Of Chickens & Broomsticks

Yesterday I volunteered to help one of my girlfriends clean out her new apartment so that she could move in over the weekend and this led to the most exciting adventure thus far for the year!

She told me it was a cosy, one bedroom apartment located in an idyllic setting. This is how the real estate agent described the apartment to her – this is how she described it to me. Sounds great right? But this is Trinidad! The entire Caribbean is idyllic! When a real estate agent says that to you… be worried!

We arrived at the street that led to the apartment, and though located in Curepe (which is a small town a few miles away from the capital city of Port of Spain) I felt as if I were walking through the village of Moruga (which is about as far away from Port of Spain that you can get in Trinidad).

The entire street had chickens, dogs, ducks and other assorted wildlife roaming freely. There was a LOT of foliage and to top it off we actually had to cross a bridge (yes there was a river) to get to the apartment!

We finally arrived at the yard with the apartment. And I really mean that. It was a yard. With the requisite dirt, stones, grass and three chickens pecking busily about!

Trying to ease my discomfort with unfamiliar territory I jokingly referred to the three chickens as “Sunday lunch” and we started to make all the local jokes regarding “yard fowls” etc. As we got nearer, one of the chickens came towards us sizing us up from head to toe.  I laughed and pointed him out to my girlfriend and started to veer left to avoid him.

Imagine my surprise when he mirrored my change in direction! I paused, and went to the right thinking to myself “this is just a fluke”. The rooster also went right! I stopped walking immediately and started backing up. The more I backed up the more he came forward. And as I was increasing speed – so was he!

My girlfriend, in utter disbelief picked up three stones from the yard and began to pelt it at the rooster. By this time I was screaming at the top of my lungs “what, what, what?” I had no idea the question I wanted to ask, but it was all I could manage.

It was Priscilla, dear sweet Priscilla, who was born and raised in a rural village in Central Trinidad who took the situation in hand.

My girl whipped out the broomstick that we came with and charged Mr. Rooster head on with a war cry that would have put Xena, Warrior Princess to shame.

Just as the rooster and the broomstick were about to be introduced the owner of said rooster came out from seemingly nowhere and scooped him up.

Mr. Rooster

It took us as at least 30 seconds to compose ourselves. We were laughing and crying, breathing hard and buffing the man for not putting a leash on his rooster. He was laughing so hard I thought he might have collapsed.

I turned to my girlfriend and let her know “Never me again!”

Letting Go!

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas 2011 was Heavenly Hands’ first Christmas ever. To say that it was a baptism of fire would be an understatement. It was my plan to share about all the different cleaning tips we picked up and the many ways we learned to do the work smarter – tips anyone who maintains their own home could put to use.

However recent events, coupled with the birth of a New Year lead me to share a different lesson I learned over the last two months:

October marked the rebirth of HHCS. We shut down all operations during the month of September and started afresh in October. During that transitioning period we carried over a few clients from the “old” HHCS to the “new” HHCS. Clients that we considered “great” as well as a couple we could do without. But I don’t know how many of you remember what it’s like to start a business – but I felt that I would keep both types of clients – if only to help with my bottom line.

I would tell anyone now – DON’T DO THAT!!!

If you think a client is not worth the trouble – then LET THEM GO!

I had a client that was REALLY difficult. She gave a lot of problems every time her monthly bill came along and she was very caustic – not overly so – but enough to make you dread answering her phone calls. And boy could she complain!

The clincher came during the hectic Christmas season.

Cleaning is very labour intensive and one man down can put your schedule in serious jeopardy. Well imagine having TWO members of staff ill! Naturally my schedule – which was planned down to the last second – fell to pieces like a house of cards.

I spent the week reshuffling clients’ appointments and “apology” became my second name. That is until I reached the client in question. I called to reschedule her appointment, profusely apologising for the inconvenience. She wanted to know the reason behind the change – a very fair question. So I went on to explain how dangerously ill two of my staff members had become – one in fact had to be hospitalised.

Her response was a terse “I don’t care if your staff is in the hospital!” and went on to complain about the inconvenience the change made. (By the way, her original appointment was for two weeks before – but her new floors were not completely installed because of shipping delays. So she postponed her appointment not once – but TWICE. And now here I was delaying her appointment by ONE DAY and this was the response.)

Immediately I should have dropped her there and then – but I think that I had become so accustomed to her attitude that I let the entire episode pass. 

Big mistake.

On the day of the cleaning she was so abusive to my staff that two of them were in tears and threatened to leave the company.

An honest, hardworking, loyal worker is not that easy to come by and I needed to make a decision.

And despite all that had gone before I AGONISED over the decision.

I felt that if I let this client go, I would not be able to replace the income she brought in.

I felt that if I let her go it would be some sort of failure on my part.

I felt that because of her influence – I would also lose the business of the households that she had referred.

I just felt afraid.

Then I had to forget my fear and face reality.

If my two girls left I would lose not two members of staff – but MONTHS of training and team-building.

I would lose two relationships I had come to treasure.

I would lose two people who had stood by me when the chips were down and who had believed in my vision enough to tough it out.

No client was worth that. No matter WHAT they contributed to the bottom line.

So I made the call and wrote the email. And I still felt that fear while doing both. But after it was over the relief was amazing!

And God was so good to me that I gained FOUR new clients within the last week! But even if I didn’t I still would not have regretted the decision.

I would say that if you know that there are things that you know that are not good for you and that you should let go – JUST DO IT!

Don’t let your fears keep you from moving forward. Don’t let you fears keep you marching in place.

It’s a New Year people – the least we can do is learn from the mistakes we made last year.

My Super Fashionable Weekend

This weekend was super-busy and super-fashionable. I had the good fortune of attending a charity brunch and fashion show “Shades of Pink” hosted by the Employers Consultative Association in aid of the Cancer Society of Trinidad and Tobago. To find out more about them you can visit them here.

The event was great! I was introduced to two new designers Sharon Christopher and Petra Moore of Emphasis Clothing, and met my new accessories lady You-Nique (if you like gorgeous, unique jewellery – you must visit her Facebook page!)

My earrings from You-Nique. I fell in love with them on sight!

I have been to many (many, many, MANY) charity dinners and they are all the same – a bunch of people glammed up, eating an expensive dinner, networking and making small talk. Which is fine - as networking is how many of us get business (especially poor cleaning ladies like me).

But what I loved most about this event was the intimacy that could be felt. Because the event started just before lunch, couples were able to attend with their children and I saw entire families attending. As a mother of four, I found the setting relaxed and friendly. If the ECA wanted to show a softer, more caring side they succeeded with me.

I look forward to more events like that. Besides, I always look forward to events where I can wear slippers and sandals rather than heels! 

The Early Riser?

This morning found me at “work” at 6:36 am. No I don’t consider myself a superhero or anything… that’s just the hour a client called to find out the answer to a request.

I decided that I could play it one of two ways: with either the biting sarcasm for which I am well-known to close and personal friends and the dispensers of poor service or with the polite, enthusiastic demeanour for which clients find me popular.

I have to be honest - polite and enthusiastic is hard to come by before 7:00 am. Before coffee.

But I managed … and made a firm decision to NEVER forget to turn off my phone after 9:00 pm. 

The trick is to remember to turn it on in the morning! 

My Night in Arima Police Station

Last Thursday night I decided to stay late at my business – which operates out of an internet cafe - to finish off a project. I asked my last four customers to stay with me for safety reasons. Three of the four – Redman, Silent and Dog readily agreed. In fact they were overjoyed by the situation – as avid gamers, the idea of “free internet time” was akin to receiving an early Christmas gift.

Although Dog et al were eager to stay they are extremely diminutive in stature, however, Tallman, the fourth customer, is over seven feet tall and almost just as wide. I had thrown out the invitation to everyone – but he is the person I was really thinking of. Tallman, I guess, realized this in the way he smiled and said, “No problem.”

As the evening progressed, I became engrossed in my work and the gamers got deep into their game.

The first warning was Tallman getting up and saying apologetically, “Boss Lady I have to go yuh know. Is 10 o’clock. Dem fellas could stay cause dey live Arima – but I HAVE to go.”

To be honest my eyes never left the computer screen. I waved in his general direction and bade him thanks and farewell.

The second warning came when the office phone rang. It was my husband, concerned and surprised that I was not already on my way home. Again I was dismissive, eager to get back to my work, “Okay honey I leaving now, now, now. Bye!” I hung up the phone quickly before he could make any further comment.

Even the person for whom I was doing the project became concerned and asked “if I was all right where I was?” I was confused, but reassured him that I was fine.

It was not until Silent screamed out, “OH MY GOD! Is 10:24! We have to reach home before 11:00!”, that the situation sank in…. CURFEW!

In three minutes flat we were out the store and running like four mad fools across Queen Street, Arima.

In between trying to breathe and move my overweight, unfit body the fastest it has ever gone in 15 years, I managed to ask the guys where they lived. Silent and Redman had no problem – they lived Arima proper and were going to run all the way home. Dog and I were not so fortunate. Dog lived Maloney, which was about 15 minutes away from Arima and I lived Curepe – a full 30 minutes away!

Redman and Silent wished us good luck as we parted by the vacant spot that should be the Arima Dial and Dog and I picked up the pace (I did not think that was even possible) as we ran pell mell down Broadway towards the maxi stand.

Needless to say there was not a maxi in sight. Two empty maxis drove past us – but they were uninterested in answering our calls for help and only drove faster when Dog tried running behind them.

It was 10:40 and a decision had to be made soon. I stopped six cars (only one of them a taxi) but none could help. They were sensible Trinis and were all living nearby.

I told Dog I was going to the Arima Police Station, which was just a little more than a stone’s throw away from where we stood. My plan was that I would ask them to drop me home. He scoffed at the idea and I left him on his phone trying to convince a partner from Maloney to come for him.

I reached the station only to be greeted by my old friend PC Andy* (*the names of the officers have been changed to protect their identity). He seemed genuinely pleased to see me and wanted to know how he could help and where was my business partner.

SIDE NOTE: Here is where I should probably explain something – since starting operations in Arima six months ago, my business partner and I needed to make two police reports. Strange but true – on BOTH occasions we encountered the same shift of police officers even though one visit was at 9:00 am and the other a little after 4:00 pm. And now here it was at 11:00 pm and I was once more dealing with that same shift!

I told PC Andy that she went home long time and explained my situation. He laughed, invited me to sit down and let me know that as soon as the vehicle returned – my ride was booked! He asked if there was anyone else with me who needed a ride. I told him about Dog. He smiled and nodded knowingly. Five minutes later a dejected Dog walked into the station.

The hour spent waiting on the vehicle flew as the different officers kept themselves and us entertained with the various people who came in as well as with those whom they had to detain for breaking curfew (that’s another story).

Finally PC Willy and WPC Sweetness returned with the vehicle and were able to take us home. I had to comment to them both that I had never met a more pleasant bunch of officers and that I would spread the word about the Arima Police Station as I felt both protected and served.

They assured me that that this was intrinsic to their shift as they were so close knit.

In fact PC Willy set me straight that if I was stranded on Friday, I would’ve met PC Wolf’s shift:

“You woulda spend the night in the station cause dey wasn’t going to drop yuh no whey AND they woulda charge yuh to boot!”

Allyuh know I going home early today