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

New Year Resolutions...

Happy New Year everyone!!! I have been MIA for a little, enjoying the holidays :) and experiencing all sort of customer services (I will share them with you soon).
I am sure some people already printed out their new year resolutions. At some point in my life I gave up writing resolutions, I thought it'd be better just to flow with the year instead of feeling disappointed on 31st of December because not even one out of my many goals were accomplished. After trying to do without new year resolutions for a year, I realised that I wasn't complete, there was nothing to look forward to, nothing to work towards or even tick off, so I started again. This year, my resolutions ranges from getting a stomach as flat as the wall (nothing is impossible lol) to encouraging and promoting good customer service whenever and wherever I get the opportunity to.

Are you a business owner or do you deal with customers a lot? It doesn't matter if you are a blogger, a banker, a trader, an entertainer, a writer or even a chewing gum seller, make a conscious effort to create even a better customer service experience for your customers.

Have you thought about this already or do you already have a plan? What are your New Year resolutions regarding customer service and meeting your customers needs?


Happy New Year!!!!!!!! May this year bring you lots of customers :)