What happened to there being parity in the NFL?

There seem to be three tiers of teams in the NFL this year: the good ones, the bad ones and the ones that lose to the good ones and beat the bad ones.

Through five weeks there are 5 undefeated teams and 5 more that only have one loss*. There are also 4 winless teams and 4 more with only one win*.

Pairing a "good" team with a "bad" team can make for bad football. Several games from this Sunday fell into this category: the NY Giants versus Oakland Raiders (44-7), the Minnesota Vikings versus the St. Louis Rams (38-10), the Philadelphia Eagles versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (33-14) and the Indianapolis Colts versus the Tennessee Titans (31-9). Also, pairing up two of the "bad" teams can make for bad football; see the Cleveland Browns versus the Buffalo Bills (6-3).

Now, don't get me wrong, there have been some good games this year. Just this week two games went into overtime. My observation, though, is that there seem to be a lot more of the "bad" games than in the past few years?

What's your take on the NFL season, thus far?

* The NY Jets, a one loss team, play the Miami Dolphins, a one win team, on Monday night.

Labels: football, nfl, sports

Recently, I've noticed that a lot of vendors are stepping up their game on customer service. It could be due to the economy. Or, maybe, places need something to differentiate them selves from their competitors. Then, again, it could just be a trend in the market. Whatever the case, places seem more interested in taking care of their customers.

Below is a list of a few places where I've noticed outstanding customer service.

• Chick-fil-a - The post title was a reference to what has become the signature phrase of Chick-fil-a employees. Though the "my pleasure" can seem a bit forced, they do back it up with employees that are consistently pleasant and helpful.
  
  Another, feature of the Chick-fil-a experience is that they have a manager walking around the dining-room offering to clear your trash away or get you more sweet tea. Personally, we have had some really good experiences with the manager paying attention to our children and entertaining them.


• Auto Zone - We recently had a problem with our car. It seemed battery related, but we were not sure. I took the car to Auto Zone because they will check your battery for free. This is not an uncommon practice. They also checked our starter and alternator.
  
  Turns out we had a bad battery. Sean came out replaced the battery and a connector. He was super nice, full of tips and didn't rush through the installation even though that meant he had to stay a few minutes past the time he was supposed to get off.


• Harris Teeter - Their prices may be a little higher than other places, but 1) they double coupons everyday and 2) they provide incredible customer service. From the butcher that points out the great deals on meat to cashiers that never seem to be having a bad day, they are on it. Another great thing is that they put out samples: produce, specialty breads, cheeses and, of course, cookies.
  
  Recently, we took a family trip to HT and the bagger asked if we would like help getting the groceries to the car. We took him up on it since we had both kids, a stroller and the groceries to deal with. When we made it to the car, I said "Thanks" and expected him to walk back in, but he said, "I can put them in the car if you want." It allowed each of us to put one kid in the car, which was a tremendous help.

Those are just three places that have really stood out over the past few months. There are others that have made good impressions on me, too, but these three are at the top of the list.

So, where have you witnessed superb customer service?

Labels: auto, auto zone, chick-fil-a, customer service, fast food, groceries, harris teeter, shopping

Several months ago, I got a parking ticket in down town Raleigh. Since, I have been afraid to park on the street fearing that I would come out to find a boot on my car due to my severely overdue unpaid parking ticket. Well, Monday I decided that it was finally time to settle my account with Park Raleigh.

I was going to mail in my payment, but then, after I had written out my check, I saw where you could pay for your ticket online. I went the online payment site and put in my ticket number. I was disappointed when my ticket could not be found. I assumed that they only kept tickets written in the last 90 days, or six months, online and all other tickets must be paid the old fashioned way, by mail or in person. Or, worse case, they had sent my ticket to collections.

I was going out to pay another bill. So, I decided to stop by Park Raleigh's office to pay for my ticket, plus the late fees. My trip to 131 South Wilmington was very educational. Here's what I learned...

1. If you are a officer of the law, you can get your friends/co-workers out of having to pay for a ticket. This information came courtesy of a Wake County Sheriff being in front of me in line. He was able to get "an exception" for one of the administrative staffers out of a ticket they got for double parking by being in uniform.
   
   To be fair though, he was there paying some other ticket. So, it's not like he was getting off completely free.


2. It takes three, or more, tickets that are more than 90 days past due to get a boot on you car. This information came via the guy that took his turn after the deputy. He shelled out a couple hundred dollars to get the boot removed from his car.
   
   They printed his list of tickets and there were at least 20 items on the list. I don't know if the list included previous tickets that had already been paid, but either way, that's a lot of money for parking. I think, I would take the bus.


3. If the online system cannot find you ticket, there's a real good chance that the people in the office aren't going to be able to locate it in the system either. This was my situation. I went in there with a check already written out fro $40, $20 ticket and $20 late fee. Then, I walked out with a $40 check.
   
   The lady behind the counter took the ticket and looked up the number, but it did not come up in the system. She said something like, "Well... I could put it in the system for you. Or...". I took the opportunity to express my desire to take the "Or...". She handed me the ticket back and said have a nice day.

So, now I can go down town and park without fear. I'm a free man.

Have you had any run-ins the Park Raleigh that went well or NOT so well?

Labels: money, raleigh

Tonight, I led our home group through a passage in John 4. It is the story commonly know as Jesus and the woman at the well.

I knew a little about the story before I decided to teach on it, but after studying, I found it to be very interesting. I found several interesting facts that gave the story more depth than I had anticipated. We had a great discussion while working our way through the passage. When we got to verse 12, I thought of something that I had not thought of before and had not seen mentioned when I was studying the passage.

Prior to verse 12, Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for a drink of water. She gives him a little attitude and says, "Who do you think you are?" (My paraphrase.) He responds to her with something along the lines of, "If you knew who I was you would be asking ME for water." (Again, my paraphrase.) Then, we get to verse 12.

Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds? - John 4:12 (TNIV)

It occurred to me in the midst of talking about this passage that Jesus is a descendant of Jacob and the lady says "Jacob drank from this well, as did his sons." In a matter of speaking, Jesus is a son of Jacob. That just really stuck out to me. I don't have much else to say about it. It just seemed like something was there.

What do you think?

Labels: bible, church, home group, Jesus, John