ORGAN DONATION

Every year thousands of people die in the UK because they need an organ transplant and there are not enough organs donated.  Every year millions of people die in the UK and perfectly healthy organs are either buried or burned.  I understand that people have religious and other objections to donating their organs after death.  …

Room 13 International

A few weeks ago I had the delight of attending an evening event at the Scottish Parliament.  It was sponsored by Jean Urquhart, MSP and was run by a group of primary school children aged 10 and 11.  The children chaired and spoke at the event, apparently unfazed by the large audience of adults.  This …

DO THEY WANT OUR BUSINESS?

A few weeks ago I learned that the battery in my laptop was failing and would have to be replaced.  At that point I was not aware that this is a very simple task, so I visited a local business, WL Computers to seek advice.  I met Walter (I presume the W of WL) who …

DO THE BANKS WANT OUR BUSINESS?

I have written previously about poor experiences with banks and about poor customer service generally.  My daughter and her husband decided at the start of this year that they wanted a joint bank account to help them to manage some of their household commitments.  You’d think this would be easy.  They went to the branch …

A Great Night Out

Last weekend my daughter and her husband and my six-year-old grandson took my wife and me to The Stables, a restaurant near our home.  The company was great of course but I must pay full tribute to the restaurant’s service.  From the moment we arrived we were made to feel welcome and were quickly shown …

Ignoring customers

In the UK the retail industry is complaining about lack of customers.  A couple of days ago I went into Glasgow city centre to do some Christmas shopping.  On my way I visited a well-known deli with a café on the ground floor.  As I tried to go down to the basement deli I found …

MORE ON CUSTOMER SERVICE

In October last year (2011) I bought a new car from Peter Vardy in Motherwell, http://www.petervardy.com. I openly confess to being suspicious of car sales people, partly because of some previous bad experiences. I always feel that they “see me coming” and recognise that I have little knowledge of cars and the wool can easily …

GREAT SERVICE

In mid May I was looking for a goldsmith/jeweller to help with a gift for my wife, Margaret, to celebrate our Ruby Wedding Anniversary (40 years).  I had some old gold, broken jewellery, single earings and the like, and I thought that this could be used to make something a bit special.  As a volunteer with …

MENTAL HEALTH

Researchers, from Martin Seligman to Deepak Chopra, have convinced me that many illnesses begin in the mind.  Not all; that would be a cruel thing to say but much modern research has shown that good and bad health often begin with our thoughts.  How we think produces chemicals in our bodies which affect our physical health, …

PATIENT SERVICE

I do not like the way we have all become “customers.”  When we travel by public transport we used to be “passengers,” now we’re “customers”.  When we visit a hospital for treatment, we used to be “patients,” now we’re “customers.”  I do like the attitude, that we should be treated as if we are the …