A colleague and I were glancing at Google maps to plan a work trip. It turned into a great conversation where she was able to point to general areas and give me a "feeling" for them. I think I've tried to ask questions about general areas before, but pointing at a map seems to really help people say things like "that's a great area, and oh, I'd visit xyz if you go there". I'll be pulling out Google maps a lot more to get ideas from locals... I think it also proves one of the knowledge management axioms of "you don't know what you know, until you need to know it".
I felt welcome as a local on Friday. A colleague from last summer came back in the office for the first time in 4 or 5 months. She's out on maternity leave (they usually take between 6 and 12 months maternity leave here). She's not coming back to the office yet, she was bringing her baby in to the office to meet everyone. Nice feeling to be a part of that long term continuity!
My wife asked for a Swatch watch for Valentines Day. I went online to try and order it. The website didn't work for me, I had the classic experience of clicking on "buy" and nothing happened. Too nervous to click it again and start a collection of Swatch watches, I decided to call them. I was quickly connected to their call centre in Switzerland. The woman on the other end of the line was extremely kind and helpful. After a few kind words, she was able to quickly process the order. I mentioned that I was a bit nervous the online order may have gone through too. She immediately checked the system and not only said its clean, she said she'd call back in 30 minutes to confirm its only been charged once. Sure enough, she called back exactly 30 minutes later and confirmed that the order happened only once. What a great experience, it was the feeling of a small company "care", even though I realise Swatch is quite large!
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