More great customer service in Panama

I'm so excited. This past week was awesome. I met some really cool people who demonstrated excellent customer service. First, I had to visit Do It Center to pick up a few things. Do It Center is kind of like Home Depot, but smaller.

I was looking for a wet/dry vacuum for my car. Getting your car washed here in Panama is very inexpensive, usually about $4-$5, and you can find a car wash on every major street, but for some reason I just hate going to get my car washed. I find that the car wash employees do an excellent job on my car, but they're very slow. For that reason, I usually ride around in a dirty car. So, I've decided to start washing my car myself on the weekend. 

So, there I was at Do It Center, sorting through the vacuums, trying to find a reasonably priced one, when Keila, a very nice young lady asked if I needed help. I did my best to explain to her, in broken Spanish, which vacuum I was interested in. It turned out the one I wanted was way up on the top shelf, where, even with a step ladder, she wouldn't be able to reach. She told me to wait a sec, then disappeared and returned with Eliecer, a happy and energetic young man, who hopped up on the ladder and started fishing out vacuums for me. 

Keila and Eliecer

One of the great things about Panama, or at most of the stores anyway, is the fact that the employees usually take the item out of the box, plug it in, and test it to make sure it's working properly, before allowing you to purchase the item. Keila and Eliecer worked together like relay racers as he opened the box, pulled everything out, handed it to her, and she plugged it in. 

They were incredible, almost like a pit crew at Nascar. 

It took several attempts before I found a vacuum I liked, and these two were customer service pros, never getting aggravated or losing patience with the crazy gringo who couldn't commit to a freakin' vacuum. I asked if they minded posing for a photo, and was surprised that they were both willing. They were all smiles, just as they were through my entire experience. This was the Do It Center in Villa Lucre, and I hope somehow their boss comes across this post and gives them both a pat on the back.

Sunday afternoon, my wife and I took all the kids to TGIF "Friday's" for lunch. I hate to say that at most of the Fridays I've been to, the service is just okay at best. At the Los Pueblos Friday's, I sat for over a half-hour just waiting for someone to take my order, and the restaurant was nearly empty. The new Friday's at Multiplaza Mall was a much better experience.

The place was packed, so we had to wait about twenty minutes for a table, but once seated everything was great. Archi was our waiter, and the dude was awesome. He approached us as soon as we sat down, took our order, and returned rather quickly with our drinks. 

Archi, our awesome waiter at Friday's in Multiplaza Mall

Archi took his job very seriously and never missed a beat. He smiled the entire time, gave us everything we asked for (not easy when there's a table with 4 kids) and even refilled my drink 3 times. That's almost unheard of in Panama (sorry my Panamanian friends, but you know it's true). 

So, that's my short post for today. These three workers deserve a raise and a hand shake. Thanks Keila, Eliecer, and Archi, for making my week a little easier. 

Chris

Dia del Niño in Panama

Wow, has it really been a month since I last wrote? Sorry it has taken so long. I used to be better at pumping out posts. I need to get back on my game. With this post, and I know I'm a little bit late, I thought I'd bring up the subject of Kids' Day here in Panama. 

Dia del Niño takes place every year here and it's kind of a big deal. This year it fell on Sunday, July 21st. In years past I've gone to Parque Omar, one of the largest parks in Panama City, where they've had free activities for the kids, like face painting, amusement park rides, games, etc. 

This year I made the mistake of taking the kids to the mall. The plan was to eat pizza, buy the kids a toy, and go to a movie. Most of the stores have sales on Kids' Day, like 20% off all toys. We went to Metro Mall, and it was packed. The center of the mall was filled with families watching the events taking place. 

The mall was a madhouse

A stage was set up with costume-clad hosts and animators putting on a show for the kids. Batman, Cat Woman, Superman, and Supergirl were dancing to salsa, reggaeton, and techno. They threw prizes out to the kids and invited some up onto the stage to assist with the show. A bouncy house and video game stations were set up, familiar characters from cartoons were walking around, and snacks were handed out.

During the festivities, I decide to go up stairs to the movie theater and purchase tickets for a later show. I knew if I didn't get them in advance, I might not get seats at all. I wound up standing in line for well over an hour to get movie tickets. It was crazy. 

Enjoying Kids' Day at Metro Mall

I think it's great living in a country that celebrates children. We all have a birthday and we all celebrate Christmas or New Year or whatever your holiday is. We've always celebrated Mother's Day and Father's Day, but what about the kids? Sure, you could argue that every day is kids' day, but seriously, out of 365 days in the year, it's only right to give one to the kids. 

Did you know Panama even has a Grandparents' Day? Seriously, Panama has a Grandparents' Day. 

Just a funny side note. My sons go to a preschool called a Coif, which is basically a very inexpensive school set up for the children of government employees. My wife and my in-laws work for the government, so we got hooked up with this school. So, the school sent out invitations for the grandparents to attend Grandparents' Day at the Coif. I think it was Friday of last week. 

My father-in-law is a very serious guy. He's a lawyer and it's rare to hear him speak in a reasonable tone. Most of the time he's yelling about something. So, he received the invitation, and without telling anyone he'd attend, he just showed up at my sons' school. My wife just happened to decide to keep the kids out of school that day for some reason, and my dad-in-law didn't know about it.

He arrived at the school to find that my sons weren't there. The teachers and the school staff wouldn't let him leave. They made him play all of the games, eat lunch, and dance with the kids. I guess he was a good sport about it, but when he got home, he was pretty pissed that the boys weren't in school that day. 

That's all I've got for right now, but I've got all kinds of blog ideas, so you'll be seeing more from me soon. 

Thanks for reading,

Chris

My book will be only $1 during GMTA's 4th of July sale

Hey everybody, 

Once again, mixing business with pleasure, I'd just like to let everyone know that my book, along with all of the other amazing books published by GMTA, will be on sale for $1 from July 4th through July 7th. 

Head over to my author website at: www.cmichaelpowers.com to get all the details.

Next post will be about Panama, I promise...

Chris

Acknowledging great customer service in Panama

It's been awhile since I've mentioned someone in Panama giving tremendous customer service. That's because (and don't get mad my Panamanian friends, it's just a fact) Panama is not synonymous with outstanding customer service. For the most part, this country is severely lagging in that department. 

However, every once in awhile, I find a real gem. I get so excited anytime I meet someone who seems to truly get it. I wrote about a gas station attendant (probably a year ago) who did a great job. At that time, I initiated what I called "The Customer Service Challenge." I even dedicated a page to it. Look up top, you'll see it there. I invited expats to join me in snapping photos of customer service experts in Panama, and explaining to them how much you appreciate that they've gone out of their way to provide great service. 

I asked you to send me photos and your stories, so I could post them here on my site, but no one, not a single person has joined me in the cause. Ha, it may just be because you've yet to bump into someone willing to go out of their way to help you (hell it took me a year to find another one). Sadly, I would totally believe you if you said that was the case. Anyway, last weekend, I found someone worthy of joining Ariel (the Delta gas station attendant) on the "Customer Service Challenge" page. 

Jorge Lopez at the Los Pueblos Movistar

I'd just purchased a new phone at the Panafoto in the outdoor shopping center called Los Pueblos. Across the street was a Movistar, which is one of the major cell phone providers here in Panama. My previous phone was hooked up through Movistar, so I decided to cross over and see if they could add my service on to my new phone. 

Jorge Lopez was sitting at the counter. Like a super quiet, stealthy customer service ninja, Jorge took my phone and worked his secret Smartphone magic. When I asked if he spoke English, I got the typical Panamanian answer for when someone does...kinda. He said, "So-so." That's code for: "Speak slowly, don't use slang, and if you have a British or Redneck accent, just forget about it." 

It turned out, I didn't have to ask for anything. He smiled, took the phone, and began transferring everything I had from my old phone over to my new. When I got my phone back, all my contacts had been switched over, and every major application, to include Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp were present. He even set up my gmail account so I'd receive all my emails on my phone. When I told him that my wife, Marlene, was having issues with her phone, he took it, explained to her the problem, and then fixed it, without a hitch. The guy was amazing. 

So, to Jorge Lopez, I just want to say thank you for helping out a gringo. I really appreciate it. And to his boss, wife, friends, kids, or whoever else might come across this, give Jorge a pat on the back for doing things right. And if you happen to be in the Los Pueblos area, pop your head into Movistar and say hi. 

Oh yeah, and if any readers out there come across a great customer service provider, see if they'll let you snap their picture. Tell them how much you appreciate all they've done, and tip them well (if the situation warrants a tip). Send their photo and your story to my email at cmpowers56@gmail.com and I'll make sure it shows up on my Customer Service Challenge page, right where this post is headed. 

Thanks for reading,

Chris

Father's Day in Panama

Father's day week (when you have 4 kids it lasts all week) just passed, and it was a whirlwind, that's for sure. It started with my twin sons' school Father's Day celebration on Wednesday which ran from 9:30 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. My sons are still in preschool, and the school invited the dads to spend the time hanging out in the school with them.

Nico (left) and Matteo (right) with our craft projects

We started the celebration off with each kid having to state their dad's name to the rest of the class. Then we sang a few songs, did a few dances, and sat down together to work on the little stick puppets you see in the photo above. 

I come from a family where I bounced back and forth between divorced parents. For a part of that time, my brothers and I lived with my mom. She was a single mother taking care of three boys. So I know how hard that can be on a kid. This worried me a little bit when I showed up for the celebration early and saw moms dropping off their kids. I started thinking, "Man, this is going to suck for any kid whose dad doesn't show up."

That got me thinking, as much as I love spending time with my boys at their school, in some ways I think Father's Day might be a holiday better celebrated in the home. I can imagine how bad it must feel seeing other kids with their dads and not having mine around. I lived it for a long time, but I don't remember ever having a Father's Day celebration at school. 

That's how you do it, Dads!

When the celebration first started, only about 8 dads showed up, in a class of 14 kids. It concerned me at first, and at one point I actually pulled one of the kids aside, whose father hadn't shown up, and invited him to work with me on the craft project. Much to my surprise, his dad showed up a few minutes later. And the dads kept trickling in. By 11:00 only one kid in the class was dad-less. 

It was awesome! I don't know all the statistics, but I can almost guarantee that in most places where I lived in the States, there wouldn't have been that many dads in the class. Either they (the dads) would have been more worried about showing up for work, or they'd disappeared a long time ago, leaving the single mother to raise the kid. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that gringos don't father their children. Hell, I'm a gringo, and I think I'm a heck of a dad. I'm just saying that I was shocked to see that many men still in their child's life. That's horrible, right? 

Way to go Panama dads!!!

Dancing to Limbo by Daddy Yankee

My daughters had a similar celebration at their school on Friday. Both of my daughters, age 8 and age 10, practiced the dances they were going to perform every day for a couple of weeks. They were serious. My 8-year-old was going to dance to a Daddy Yankee reggaeton song with her classmates, and my 10-year-old was going to do a Panama folklore dance, dressed in traditional garb. 

My 10-year-old during her folklore dance

I had a lot of fun with this celebration. Each grade came out and either sang a song or did a dance. The school even invited a celebrity comedian. He seemed like he was funny. Everyone around me was laughing, but since I still don't speak Spanish, I didn't really get to enjoy the show. The school served all the dads food and even gave each father a gift, which you can see lined up on the table behind my daughter in the photo above. 

The dads showed up for this celebration too. 

I just explained to someone the other day that Father's Day in Panama is taken much more seriously than in the States. Maybe not everywhere and with every family in the States, but for the most part, it seemed to be a holiday that consisted of socks, ties, maybe some underwear, and that's about it.

Here, in Panama, it's taken very seriously. In our house, my mother-in-law baked two hams, we had potato salad with shredded chicken mixed in, an awesome salad with mango, almonds, feta cheese, etc, and coconut rice with guandu. It was amazing. The whole family came together. 

So again, when comparing life in the States to life here in Panama, I have to say that when it comes to the holidays, Panama usually comes out on top. 

Thanks again for reading,

Chris

English is a hell of a language--Especially in Panama

I don't even know how I notice these things. I just have a knack for discovering oddities. I was walking around downtown Panama City one morning when I noticed this plate at the front of a taxi. I was walking between it and another car, so I just barely saw it out of the corner of my eye. 

Scare Face it reads. I'm pretty sure the owner of this car was going for Scarface, which if you're referring to the movie, is only one word. Even if you separate the two, you should get Scar Face. So, unless this guy's nickname really is Scare Face, which would be quite an insulting nickname, he probably just fell victim to the difficulties of mastering the English language. 

Being a blogger, and a writer of articles that sometimes find their way onto the Internet, I'm straight up and honest when I say that I haven't even come close to mastering my country's language. Getting a good grasp of their, there, and they're took some time. I still struggle with who and whom, I hate then and than, and I still can't get a clear answer on whether you use the apostrophe after a name that ends in "s," when you're showing ownership.

I'm curious what you guys think about that, now that I'm on the subject. I know when it's plural, you just put the apostrophe at the end and when it's singular you end it with an apostrophe then "s." So you'd get the boys' toys or the boy's toys. So what about my toys. My name is Chris. I remember being taught in school that it should be Chris's toys. Then I went to work for an online publisher and her way of doing it was Chris' toys. 

I've looked it up online, I've looked it up in books, and when I worked for a short time as an English teacher (English as a second language), I asked the other teachers and looked it up in their book. I always got varying answers. At this point, I'm thinking you can do it however you want. There doesn't seem to be a correct and incorrect way. 

So how did you learn to do it? I ask because I just went through the editorial process of my book, and I went back and forth about this. One character in the book goes by the name Goody Bones. So would it be Goody Bones's soldiers or Goody Bones' soldiers? 

Anyway, back to the taxi photo above. I've seen some of the oddest misspellings around. I drove past a dry cleaner once and the sign at the front of the building read: Dry Cliners. 

I chuckle whenever I see these mistakes because they always remind me of one of my closest buddies, a guy I've known since I was in the military. He's going to kill me for mentioning this, so I won't put his name on here. He was drunk one night while in training. He'd gotten a day pass with his friends and they each decided to get an arm tattoo with the name of their flight (group). They were known as the Horsemen. He was so proud when he got back to the barracks, until someone pointed out that the tattoo artist branded him with the word Horsmen. We jokingly called him Whores Man for awhile. 

So...here's hoping that taxi driver didn't go one step further and tattoo the name Scare Face somewhere on his body. 

Counting change in Panama

Hey friends,

This is going to be a super short post. Remember, I talk about the good and the bad, so not everything on this blog is rosy. Now, that said, I swear if I'm asked in the supermarket one more time if I have a penny, I might lose it. Okay, not really. It would probably take a little bit more than that, but it's annoying. 

What am I talking about?

You'd think Panama was having a penny crisis. Each time you go into any store, to buy anything, if the total you need to pay doesn't come out to a round number, where the change can be given out in nickels, dimes, quarters, or straight up bills, you'll be asked if you have exact change. 

The U.S. and Panama 1 cent coin. Both are used interchangeably here.

Here's a photo of the pennies you'll be asked for. It doesn't matter whether you dig an American coin or a Panamanian one out of your pocket, as U.S. money and Panamanian are used interchangeably. Any palm readers will learn a lot about me from that photo. Damn I've got a wrinkly palm. I've never seen my hand that close up. Sorry I'm being random again.

So, what aggravated me enough to write this post? I went out the other night, just to pick up some Scotch tape to help with wrapping my wife's birthday gift. I went into a local Metro pharmacy. My son was with me, so of course he convinced me to buy some candy too. Everything combined came out to $4.27. 

I handed the cashier a $20 bill. I had no smaller bills on me and I had no change. I'm not insensitive. If I had smaller bills I would've given him a five right off the bat, but I didn't. 

The guy just looked at me for a second, then he asked (in Spanish of course): 

"You don't have a five dollar bill?"

"No, I only have a twenty," I replied.

He stared at me for a second, again, and then asked, "You don't have two pennies?"

"No, I only have a twenty," I repeated. 

So the guy took my bill, held it in his hand while he thought long and hard about how he was going to figure this one out. Finally, he opened the register, and produced the 10, 5, and change he needed to complete the transaction. 

It's not the first time I've dealt with an attitude from a cashier over my lack of pennies. It's kind of become tradition that the cashier (all of them) will ask if I have any pennies, and even though I know my pockets are void of change because my kids usually snatch it all to buy popsicles from the paletero (ice cream man on foot), I'll put my hand in my pocket, and fish around as if I might possibly have change, then I'll say, "No, lo siento (I'm sorry)." 

So, just learn to expect this and play the fishing around in your pocket game, and all will be fine. 

You know what would be really funny, or I'm just crazy and you won't think it's funny at all? I'd love to bring a whole role of pennies with me, like an unopened one, then when they ask, just pull it out, like, "as a matter of fact I do." 

I do nutty things like that sometimes. This is another, completely random point, but kind of fits in with the topic (not really). I used to go to the Baskin Robbins in Costa del Este all the time. And I love banana splits. Yet, every single time I ordered one, they would tell me they were out of bananas. How could that be? Isn't Panama like the highest producer of bananas in the world or something like that? 

After about the third time of being told they didn't have bananas, I started to think it was just a bunch of bull. When I was in high school, I worked for a TCBY yogurt, and I hated when people asked for banana splits. I don't know why. They're not difficult to make, they're just time consuming (you'll spend 2 minutes making a banana split instead of the 30 seconds it takes to scoop out a regular ball of ice cream). 

So, I was starting to think these Baskin Robbins employees had a ton of bananas in the cabinet and just found it easier to claim they didn't have any. 

The next time I went to Baskin Robbins, and I swear this is true, I brought two bananas with me. I had them in my pockets. I waited until they told me they didn't have bananas, then I pulled them out and placed them on the counter. "Well it just so happens that I've got bananas right here. Now make my damn banana split." 

Now, I'm not claiming that I'm solely responsible for Panamanians suddenly having the opportunity to eat their ice cream with a side of bananas covered in delicious toppings, but I've never seen that store without bananas since that day. 

So this was my completely random, Chris had some complaints that needed to be jotted down, blog post. 

Thanks for reading,

Chris