{And that is how business is done!}

Don't you love it when things turn out way better than you expected them to? I do - let me share with you 2 examples that happened TODAY.

First off - our car has had a flap of plastic hanging underneath the car for... um ever [I don't want to say how long because it's truly embarrassing. You can hear it scraping on the road when you back up, and in the winter time [hint of how long it's been...] it's especially bad and gets caught on the snow. Recently, it got really bad and it could be heard when driving normally - that's not supposed to happen, friends. So, since I am fully capable of dealing with car issues, I put it on my to-do list to get it fixed this week. I was planning on driving around to a couple different car places, explaining the issues, and seeing how much it could cost to get it fixed and then get it done.

My first stop was at Jiffy Lube. The guy was super helpful, listened to what I said, said he noticed the piece of plastic and that he could fix it for me for $900, and then smiled and winked. I asked him seriously and he explained what he would do and I asked him how much it would be - for free. Free, my friends. They guy said it was a stupidly simple thing and that it would take him about 5 minutes - fro free. BAM.
I sat there and made small chit chat with the other worker guys while the one went to go fix it up. 5 minutes later, he came back, said he'd like to see me again when the car needs an oil change, and gave me a bunch of Jiffy Lube coupons. That's how it's done, people! That's customer service.
5 minutes. for free. now i'm a loyal customer. BAM.

Next - The husband and I got our wedding rings at Dave Hur Jewelers - we went there first because I fell in love with my ring there and I'm so glad I did. Dave Hur is a great guy - met with him every single time we went to the shop. We even got to custom design the husband's ring so it would match mine. He was very nice and generous, and easy to work with. I even got my wedding ring re-sized FOR FREE a couple months after we bought it, because that's just the type of business he runs.

Well, fast forward a year and a bit past our wedding and the husband and I were in Salzberg, Austria at the market by the river. I saw this ring and fell in love with it. It's a sea shell!:

I have worn this ring more than my wedding ring - I hardly ever take it off. I sleep with it, shower with it, swim with it, camp with it... everything. I have maybe not worn it one or two days in the last year and a half. But then something happened - I got pregnant. Recently, this little baby has made my body retain water like crazy never mind the extra blood supply and fluids my body has produced, never mind the heat. All these factors add up to some swelling fingers. I took my wedding ring off a couple days ago and haven't worn it since... but I didn't even think about taking off this other ring [husband did tell me a couple weeks ago that I should take it off and leave it off because my fingers were swelling just a little bit, but I didn't listen to him...ooops.]. But yesterday, I started to get nervous - my finger was starting to look like a sausage and hurting a bit. I could not get the ring off despite how hard I tried. I tried multiple times last night and this morning to get it off. I used oil, lotion, windex, held my hand above my head, dunked it in cold water, and used saran wrap and floss to try to get it off. I even combined a couple of these suggestions. It was fruitless and painful.

So this afternoon I went to Dave Hur jewelers and told him of my predicament. I told him I wanted him to cut my ring off [this broke my heart]. He took a look at my hand and said, do you want me to cut it off, or to simply take it off? I said of course, just take it off, but that I had tried everything. He stood there and told me not to look at my finger and then proceeded to massage the ring off of my hand while he just talked to me for the next 3-4 minutes or so that it took. Brilliant! He didn't use any lotions or fancy tricks - he said it was best if your finger was completely dry and it just took patience and some work. A couple minutes later my ring was off and I was free! I now have a lovely mark around my finger where the ring was. It looks scarred - let's hope that that goes away! He said I was not allowed to put it back on for at least 4 months after baby comes and my swelling goes down. I promised him. I then asked him how much it cost and he said - nothing! For Free! He said that that was basic customer service and that of course it was for free. And that, my friends, is one of the many reasons I love Dave Hur and would recommend his shop to anyone.

2 awesome stories for today. Huzzah!