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You've partied long and hard in the Queenstown good bars, schmoozing with hotties, spending your last $ at 5am on that cockadoodle-oink from Fergburger, thinking it would do you the next two meals and it did. Then the perfect winter storm disrupts ALL flights AND road access out of here and you are over that fine line between chaos and disorder. What would you do with zero cash and no way home for a day or two? In HongKong you'd sleep in the airport, but you won't be doing any of that in ZQN - our terminal wisely shuts shop between the last and first flights of the day. We locals need a break from the drama at some point and there is no alternative refuge. No half way house, no warm bus stops. Dollar chewing alternatives are every where you turn. This is an all too common scenario for some of the international revellers that frequent here. A gap between cashflow and serve-us's that seems like a glacial crevasse. Perhaps you are like my friend the wwoofer trading hours of work for bed and food so you can ride extreme bike trails on Skyline. Only to crush your kidney by trying to bungy over your handle bars. You've just found out the long-ride way that our closest base hospital is two bumpy hours south. You know no one in vegas and you didn't have your phone charger tucked into your lycra with which to call your mum. Prior to social networking these people would have been very unhappy campers indeed. Social media can be the collection point for soul-saving-support when life throws you a gap and you have no idea of how you are going to fill it. Messages of... I need a lift or a bed, has anyone seen this shop lifter? Or I have a few bulbs to give away or jokes to tell are building communities faster and in more user friendly ways than a chat to your neighbour over the fence could ever have imagineered. Having a digital presence is making us all into kinder more caring human beings. Each status update or tweet is a call to Act-i-on. Do I like this, how can I be involved, does it make me want to smile and pass it on? It's like learning to play nicely and share your toys all over again. It's a moment by moment challenge to live in integrity. To be certain that what you say, think and DO line up and are the same.There is a lot of crap-chat about fake profiles and watching how you put on your facebook face. Yet I choose to believe that what you do on line makes you so visable that your real world responds to it immediately, dynamically. If what you think you are like and what you are like fail to add up, real people quickly let you know. Those that haven't embraced their digital presence are becoming conspicuous by their absence. What to selfish to share? I love the speed at which solutions are created through digital platforming. A horse float found, a criminal arrested, a million likes to stop someone smoking. If you need an answer just ask Gog. If you need a job link up and hook in. For those who tell you to stop wasting time on line. Think how many hours there are between that airport reopening, or minutes lying flat on your back in hospital with no one to talk to and nothing to read. Care to connect and fill the gaps. Build bridges and get in underneath people, places and projects. Scroll rather than troll through your news feed and connections to make the world a closer and more caring place faster. Build a bridge and get over it. When we give we are all the more richer for being.
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So excited - I have 30 saffron bulbs to trial at Arrow Ridge. All via facebook and like souled-individuals, learning and sharing seed thoughts of sustainability in Central Otago. Bulbs offered and transported through social networking. Gotta love how the world works today. Thank you, thank you, thank you to those willing to share. 30 bulbs as a trial crop or just because... Saffron one of our best restaurants name sakes, as a crop - new to the region but not to the world. A gold crop, high maintenance and hard work like many Arrowtown women, born of gold, and stunning. A new plant is a new story, untold and untested. Better than a delivery of on line shopping from Asos. Clothes that look great on the modeIs but carry the guilt of air miles from the UK even though shipping is free... a fashion fail with kiwi cankles. I get to see if I can encourage those 30 bulbs to thrive here. It may seem nothing to some but to seed-crop-cravers like me 30 bulbs are 30 gold nuggets. I've been gathering seeds; sweet peas, parsley, corriander, cucumbers, peas, beans and tomatoes to propagate next spring. I'm very aware that some places on our planet what I am doing for enjoyment and satisfaction is a crime. I get a buzz each time I mulch the pumpkins in the horse poop, the parsely and mint from generations ago and wild tomatoes or beans that have found crevices and thrived. Arrowtown, a living historic village filled with high end estates, first family homes and holiday cribs. Artisan galleries, boutique shopping, restaurants where slow food that showcases Central Otago produce and wines thrive. Villagers from all walks wax lyrical describing puff balls bigger than your head harvested in the early morning dew of autumn. Rowan berries, elderflower and rose syrups. Apple trees, apricots and quince hang on the river tracks and verges. Wild black berries and yellow plums are harvested on 4-wd drive trips up river to Macetown. We worship our chefs who turn rabbits shot on the block into Moroccan feasts. Or a rainbow trout, Tar or fallow deer dropped off by whanau to full the freezers for the wwoofers. Our prized silver dorkings are fed on tapas from La Rumbla - scraps so good the chicken run must be dog proof or the bulimic suffering big black walrus of a labravac dog will surely die. Living in central we battle the climate, the days are shortening at one end while the shadows are lengthening at the other. Hot days and lingering afternoons are being swallowed by darkles in the morning and the threat of frost. I dare not look when daylight saving ends. Too soon we will be swallowed by -14 degrees and winter. To walk bare foot on the lawn freshly mown and watered with our bore supply cold and crisp from the Arrow. We can eat and grow lawns, chip and putt golf balls and splash in clear river pools. We may simply sit majestic amongst the mountains. Nurturing the 100 mile diet philosophy. Reflecting on the chinese market gardeners, gold miners and settlers who have sown seed here before us. And get prepared to bed down for winter. Gathering and preserving what we can and paying it forward when we have an abundance to share. A panicked, grieving mother, and her supporters moving heaven and earth to get her to daughter-in-law and young grand-daughter as quickly as possible has captured the bleeding hearts of NZ today. And Jet Star, death star to some... Qantas's poor relation has just created a PR night mare for themselves. Most of you will have heard the disgust by now - that a fare paying passenger scheduled to fly in a week or so was denied the transfer of her booking for an earlier seat on compassionate grounds - the aircraft was not full, she would however have to purchase another ticket at more than $300. This has really hit my customer Serve-US funny bone. The countless missed opportunities in this one, let alone the bad karma is mind boggling. The stories that are flowing on social media are filling my horror album with fodder for my next training workshops, they are facilitator gold. A customer being told that next time they don't have to book Jet star if they don't like their flight being delayed. I'd be careful what you ask for there guys. The opportunity cost here would be fascinating to calculate. How much future business did this airline just surrender? How much damage has it done in $ terms? It brings to the fore the issue that you really can't afford not to care what your customers are saying about you. The world of travel has certainly changed - but when did we sign up for cheaper ways to get from A to B to equate to heartless or arrogant? I know Jetstar were only following their policy. However by disempowering their agents with policy that stops them being able to lead with their hearts, and win over their customers, they have missed the point of volume travel. More customers not less is what the budget model thrives on. It costs nothing to be nice to people and it makes them want to be around you again. I am reminded of a story from my days at Countdown supermarkets as training manager. Our GM was running a little late for a flight - as he ran to the check in counter - no bags, a frequent traveler well known at the counter. The rude attendent not even looking up from her work snapped at him in a nasal tone. FLIGHT IS CLOSED! He paused tried a ...timid... but...... FLIGHT IS CLOSED! was the retort. Now I'm not arguing with the reality I'm debating the manner of the exchange. Compare this to when he side stepped to the next counter where he was greeted by a smiling welcome, a quick explanantion of his urgency the reply was - we have an aircraft about to depart, technically the flight is closed but let me call the airbridge and see if the door is still open sir. While she made the call he handed over his credit card. Multi tasking genius ensured and her only word to him with a smile was run.. sir, run! Which he did. But not until he turned to our employee who had taken him to the airport to say please tell my PA to change our travel contract to these guys. With that one action, of one person focused on how they could Serve-US at that moment a $2 million plus per annum travel contact changed check in desks. I'd suggest even if the outcome was that he had not been allowed on the flight he still would have viewed the exchange more favorably. So is the lesson be careful you never know who you are serving? I think not. The lesson is that the universe has given us all only one lesson to learn and that is the lesson of Serve-US. If you are not getting the lesson the universe just turns up the volume. Today every small frustration, late flight, rude retort, delay and baggage stuff up Jetstar has ever had is in the public arena. Zillions of moments of truth wiped with a snotty tissue. The first rule of the win win balance sheet is to work out what is cheap to give and valuable for the other person to recieve. The no brainer in allowing a passenger who already has a contract to fly with you to take a vacant seat on compassionate grounds is an example of this type of currency exchange. You have just created an opportunity to resell the seat she would have filled in the future for more money. And you have an aircraft using more of its capacity today. You have an opportunity to pay it forward. To share the love and treat her as someone deserving care and attention. Not just her but anyone who is need of compassion when one of lifes hurdles knocks you sideways. Ten minutes on hold to talk to a supervisor. Sit down now and time that. It's an age. Add grief, panic and then disenchantment, it's an insult. Not a great example of how they escalated the call. If what you put out returns to you threefold. Would it change the way you dealt with people? If everything was said to you for a reason would it change the way you heard criticisim? I'm hoping that the volume just got so loud for Jetstar/Qantas that they are able to see the value in this for what it is. A fantastic learning opportunity. Lets hope they take the feedback they are getting from their customers on board. Or there may be less of them climbing on board their planes. A complaining customer is your best friend they are telling you how to make your business better. To the lady who lost her beautiful boy to a shark attack - I trust she is feeling the love and support of the country that is flowing her way. Regardless of shark attack, heart attack or panic attack I hope we all learn that the world could do with a little more compassion towards each and every person in need. Take the time to listen to what people are telling you and see what is cheap for you to give and valuable for them to receive. Often it's as simple as a smile, time spent in true connection with them, the acknowledgement that you've listened and that you've understood how they feel. Pay it forward and Serve_Us the next person who gives you the opportunity. |
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