NEVER JET HOT

... So I finally got the two sets of "Wonder Hangers" plus the soft hangers and the closet lights, total $19.99 which is reasonable, plus about $30 for shipping and handling, which is by no means reasonable. Contrary to the experience reported elsewhere on the Internet, the quality is good, the hangers are thick plastic and I can't imagine them breaking under normal use. However, in practice we found that you don't save much closet space, they use almost as much room as the same number of items hung on regular hangers. The closet lights are of good quality and very bright. I got them in about three weeks, the ad said to allow six, so I can't complain there. Probably what gets people all riled up about these, is the ridiculous S&H charge. It put me off of buying from TV ads, and when buying items online, from now on I won't click submit order unless I see the actual total first. Buyer beware. Hopefully there will be a class action suit that resu...

I see Novelty Trading Post is #1 on the google search for "Lunchtime Spinner" However- I wonder if being #1 is a good idea - When I search for something at Google, I usually scroll down a little bit - For some reason I always suspect that the top few positions were outfits that were obsessed with SEO and more specifically, Google positioning... So they probably don't have their eye on the ball, which is great service and customer satisfaction.. What do you think? Discuss.

I'm reading a book "Give Them the Pickle!" By Bob Farrrell... The guy that founded Farrell's Ice Cream Parlors. I would have liked to meet that guy. It's too bad he sold it to Marriott, he made his money for sure, but they ruined it by taking away the "Celebration Restaurant" aspect. Anyway... When they first started, he encouraged the girls who waited the tables to go in the freezer and scream their heads off, if they needed to... He says they always came out with a smile. We have a freezer where I work, but it's a chest freezer for certain rivets. You climb in that thing and you don't come out. Besides, I think it's against OSHA regulations to scream in the freezer. I was looking this book up at Amazon, It also came up with "If they Ask for a hand, just give 'em the finger". The banks tried that strategy, look where it got them.

It's Dec. 18th and we have orders to ship... Even though we live near Seattle, the "snow wimp" capital of the world, where if even a hint of snow is forecasted, all schools are 2 hours late, and if it touches the ground there is no government at all except for the bossy Barista at Starbucks. Anyway, up here the snow is so deep, the neighbor's yard-couches are unrecognizable lumps. But rest assured I will make the trek today, because we have to make people's Christmas miracles happen, even miracles that involve naked lady strip pens, or car air fresheners that smell like corndogs.

Here's a story about a family that picked up the dog after vacation and got the wrong dog, apparently the kennel operator thought it would be fun to put some other black lab in the same "room". As a Westie owner, I can certainly see how the mixup could happen, Westies look a LOT alike, if my parent's westie gets groomed around the same time and we go over there, it can get downright confusing if not for the collars. This situation finally got sorted out, but with this comment from the kennel operator: "[the kennel operator] told The Oregonian newspaper she had no comment about how the confusion might have occurred. 'We tried to do everything we could, and it's really unfortunate we had two customers who couldn't identify their dogs', she said." What she should have said (and done!): "We regret the mixup and we are taking steps to make sure it never happens again" and then describe what she plans to do about it. Hello? Customer Servi...

Here are the Restless Mouse/ Novelty Trading Post PHONE NUMBERS Cell 425-343-6750 or Toll Free Line 1-800-948-5785 PLEASE… No salesmen, agents, representatives, etc. IE No Peddlers Telephones have a real downside. They are so very insistent. Unfortunately they are a necessary tool to maintain our most excellent customer service. THE PROBLEM IS that our goofy novelty websites don’t throw off cash like a drunken congressman. So, I work in a warehouse at night, sleep some in the morning and some in the evening. In theory, Teresa, (AKA the “real head cheese”) is supposed to take the cellphone with her when I am sleeping. But that doesn’t always happen. She will not answer it if she is driving, taking a shower, in the bathroom ( bad accoustics ). Anyhoo. Please, leave a message if no one answers, or better yet shoot us an email. We really do want your business, or else what’s the point of all this?

Some callers surely wonder why it always takes us about 8 rings to answer the phone here at the Restless Mouse Novelty Company. You see, our business line is routed to an old phone with a real bell in it, and it's LOUD SHRILL and OBNOXIOUS. I have a night job, so when people call mid-morning, we are still drinking coffee, coughing and scratching ourselves. Naturally when the phone rings we are all "CRAP! Already? Stupid phone!!" Then we laugh at our crappy customer service attitudes. After that, it takes maybe two more rings to compose oneself, another to cough some more (And nobody even smokes here!)... Only then are we ready to answer the phone in a pleasant and professional manner. So, bear with us.

I was just going to purchase Aston Windows Shell online, I had it a few years ago on my Windows 98 machine and it was kind of cool. So I click Paypal, it brings me to a screen which demands that I type in all my details, down to phone number and bra size if I was a girl, nevermind that paypal already has my billing details. But I figured, well, I have a website that does that to customers, (they say it will be fixed in the next release) so OK, I dutifully type in all my particulars. To my shock and dismay, at the order confirm page, they add $3.00 for "manual processing" - Why do they have to "manually process" a PAYPAL order? I still wanted the program though, so I backed up to switch to a credit card (I was going to use my Paypal debit card- nyaaaah!) ... But all the information I has so laboriously typed in was GONE! So I gave up and blogged. PS I went to tell them about the problem but could not find an email link on their home page!

powered by FreeFind ...We just added the FreeFind SiteSearch to this site (TheRestlessMouse.com); The search results aren't all prettied up and citified, but like the workhorse, it gets the job done with a minimum of fuss; Gets you to the products you came to see quickly, and generated keyword reports so I can see what the fickle folks out there in web-browser-land are looking for today. Google makes a similar free product, but it it doesn't tell what people are looking for. Give freefind a try, I think you will agree, it's a good tool.

I recently switched one of our cars from getting oil changes at "Jiffy Lube" to "Oil Can Henry's" - the final straw was when I overheard the snotty lady who was managing the Jiffy Lube making a snarky comment about the dead bees in the back window (So I leave the windows rolled down. So sue me.) The new Oil Can Henry store in Smokey Point is run much more efficiently, although I don't care for the fact that there is no waiting room- They give you a free USA Today and you are trapped in your car for the whole procedure, of course it's the same as all oil change places, they will "recommend" various dubious procedures and manufacturer recommended changes of this and that, My Ford Exploder has almost 300 thousand miles on it, It's like a cut-rate aquarium under there (My seals are old and brittle) huh? nevermind... One thing I like about Oil Can Henry's is their costumes, I guess supposed to evoke the early days of automobiles, but it seem...

I keep meaning to stop at Radio Shack and see if they still sell those, what I called "Giant Q-tips", they used to have them for cleaning the insides of VCR's. The problem with Radio Shack is the problem with auto parts stores; there's usually a bunch of people who don't know doodly squat and one old grouch who knows everything. Find the old grouch. -John

Lawmakers aim to cut interest rates of payday lenders Two House bills, one for those in the military and another for everyone, would cap interest rates at 36 percent annually. Our elected representatives are sending a message to the moneylenders, which is "HEY! Screw those people more gently!!"

Best Buy manager calls police on guy trying to return a Tony Bennett CD Apparently mellowness is non-refundable. Best Buy employee even claimed it was a LAW that CD's could not be refunded. I had heard something else about Best Buy employees calling 911 because someone tried to use a $2 bill. I hope those Kitcat clock people don't come after me with the law (See Klock saga below) We really need to bring back customer service, courtesy and friendly, helpful sales people. Is that asking too much?

I got another email from the people at clockstyle.com about the defective KitKat Klock which is a piece of Krap, Now Staci who signs off as being "Customer Service" says this must go through their "customer service department" in another 2-3 days. Is this some sort of massive clock warehouse that takes up 3 city blocks? Does Murray in Faces go bowling with Alice in Accounting and Charlie in Hands? Is the team named "Klockwise" or something more clever than that even? But I digress. At least Staci has backed off of asking us to take a picture of the krappy klock. This is why I use a credit card to pay for stuff, if they fail to make this right, there's always a chargeback (I know, it costs them $20 in bank fees or more; not something I would do on a whim). Here's my latest Dear John letter from Clockstyle. Dear John, Thank you for your email. Taking pictures of the item is just something that we ask of all our customers that have damaged or defectiv...

Oh, I can't believe this! The clockstyle.com people want me to send them digital photos of the krappy kitkat klock! Dig this; Dear John, Thank you for your email. I apologize your Jeweled Flamingo Kit Catﾮ Wall is defective. I have created a customer service ticket to resolve your issue. Please allow 2-3 business days for processing. If possible, please send digital photos of the item to (email deleted) and include your order number in the subject line. It will help us expedite the resolution. If we can be of further assistance, please email or call us at the number below. Sincerely, Staci Customer Service I am writing back. Staci, Thanks for writing back so soon, and on a Saturday! But I am curious, why do you want photos of the thing I am returning? I just want my sixty bucks back. Please give me a return authorization number. Thanks, John BTW - I haven't told them that I am posting our correspondence online- is that wrong? 1/7/07 - PLEASE NOTE - TO BE FAIR - We were promptly...

One of the things I like about the Internet, you can air your grievances with merchants, I think that the ones that are smart enough to be aware of that will thrive. Here's an email I sent to ClockStyle.com about a Krappy Kit-Kat clock I got Teresa for Christmas- she wanted a specific model everyone else was OOS on- I ended up paying sixty bucks for what is basically a thirty dollar clock. We have an old broken plug-in model that I found in the free box at a yard sale- it has no hands and the lever is broken so only one eye moves- and his tail is missing. BUT that old one still works, at least it would if it had the aforementioned things fixed. As it stands, it's kind of kreepy. Anyway, here's the email I sent on 12/29/06 at 2:30PM- I am hopeful that they will refund my $60 promptly upon return of the offending kat. It's the right thing to do. Hi, we received a Kit-Kat clock from you and are very disappointed- some "jewels" fell off right out of the box, and ...