Sorry for the sporadic posting. Real busy past couple of days. Mo and I were booked on a show in Pueblo, Colorado on Thursday so we flew out a day early to see our good friends the Schwartz's in Denver on Wednesday first. We got to hang out with them and their kids all day and then Mo had a gift certificate for a free night at a Marriott that we used that night. We then met up with our friends Chris and Lillie back at the Denver airport the next day and drove 2 hours to Pueblo to perform, stayed the night in Pueblo, drove back to Denver on Friday, flew home to Chicago, drove straight to the theater where Mo performed two more shows and I bartended them. Whew.
Now, I know Missouri is the "Show-Me State" and Texas is the "Lone Star State", but I never knew that Colorado was apparently the "Customer Service State". Everywhere we went, it was like a seminar in how to give excellent service. Maybe because we've had so many issues with our condo developer and association, as well as little issues here and there like when we had to get new tires, etc. but I guess we had a little "good service karma"built up and it all got cashed in this week.
It started out at O'Hare Airport and United Airlines. In a ridiculous twist of fate, things went smooth sailing there, and the most shocking part, United landed us in Denver AHEAD of schedule.
Then in Denver, it continued. We went to dinner at Chili's with Brian and Michelle, their kids Macey and Avery (ages 3 and 5), Michelle's cousin Tovah and her boyfriend Dan (KU grads!). Dinner with larger groups can be iffy. Add in two little kids, it gets real dicey. The waiter at Chili's was awesome! He was always there when we needed him, but didn't hover. Wrote down and remembered everything, and just nailed it from start to finish. Everytime he would do something else above and beyond, Brian and I would look at each other and say "aw man, we really gotta tip this guy well now." And that just kept happening again and again. So we did, but it was also definitely worth it.
The great service continued that night when Mo and I checked into our hotel. The front desk girl named, I kid you not - Sugar - was so nice and sweet (I know) and even gave us a complimentary mini-bottle of wine upon arrival. Mo asked if the hotel had a bar, and Sugar told us they didn't, but said she could probably hook us up with a bottle of wine. Mo, jaded by all our customer service issues in the recent past, asked how much that was going to run us. Sugar repeated that she could give us a bottle of wine. Mo said again, "and that will cost how much?". Sugar just stood there and looked at Mo. Then it clicked. Ahh, she would be able to GIVE us a bottle of wine. Sorry, Sugar. We've just been through a bunch of crap lately. The wine was a nice touch.
We headed back to the airport the next day, and our shuttle arrived within 10 minutes of the scheduled time - pretty remarkable for them. The car rental went smoothly. The folks at the college in Pueblo where we performed were so gracious and hospitable. When we went out for a drink after the show, we found a little dive called The Downtown Bar, and the bartender was this awesome dude name Mark who happened to have previously lived in Chicago. Not to mention New York as well as growing up in Switzerland. The drinks were perfect, Mark was great, and the four of us had a blast sitting there, talking and playing cards, as we were the only people in the joint. Hell, even the Colorado weather was nearly perfect as it was sunny and in the mid to high 50's during the day. Such a welcome relief from the unending cold of Chicago.
We're back in Chicago now, things are still crazy busy as friends are coming into town (Dan W. today, Billy and Ali B. later this week), Mo is putting finishing touches on a spec script that will have a public reading on Thursday, we're still working on our sketch show which will be performed at the end of March, we're both working a ton at the CCC theater, and we really need to get our taxes ready to go as there's only a month left to do that. Actually, what the hell am I doing sitting here typing this?
- Corey
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1 comment:
So, how did the staged reading go last night?
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