What's Your Opinion?

                 How often do you speak with someone on the phone, then immediately get a survey to fill out?  Several times a week, right? Sometimes several times a day! 

    Give us a one-to-five rating.

    Was the person courteous?

    Did they solve your problem?

    Would you recommend us to your friends?

    Can you please write a review on every social media platform that exists?

                On and on.

                But I’ll bet you’re like me: Even if I give a high rating, that doesn’t mean I’m now hoping for 15 to 30 minutes of follow-up questions.

                It wasn’t too many years ago that this was unheard of. Maybe it blossomed with cell phones or internet searches.  But few of us have the time or motivation to spend that much time evaluating.

                I’m tempted to send a survey back:

    How was I as a customer? Give me a one-to-five rating.

    Did I spend enough money at your business?

    Did I present too difficult a problem?

    Did I keep your employee on the phone too long?

    Did I hang up midway through and force you to call back?

    Did I have roosters crowing in the background?

    Did I understand your language?

    Did I fill out your forms completely?

    Can you please write a novel extoling my virtues?

                Thank goodness there’s a delete button. (But then what if the delete people want to send me a review?)

                It’s not too late to buy my book, A LITTLE CHRISTMAS PRAYER for everyone on your gift list! It’s perfect for anyone of any faith. Just $3.49!

All Choked Up

           I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Emergency Room.  Ah, yes, everyone’s favorite hangout. Only I was not there because of illness or accident. I was there because of klutzy pill-taking.

          Yes, I had to report the embarrassing truth, that I had INHALED a vitamin pill, instead of swallowing it. Mind you, this is not the sort of stuck pill that can be solved by swallowing a pinch of bread. It wasn’t stuck in my esophagus, but my trachea—the little airway tube that leads to your lungs.

          Well, of course it was late at night and no actual lung doctors were hanging out. They were probably all at home, watching E.R. on television.

          Nope, the only people there were other patients, all of whom were mighty concerned that I couldn’t stop coughing. A nurse finally told me to wear a mask, because other patients were worried.

          “Tell them I’m choking,” I explained. “I’m not contagious.”  But this did not ease their fears, so I had to wear a mask and make the situation even worse, because now I couldn’t inhale a breath strong enough to dislodge the pill.

          They suggested I be admitted to a room (probably to get me out of the E.R.), where I could cough all night until a lung specialist showed up the next morning to do surgery. They took x-rays to help this imaginary person, hours from seeing me.

          I decided I could go home and cough all night much more comfortably, and then—cue the heavenly choir—the pill finally dissolved and came out in tiny bits. The trachea is a lot dryer than the esophagus, so it took hours. But at last I was free. Sore sides, but hey, freedom.

          And now I am super careful swallowing pills. No more knocking them back in a bunch. Just one at a time, like handling tiny hand grenades.

My book, A Little Christmas Prayer, is the perfect Christmas gift. Sometimes it takes a child to raise a village, and this tale teaches anyone, of any faith, the magic of gratitude. All my books and Youtube Mom videos can be found at jonihilton.com.     

The Halves and Half-Nots

           There is much to be said about the beauty of large birds. The Bald Eagle is even our national symbol. And there are hawks, owls, and falcons in my own neighborhood, since Rocklin, California is dotted with lovely wetlands.

          HOWEVER… these are predatory birds, and if you think they only eat mice and other pests, you would be wrong. They eat other birds!  Yes, that earns an exclamation mark because I was stunned when I learned this.

          In fact, if you type “large birds that will not eat other birds” into a search, you will not find anything. Just lists of the 30+ ones who do gobble up their kind.

          And, of course, they also eat rodents, which brings me to the hideous discovery I made in our back yard last week, when I saw a neighbor’s cat staring at our hammock.  On closer inspection, there was the top half of a BUNNY there! It had fallen from someone’s talons, just like the Norwegian rat that one of those winged gluttons dropped on our roof a couple of years ago.

          AND, one of them even tried to carry away our own little dog, a Chihuahua mix who was just small enough to tempt them.

          This is why I hate nature shows. Okay, first I love them because of the beauty of the sleek leopards, the swiftness of the gazelles, the agility of the Orca whales.  But TV producers cannot stop at this; they have to show you how the animals eat.  And it’s inevitably somebody else.

Don’t we have enough reality in our lives? Can’t we just pretend that everyone gets along, then goes home and slaps on an apron and bakes cookies?

 You could always post a link to a list of their favorite foods, so we don’t have to see the grizzly details. I’m just saying.

Hey, Christmas is coming, and my book, A Little Christmas Prayer, is the perfect inexpensive gift! Sometimes it takes a child to raise a village, and this tale teaches anyone, of any faith, the magic of gratitude. Available on Amazon. Other books and Youtube Mom videos can be found at jonihilton.com.