Standard: Under Promise, Over Deliver.

Everyone in business knows this is supposed to be the name of the game. I have a prime example of one place that didn't deliver.

As a woman I become very excited about the prospect of going to the salon and "pampering" myself with what is typically an expensive haircut and sometimes some highlights -- keeping the mane in check. Instead of every two to three months as some do, I find myself waiting six at times because I have a hard time coming to terms with the extravagance of a $50 haircut and $150 color. Many people do.

So I make at appointment at a premier location for mane maintenance in Seattle. When I get there I find a bumping club-like atmosphere, complete with a DJ and barrista stand. All beauty consultants are dressed in sheik black and bopping around like models of their own hair genius. Upon changing into my robe a coffee order is taken. Nice. But then the coffee isn't delivered until well after my cut begins and I'm not made aware of it until the final stage of my appointment.

Misstep #2: I'm finally drinking my luke-warm beverage and the hair dresser decides to (without warning) point the hair dryer into my lap to blow all the little cut hair pieces to the ground. Given the direction of her sloppy aim all that happens is that the hair flies in my face and little micro bits get stuck to my lips and face, making me itchy. So she tries again. Same result. Now I'm pretty frustrated.

And finally: After I had made my appointment for a cut and color and gone through the process of discussing the color I wanted done to my hair (note that this in my mind confirmed the fact that we were going to be doing a color treatment) my newbie hair dresser finishes styling my hair and the whips off the smock noting that the appointment was completed. What?! So I ask..."Are we not doing color today?" She is stunned and bewildered because the person who scheduled the appointment has only set aside time for a haircut. I sit quietly and she comes back with, "It's too nice a day for you to sit inside anyways." Oh really? Were you aware that I was actually very excited about getting my hair updated after SIX months and that I rearranged a busy schedule to make this happen?!

The hair cut was average but nothing spectacular. I've had cuts that were WAY more stylish done in half the time and nearly half the cost.

All this and I endured a product lesson about each product she was putting into my hair (brand name of course) so she could up sell me at the end of the appointment. I'm sure this was based on a company policy of "added value" to the customer. Yes, I'm in marketing but no, I don't like being pitched when I'm relaxing.

I don't buy it. Literally. I'm so thankful to my amazing boyfriend who honored me with a GC to this place that I had so badly wanted to try but I feel awful that he spent his money on a place that apparently under delivers so badly.

Let's be fair though. Had they not promised a nice, hot coffee upon arrival, touted a world-class staff and had they let me sit back and enjoy the hour (supposed to me more) of pampering instead of assaulting me with product knowledge and making me thus aware that I was going to need to make an awkward refusal of expensive product at the end...then they would have delivered a relatively WOW package.

But they made the classic mistake in marketing of over promising and now I am deeply disappointed in my experience.

The Write Way (Not that the other is wrong)

Many thanks to a Facebook post made by a friend the other day, which inspired the plan for this post.

Handwritten correspondence and thank you notes are priceless. It is an art that is quickly dying, only to be replaced by brief 140-character or less phrases of witicism that are published publicly for everyone to see. Handwritten notes are private, intimate windows into some person's thought process and are to be treated respectfully as such.

I learned years ago that my grandparents shared a trunk full of written correspondence that no one ever had the privilege of seeing. They wanted it to be kept private and I respect that, despite the burning curiosity to know what history those letters contained.

For someone who loves words as I do, it's a treat to read someone's handwriting and try to decipher their mood as they were drafting the correspondence. It's even more exciting to open an old box and drag out a piece of notebook paper written in bubble script -- a note passed in class 15-odd years earlier. I've kept many more pieces of written correspondence than I should have in my life time.

My hope for you all is that you have a box of equally precious words stashed away for reading on a rainy day. These slices of time, like a vivid scent, can transport you instantly to a moment you scarcely remember. Similarly, I hope this inspires you to take pen to paper on occasion instead of clicking what you have to say out on the keys. For the sake of he/she that wrote it: privacy is key.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for writing. I like what this blog had to say. http://blog.handwrittenresults.com/