Trying to please everyone:)

First off let me start this off by saying I was a little hesitant to write this post...but felt the need to:)  

Today was the first day in almost a year of doing this that a customer really almost made me cry...and not those sweet tears that some of you bring to me....tears because I had let them down.  I really really try to make sure we have all the orders done and waiting in the cooler or in the oven for you at the time you tell me you want it...and feeding around 80 families a day with only 2 or 3 of us cooking at most times, I think we do a really efficient job.  But today we messed up on a pretty big order.  Don't know how...don't know what happened to this customers order, but when she came in to pick it up, it was gone.  It was our fault.

She happened to be going to a church potluck and needless to say, she was upset.  I don't blame her.  I hurried and made her a large banana pudding which she had ordered and just gave it to her...no charge....offered to get the food ready and deliver it hot to the church...no charge...free food to about the tune of 85.00 but she was unhappy with us and refused...then I offered to give her 2 free meals...and she said no....I know it put her in a bind...of all the customers today that we waited on today and got their meals fine, it had to be this one we messed up on. 

We really don't have things happen like this often at all.  But I just want to get the poing across...we are human, not one of us is perfect.  But I try very very very hard to keep everything running smoothly and customers being happy is the most important thing to me in my business.

I know she was in a bad mood because what she expected did not happen.  I was embarrassed that the mistake had been made.  There were several customers in and out of the store during this and I know she wanted to make sure they knew we had made a mistake, and again...I don't know, she had probably had a very stressful day getting things done and it would be upsetting...but I could of done if for her...and gave it to her...but she refused and said she should of went somewhere else to get her food.  Well, that was like a knife in my heart, and I felt like I would start to cry right then and there.  But I had customers and I tried to hold it together and be as professional as I could be in that situation.  I probably lost a customer right then and there, but that was not what hurt as bad as feeling like I had let a customer down.

I want you all to understand, I am hard on myself, I am hard on the girls who work for me, and I put the best quality ingredients in our dishes...and I put my heart into this!  Those of you who have become my "regular" customers know this....you have become our friends....our reason for working like we do.  But as hard as we try, sometimes we will make a mistake...but I will always try to make it right.  I would rather lose a dollar than lose a customer!  This is my name, this is a business I love and feel blessed to be doing.  But I work my tail of every day...and so do the girls who work here. 

In ending this, I want to tell each and every one of you "Thank You"...I know you could go somewhere else to get your meals, and I consider it a priviledge that you let us be part of your families meals.  I appreciate that most of you are so precious and patient with us and we love you for it.  I appreciate that daily people tell me how much they appreciate what we do, so that it gives them more time with their families enjoying dinner together. 

Things like what happened today fortunately don't happen often (this was a first time like this) But if you are ever not happy with anything you get in our little shop, I want to know, I want to have the chance to make it right.  Because without you all...we couldn't be doing this.

What makes a home?

What makes a home?  That is a question I have pondered on this week.  While talking to some customers who have become friends this week I was talking about "home" and then it got me to thinking...what really makes a home? 

When I first moved into my house a couple years ago, I remember looking around and thinking I didn't know if I could ever feel like I was "home" here.  It was almost 1000 square feet smaller than the home I had built with my now x-husband.  At the time we built our home...I thought that would be the place I would be forever...that I would raise my children, that I would have my grandchildren come visit....that was my home! 

When my husband and I divorced a few years ago, (which honestly has been very hard for me to admit to people and hard to talk about...we have 4 children and there is a lot of guilt for me  that goes along with the feeling like we let them down.) But I was the one to move out of our "home"...we had built our house right next door to his parents and on his family land...I think moving from our home...and moving our kids from our home was the hardest and most heartbreaking feeling I have ever been through.

At first when we moved here, there was excitement from the kids to be in a new neighborhood in town with lot's of friends to hang out with..  But it didn't take long to start missing their old "home"...we went from 4 bathrooms to 2.5, 5 bedrooms to 4, and a whole life of memories.  It took me forever to quit calling my old house my home....I would catch myself saying "home" when I referred to  their dads house for months.  Our house was nice...but it wasn't home...not yet.  After about 9 months of being here, bringing in this and that, hanging pictures, cooking meals, playing games, making memories here, new memories...this became "home"...I have actually noticed my kids calling our house "home" and our old house "dad's house"... (they call it that way to him too) My kids love their dad, and he and I are still good friends...but his house doesn't have that "home" feeling any longer.  Even my X-husband comes to our house a few times a week just to spend time with the kids...I don't mind.  I want him involved with them as much as possible. But they would rather he do that than go out to the "old" house all the time.

So as I was talking to my friends the other day...It got me to thinking, Is home where mom is? Is home where there are candles burning and making the house smell sweet, is home where there is something good cooking in the oven?  Is home just a feeling? Is it more a feeling than an actual place?  I think so.  I want everyone who comes to my house to feel welcomed...and I guess why I am writing this on The Mixing Bowl Blog is that that is an extension of my home....My family and I spend so many hours there that it feels like our home also:)  I want it to always feel warm and inviting and hope when you are there you feel that feeling.