed my ever expanding waistline as I work on my core, and abs, and I see the fat being replaced by muscle (still covered in fat though) and all my clothes are getting tight on me. I can stretch, and do very few exercises, like walking, but even that hurts some days. UGH.

The whole thing, excuse my expression, fucking sucks!

I was caught offguard at my last physiotherapy appointment when my therapist told me that I should be stepping up my stretchng and do actual exercising because of my advancement. I can work on my abs, legs and now arms too. She taught me how to work my superficial abs, which is also called the 6-pack, and that makes me happy because I’m a superficial guy, eh UM?

I look forward to setting aside lots of time to exercise. Shit. When would that be? Hmmmmm. Oh, I know, in July after my two present MBA classes end and before my last two begin to work out like a fiend and show the wife that hot bod that she has heard stories about and saw, well, before kids.

I just can’t seem to lose that pregnancy weight. Damn.

Pass the rice cakes please/

Help needed from my reader(s) with my final case project for my MBA program

I’m stuck and need your help.

Yes you.

I need a underachieving technology to perform a MBA study on.

Know of one?

Or maybe you know of a product you have heard about, or used, that just didn’t seem to fit? Have your thoughts and opinions heard, then studied.

My MBA project team, needs to find such a product and with the assistance of the owner of this / these product(s) we will perform a complete evaluation of it and offer any recommendations to the company to help the technology hopefully with a new life. All this is under the guidence of our professor who was a member of the marketin team that brought Tic Tac’s to Canada.

Please reply ASAP!!

Thanks

Nothing like getting back to the office after 4-months off, right?!?

English: MRI of a disc extrusion of 15mm in the left lateral recess, at the L4-L5 level compressing the left central L5 nerve root. Notice the lack of contrast in the herniated disc, indicating a lack of fluid, and the compressed height relative to other discs in the spine. The lack of contrast on the abdomen side of the disc is an imaging artifact and not another herniation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I knew deep down inside that it was not going to be so easy getting back to work after being off for 4 months while on paid paternity leave and coming back with a very sore back.  Not matter how I tried to prepare myself, or my employer, I just knew in my gut that it was not going to go anywhere near what I had imagined.

I decided to go to bed really early, at 10:30pm and right after Stewie’s dream feed because I wanted to maximize my sleep so I could go in somewhat fresh.  Since Stewie wakes up each and every night at 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am and 5am he did not disappoint me this night either which meant we were all exhausted come morning.

By 5am, I was so tired that I took him down to the family room, curled up on the couch with him tucked safely behind me, then I turned on the TV and within seconds fell right back asleep.  I little later than I had hope, I brought the little guy back into the bedroom to be with Mummy at 7:15 just before I raced out the door to attempt to walk to the subway, but just before I left, Linus was awaken by Stewie’s so I grabbed him and took him into his Mummy’s room too.  I hobbled down the stairs ready to get moving which is when I remembered that I had to back the car out of the garage – a task that UrbanMummy is either incapable of, or afraid of.  (giggle).

Now much later, I began to dreading the task ahead of me, the walk to the subway, but I was really looking forward to the fresh-air and calm and quiet.  My mystery back / piriformis ailment is still bothering me, but I figured I would take it easy and try to walk to the subway in 15-20 minutes and see how I felt during and after.  That was a big mistake.

The weather for my first day back was minus 20 degrees with the windchill and the damn walk took me just over 30 minutes!  Sigh. Frozen and tired, I arrived at the office to find out that nothing had changed.  From the moment I walked in the doors, I knew that I would have to move on from this place sooner rather than later.  I don’t agree with the management philosophy, nor the way certain people treat others and their files, I no longer find the work challenging and today I found that the smell in the place makes me stuffed up. I might actually be allergic to the office.

Also not surprising to me considering that I’ve been warning my boss that I would be coming back today for quite a few weeks, I had even given him a list of things that needed to be done before my first day so I can jump right back into the swing of things and not have to wait around wasting time and money -  but I got into the office with no access to my terminal, or my desk, and when I managed to get partial access, I no longer had an inventory.

Ugh.

So I turned my focus to my morning coffee break. I wonder how many days it will take them (or me) to get access so I can do some work.  I don’t get paid to sit around… Wait… Yes I do.

So the highlight of my day was my coffee break.  It was cold, but fun.  I certainly love myself a Tim Horton’s large double double.

Thinking that nothing could top this day so far, I returned from coffee break, was able to sit down at my desk, and not only was there a phone but there was also a phone message!  How my wife knew I was set up with a phone, I would never know, but when I checked the message it was actually from my Doctor and she had the MRI results on my mystery “back” problems.

The message simply stated that I have a herniated disk in my back, L5 area, which is the lowest disk in the back. The disk has a moderate to large herniation and the disk is pushing outward, not to the side as was expected, hence my numbness in weird areas.

Joy.

Out of all the sports injuries I have had, ranging from stitches, separated shoulders, broken toes, broken and cracked ribs, sprains, strains, torn rotator cuff, tendonitis, cuts, welts, etc., I have never a back problem, until now.  I can now look forward to a ton of physiotherapy and hopefully one day being able to do up my own shoe laces.

Great start to my day, and getting even better!  A few of us went for lunch to the very close, and newly opened Bombay Bhel Indian restaurant and I have to admit I was a little surprised that the food was sitting in warming trays, being kept warm by candles.  Of course, in keeping with the  pattern of my day, I noticed after lunch that the food was sitting on my chest, a little like I had overeaten, and a little like I was going to be ill.  This feeling stayed with me the rest of the day, and I barely made it through the day – left 20 minutes after the office closed – got home, skipped dinner and went right sleep.  I woke up for my Human Resources Management class but fell back asleep during the class.

Then I spent the rest of the night throwing up which really sucks large when you have a herniated disk in your back.  I’m not sure what was worse.  Repeated trips to the bathroom, or the pain in my back and legs.

I ended up sleeping all day on Wednesday.  I vaguely remember a comment from my wife just before bed that night which may have contained this phrase, ” Must be nice to be able to sleep all day”.

Well it was not nice and karma was a bitch to her, because she would be felled by the same virus (I swear she gave it to me in the first place), and she would be sick until early Sunday morning.  I started to feel better Friday and great on Saturday, but this illness took the toll on her as she was sick, sick, sick.  She couldn’t eat, couldn’t drink or keep anything inside her.  Even Stewie got sick, but my wife managed to somehow remain hydrated after 5 days without food or water, to keep herself and him from the hospital.

I carried that 16 pound boy around for the rest of the week and the longer I held him, the more I felt my back hurt and as a result, my foot would go numb and my big toe on the left side was constantly stinging with pain from the pressed nerve.  I just wish he would sleep so w could both get some rest!

I’m going to hit the sack and wait for the wailing wake up from the littlest one between 5-5:30am when my day will start all over again.

I’m so glad to be “back” at work!

… and I ran. I ran so far away…

Ran 2.2 km in 18 minutes.

Filled up my car at 76.9.

Read 2 chapters of Organizational Behaviour text.

Started my essay.

Took the Second child for his first walk – 30 minutes up and down Avenue Road.

Burped the baby, like 25 times.

Was spit up on twice…

All in a days work.

Thursday Thirteen: 13 Random Thoughts from my week…

A pair of fingerless, padded, open on the back cycling gloves not meant for an office!!!

Thirteen thoughts on a Thursday by this Urban Daddy:

1. Why does the guy beside me at the office wear cycling gloves indoors? Does he think he looks cool?  When I asked him why he is wearing them, in the office, in the heat of the summer, he told me it was because he burned the back of his hands?!?  Errr… The gloves leave the back of the hand open.  (Scratching head).

2. My periformus is still quite tight but that didn’t stop me from going for a run this morning. 20 minutes this time. And again I had to stop because I had to get ready for work, and not because I was sore or tired. It just takes me so friggin long and hurts so much to stretch it out in the am. I will know when all this running is finally doing something for me when my wife notices I’m getting into a shape that does not resemble a pear.  Right now she often wonders why she lost all her baby weight from Linus’ birth but I didn’t.

3. With two weeks plus a day until baby #2′s scheduled arrival, we are still running around like crazy people.  Is it not supposed to be easier the second time around?

4. My colleagues Mom sent pears for me.  Generally I don’t like pears, but so far I have had one a day.  A very kind gift from a very kind person.

5. In my CD player at the office (read: computer CD Rom drive) is some FANTASTIC jazz from the Clayton/Scott Group. This is some great Canadian jazz and I listen to the darn thing at least 4 times during the day. My colleague’s come by to listen too because, as they put it, this music would be heard in a cafe at night. As well, the Scott in the band is my neighbour, their son is my son’s best friend, and he is a real cool cat too.  As a metalhead, I endorse their CD’s, and strongly encourage my readers to find their CD’s and pick them up – support Canadian music!!!  You wont be disappointed.

6. Some stupid re-upholstery company located in the middle of the Sheppard Centre, with no business cards, no phone number and no clue, managed to convince me to stop and look at their wares.  We have a love seat that the cat destroyed which needs to be done and stupidly, I gave them my phone number and in return they promised to call in December when I was prepared to talk about this with them.  I was shocked to find out that the next day, they called my house 3 times and were really rude after UrbanMummy told them to never call again.  Then they called me at the office. So I stormed out of the office to the mall and ripped them a new one.   Can people really be that stupid?  Well, see #1.  LOL.

7. UrbanMummy and I are taking a first Aid course at Linus’ pre-school tonight.  It’s been a while since I was certified as a member of the Boy Scouts.  Hope I don’t kill the dummies.

8. I’ve been working on orders for baseball shirts, bowling shirts and denim shirts.  I’m slowly surely trying to build up a client base but I think I need to put this stuff on hold, build my network and then bring out the customized goods again.   With #2 weeks away, one year left in my MBA and a new job hopefully in the near future, I can’t do everything.

9. Martha Stewart likes listening to Eminem… This news puzzles me because of what it says, and because of the fact it is news.

10. The more I run, the more I think I need to learn more about nutrition and proper stretching and hydration and running in the winter… Then a good tailor for all the new clothes I’ll need when I get my sorry ass in shape.

11. This morning when my son was eating breakfast, his mother jumped into the shower and my son said; “garage door open?”

I replied; “No, the sound you hear is not the garage door opening, it’s mummy in the shower.”

“Mummy shower?” he questioned.  I nodded yes.

“Garage door open??” he questioned.

“No”, I said. “Mummy shower.”

“Mummy shower??” he said again, this time puzzled.

“Yes”, I replied again, now puzzled myself.

Then he said “garage door open… Rex”.

Rex, you see, is the handyman who is painting Linus’ big boy room, where his big boy bed resides… Waiting for him.

“Rex, paint. Big boy bed?”, he questioned.

Ahhh… He wants Rex to finish his room so he can sleep in his big boy bed.  How cute.  Then the doorbell rang.  It was Rex.  He was here to paint Linus’ room.  He did hear Rex coming and he was trying to tell me.  He’s not yet 2 but I think he’s going to be a smart cookie like his mummy (hopefully).

12. For those of you who know my wife, the ultra-sexy UrbanMummy, you would understand my following comment.  If you turn her sideways and manage to block her obviously pregnant belly, you would have NO idea that she was in her 38th week. She looks friggin awesome. She had her hair done the other day and now she looks even better. A true Yummy Mummy if I’ve ever seen one.  She’s been eating healthy, and looking after herself and #2.  Good for her.

13. Why does the band name “Supertramp” all of the sudden seem so darn funny??

Related articles

• Thursday Thirteen – Words that make me snicker in my head (urbandaddy.wordpress.com)
• Thursday Thirteen: Parenthood the third time through. Thirteen things I don’t recall the other kids doing (urbandaddy.wordpress.com)
• Thursday Thirteen (barefootpreachr.org)
• Thursday Thirteen (barefootpreachr.org)