My dad passed away...

Hi guys, sorry I have been away for a while, my dad passed away exactly a month ago at 69 years old. To say that it still feels unreal to me would be a big understatement. I have always been daddy's little girl (i am the last of six children ) its been hard. Well I hope heaven held a great reception for him when he got there because he deserves nothing less than that...My dad is a Muslim hence he was buried the exact day he passed away. It's hard to come to terms with the fact that he is really gone.  But I bless God for his life, like my mum keeps saying "he lived a beautiful life" He had beautiful children, grandchildren and many adopted children.

I will put up the tribute I wrote for the program tomorrow. It's been hard to even say RIP! But daddy today I leave you to rest... May you beautiful soul rest in the perfect peace of God Almighty... I love you forever!

My problem with Mrs Lola the tailor

 

Mrs Lola is my tailor, she lives in a place so far away though she claims she lives in Lagos, I can only describe her area as an outskirt of Lagos. When she charges me for making my clothes, she charges transportation  allowance differently and that, I  usually do not  mind because the amount of money she charges for making me 3 outfits is what my other tailors collect as deposit for one outfit. I like mrs Lola my tailor, she listens to me and is not overly forward, she does exactly what I want and minds her business when I tell her that I want my outfit shorter or longer unlike Mrs  Funmi aother tailor of mine  who said  to me that if she made me the particular length of skirt I asked her to, I wouldn't be able to jump the gutter or ride an Okada. I remember being very angry with her and asking her who told her that I'd be jumping gutters or riding Okadas.

Anyway back to  Mrs Lola, my current Tailor. So Mrs Lola is a very very good tailor but my problem with her is her lack of customer service.  She lacks it so much it causes a lot of friction between us. She has this terrible habit of not fulfilling her promises. If she says she would deliver your clothes tomorrow and things changed, for example there is a flood in her area as she claimed one time,  she never thinks to call to tell you that she wouldn't be able to make it that day and when you call her phone, it would  either be unavailable or switched off until the day she decides to come. I have settled a couple of fights between my Aunty and her  there was a time she didn't deliver an outfit my Aunty was to wear to a wedding until a month after the wedding. I have been counting myself lucky and special up until now because she never really treated me that bad, maybe sometimes she is a day or two late but not this bad. Something changed.

Last week she was meant to deliver some clothes she recently made me, she flashed my phone several times infact I sounded very irritated when I called her back. She was calling to tell me that she would be coming to drop my outfit the following day and she wanted me to also tell my mum just in case she had some new fabrics to sew. I said "ok" . The following day came,  I waited and waited for Mrs Lola , she didn't come. I called her phone, it was turned off. I knew she had started with her disappointing acts. Two days after,  she finally picked up her phone when I called repeatedly. I told her how upset i was with her for keeping me waiting and not even having the common courtesy to call to say that she wouldn't be able to make it any more. She gave me one of her excuses as usual and said she was on her way to my office.

7 hours later she arrived at my office, my outfits were beautiful but needed a little adjustment, she took them away  and promised to return them two days After. Day 8 after the promised date, I am still waiting for madam Lola, she hasn't called and her phone has been off. Yesterday when I got through to her phone, a woman picked up her phone and said she left her phone charging at her store. Today a man picked up her phone and said he was her husband and was helping her charge her phone in his office. Lies. lies and more lies.

This might be the end of Mrs Lola and I's relationship. She sews really well but her customer service skills sucks. But when I think about Shadia my former tailor who ran away with my clothes and money a few years ago, I begin to question Mrs lola 's loyalty to me and my experiences with tailors in general. Would she do the same thing Shadia did ?  I give her whatever she charges (without bargaining)  plus transport allowance. Don't know why she acts in this manner. Maybe it's time to ditch her before she does a runner on me.

Two uninvited guests...Mr &Mrs F..

 Uninvited guests interrupted my meal.

After work on Thursday, I decided to treat myself to lunch at browns; I put up a post on browns here a couple of years ago but things have since gotten better there.

My dearest treats me to impromptu lunches at Browns, I like the place. It is a nice place with a peaceful atmosphere. The waiters are also efficient though the last time I was there with dearest; our food came in so so late, we were almost dying of hunger.

Anyway, back to my lunch On Thursday, so I walked through the doors of Browns and was greeted by a waiter as I walked down to sit at our usual spot. The waiter came with the menu and I ordered my food and drink.

Two minutes after the waiter set my food on the table, just as I was about to dig in, two uninvited visitors arrived at my table distracting me; it was Mr and Mrs Fly! I hate flies sooooo much especially when they come around something  I am eating(particularly when I am very hungry), I just feel like once they latch on something you are about to eat, if you put it in your mouth you get ill immediately, I  don’t want to start imagining where they could have come from. I feel that when one is outdoor flies might invite themselves, but what about indoors?

After spending sometime  multitasking  driving Mr and Mrs Fly away and at the same time trying to eat, I got sort of frustrated and called the waiter, he apologised and went to get a spray bottle which I am guessing contained insecticide, he sprayed it around a bit(I think it must have been odourless because I didn’t smell anything but  I was bit concern about how safe that was) the flies disappeared and just as I was about to relax and enjoy the rest of my food, they appeared again. In frustration I ate what I could, asked for my bill and left my table to Mr&Mrs Fly. 

The food was very nice, as usual everything was good, only the flies… Browns  is a nice place, I will go there over and over again BUT the next time I encounter a fly? It must surely die! or I'll  have to pay only half of my bill lol.

Have you had an experience like mine at a place you really like to go? Would seeing a fly on your table put you off going to a restaurant you like to eat at?

Last Valentine's day...hmmm still shaking my head

Last valentine was something else, I found myself settling a fight between two of myfriends who had been married for over 5 years.

 

Toni was in her office, watching and getting depressed because she hadn't received her valentine package yet, all the younger girls in her office were all beaming in smiles, not only were their smiles annoying, they were all also wearing a touch of red. She hissed as she spoke to me in her office bathroom. She was complaining bitterly about her husband Paul who is also my very very good friend. Several times I tried to get her off the phone so I could focus on my work, but she kept calling me back and was almost ruining my own day with her nagging.

 

 

Once I got the chance to get off the phone I quickly called her husband Paul who sounded very panicked, I asked what was wrong, he said the people he ordered Toni's present from hadn't delivered them to her and she would be leaving her office in 2 hours. He asked me to please convince Toni to stay a bit longer at work as she was no longer picking up his calls. Out of pity I agreed to call Toni again, I told her so many silly stories and even had to lie that I might be stopping to give her a present too, just to make her happy.

After two hours, Paul called and told me that the delivery man was almost at Toni's office he had been stuck in the crazy Lagos valentine traffic, with a sigh of relief I shouted "hallelujah". 5 minutes after I got off the phone with Paul,  my phone rang, it was Toni, excitedly I picked up the phone, thinking she had good news, but I could only hear someone sobbing, I was scared, a million things ran through my mind, did the delivery man fall dead? "What happened?" I kept asking. I could also hear her colleagues asking her to stop crying, when she could finally speak, She said the chocolate Paul sent to her had melted the cake had smashed, the teddy bear was stained and to top it up the card was addressed to another woman with her husband's name at the bottom. Then she started weeping again. I was confused! I didn't understand, was Paul cheating? He must be a big goat! I thought out loud.

 

So I called Paul,  before he could speak, I shouted at him." You are such a stupid goat, if you are going to cheat on your wife must you also rub it in her face, at her office on Valentine's day?" Paul said he didn't understand what I was on about. I explained what his wife told me, he was very confused. He said he 'd call me back. He called the company he ordered the present from.

To cut the long story short, It was their mistake(The people he ordered from) they had addressed the card wrongly and had almost caused Paul his marriage.  This issue didn't get resolved until almost midnight, everyone including Toni's parents had to come to resolve this silly conflict. Thanks to the  unorganised company, a marriage could have ended on that Valentine's day.

This Valentine's day be sure to state your order clearly, making sure whoever takes your order gets it right(if possible get them to repeat it). Avoid popular restaurants especially if you didn't make a prior reservation, set out very early on your date and if you don't really need to be out, please enjoy your valentine at home with your lover.

Service providers, please don't take more orders than you can meet. Let it be a Merry Valentine's day for all.

Love is a beautiful thing! Happy Valentine's Day all! x

*Bigggg kiss* mwahhhh!

Dirty Linen Aired In Public...

Diverting from customer service to customer etiquette (for today).

Hey people today I am not writing about good or bad customer service. I will be writing about my experience while I was out with dearest today. I feel embarrassed for these women I am about to write about BUT my mind tells me that I need to write about it so that others can learn and be careful.

Dearest and I walked into the cafe that I had been talking about. I wanted some dessert, I had been singing about it all day. We finally got there and were directed to a nice seat. I had been harassing dearest that he was a bit too quite today and was killing all the excitement in me dying to come out.

 

Before we sat down, I noticed three women who sat down finishing their meals and seriously gisting, not that I was eaves dropping or anything, their voices were rather loud so i didn't have a choice but to listen even if i didn't  want to. I complained to dearest who was already reading a magazine and he answered "leave them alone" I guess he was secretly enjoying their gist.lol

Anyway from all the stories they were telling, I figured out that they were old friends who schooled abroad and are probably married. They were catching up and reminiscing on things they did in the past. Their voices got louder and louder as their gist got deeper and deeper. I started feeling un easy and dearest told me to mind my business and eat my dessert, he was definitely enjoying their story lol

They were talking about men they had slept with in the past, mentioning their names and even surnames, they called some of them irresponsible and rained insults on others and talked about their relationship with other men up until  some of them got married.  Dearest's eyes were fixed on the magazine he was reading, but I swear his mind wasn't there. I kept on murmuring, I couldn't believe this women were speaking so loudly about their lives even if it was their past in such a public place.

 

Then something happened! They mentioned one of dearest's friends name and surname. Dearest and I looked at each other, our eyes widely  opened  and said "Ah". They spoke a little about  the guy. We kept silent! And I guess we just kept listening to them(when we weren't talking) until will finally left.

When we got outside, I asked dearest if he understood why I felt uncomfortable with the manner at which the women talked so carelessly. I think he did.  I mean , how can grown women leave their homes and come to the public to air their dirty linens? Unfortunately for them they didn't even know that we knew one of the people they spoke about, dearest said he recognized one of the women from when he was in university. I honestly felt very embarrassed for them.

Mr Dearest who claimed he wasn't even paying attention to them, remembered what they looked liked and even managed to catch one of their names lol!

By the time we were leaving, we knew the names of the men they slept with, we knew they were married, we knew the town they went to school in, and even one of their names. I felt that was too much information to disclose in such a secluded place.

A couple of minutes later after I got home, dearest was trying to find out from me what the women said about his friend. Imagine! he had already called his friend and told him what had happened lol! I laughed so hard, who ever said men don't gossip or like to gist ? lol. Anyway I didn't answer him, I felt so sorry for the women that I didn't even want dearest to tell his friend anything they said.

 

So  friends, when you are out please be careful what you say, if you don't care about your private affairs being out in public, at least think about your security. x

But whatever is worth doing they say is worth doing well...

Yesterday when I walked into my sister's office, I saw some chinchin (Chin Chin is a fried snack popular in Nigeria. It is a sweet, hard, donut-like fried dough of flour,egg, and other customary baking items ) in a plastic bag, that kind of plastic bag that bread sellers put Agege bread in; in some places they call it eba nylon lol! it is very light and the cheapest form of plastic bag I know. It gets damaged easily and I don't trust it to keep any type of snack crunchy especially if the bag isn't doubled or isn't stored in an air tight container.

I honestly thought the chinchin was a project my nephew did at school but was told that the snack which was coconut flavoured was brought in as samples by a woman whose name sounded very familiar. I tried to remember where I met her, it clicked! she was that woman, who came to market a product a year ago and after talking to her I found out she had a miraculous voice. I remember I made her sing at least two songs on that day, my sister and I couldn't stop marvelling over her voice. We had goose pimples and tears in our eyes as she sang so effortlessly. We asked what she was doing hiding such great talent; she smiled and said she was working on an album. We encouraged her and told her what we knew many others would have told her, I.e. that she had a beautiful voice and was very blessed.

This is why I was surprised when I was told she was the one who brought the unattravtively packaged chinchin as samples. I exclaimed "coconut chinchin again!" and in this form of package(come on woman, its 2013) The packaging was just so so so wrong, she put it in a plastic bag and by plastic bag I am honestly being extremely posh about it, I should really be calling it nylon bag or eba nylon she then folded the bag and stapled it. No way! Only if she supplied it to the aboki's who I am certain would reject it because of the packaging, it wouldn't last long in their kiosk before the bag starts to tear. My sister was very disappointed she said surely this woman must have seen chinchin in thicker plastic bags and even sealed.

I could never buy such, the packaging was a real turn off. Honestly, it doesn't cost that much, even if one cannot afford a sealing machine, which isn't expensive nowadays there are other DIY methods that wouldn't even cost anything. Anyway,the coconut chinchin tasted OK, but it still had a long way to go in order to satisfy consumers I.e. it was very brown and a bit oily. Why bring such product as a sample to potential customers.

Her chinchin didnt match the kind of voice she had. Shouldn't this woman stick to the singing she knows how to do best. But when one considers the unemployment rate and standard of living here in Lagos, I really wouldn't blame her, sometimes anything goes. But whatever is worth doing they say is worth doing well.

3 Cousins and A Crook BBQ

Today after disturbing my dearest several times to treat us to lunch, he finally agreed and we went to a place that my brother talked about a lot last year; 3 Cousins and A Crook(I remember laughing the first time I heard the name).

As we arrived there, I saw something that looked like a pirate's flag in front of a hut like structure. I was already wondering if this little structure would have an air conditioning unit, especially on a sunny day like today. As we got down from the car into the space, we were nicely welcomed by a gentleman who I guessed would be one of the owners. When we were trying to locate the entrance, he told us where it was.

I noticed the beautiful view behind the hut, it was the ocean, I felt the nice breeze touch my neck as we opened the door. It was a small place, very clean and nicely maintained and there was no air-conditioning unit, but it was nicely ventilated and actually cool considering how hot it was outside.

we went to order our food. I ordered a burger and dearest ordered a Philly cheese steak. We were told that we could sit outside, dearest agreed immediately while I complained that I didn't want things biting me. We went to sit outside and I was glad that we did, the view was very beautiful the whole ambiance was nice, it was as if we were on a mini beach but shielded from the water we could see in front of us, the floor was sandy, just like the beach and we sat on a seat that was under a big tree. The wind blew very gently, it was very relaxing as we watched people cruise on their boats.

Just when dearest was about to go and enquire about our food, the food arrived so did the flies. It was as if the flies were patiently waiting for our food to come out. We were offered wipes to wipe our hands! I thought that was soooo cool. Because we were enjoying the view and the beachy feel, we thought we could manage and probably keep driving the flies away, but it got worse, the flies came out in multiplies they were too much for us to handle. The lady who brought our food suggested we went inside, we agreed and she helped us with our trays.

Back inside the hut, it was nice, with John Legend playing on the radio, we tucked into our food, though I was already full, I managed to finish my burger. The potato wedges were heavenly I have never tasted wedges that good. The burger? Delicious, the bun was so fresh I could even eat it on its own. I had a mega amazing experience. It was absolutely gorgeous (if I can use that word). The guy who we met outside on our way in, came to ask if we enjoyed our food and when he heard us talking about the flies outside, he agreed to trying out our "driving away fly" technique lol. He was very friendly.

I would go to this place over and over and over and over again. If it were near my house, I would probably go there every day or just live there lol. Love the food, Love the ambiance too. Oh , I forgot to mention that all over the walls, tables, door, counter and ceiling were scribblings i.e signatures of people and little notes from people who visited in the past. So as we were getting ready to leave, we were offered a pen which I quickly grabbed, dearest suggested I wrote on the ceiling just in front of us, he found me a space and excitedly I wrote "wonderful experience" and I didn't lie :) It was nothing but the truth.

3 Cousins & A Crook BBQ is located BICS Gardens Lekki 1 Off Admiralty Road opposite B20 Wole Olateju Crescent, 08100000899.. Check out their website for their full menu HERE