Just Recently on Yelp

Just recently I went to see a movie and then got a message.  No, this post is not about either one of those things, it's about what happened after.  I decided to post a Yelp review about the place I received my massage, again not the purpose of my blog.  I started looking at other message locations and their customer reviews.  One place in particular caught my attention.

The message place, located in Seal Beach, which I won't mention by name, received a fairly negative review by a customer. I am a patron of this day spa. The owner took to Yelp to respond, even throwing out the words libel, slander and defamation.  It seemed as though she attacked the writer of the review because of her not so positive experience and comments.

The original review, I felt did none of these things. The reviewer loved the massage but didn't like the masseur. My opinion/personal experience of this spa didn't change because of this review, my opinion changed because of the response written by the owner.

Companies have the right to respond to criticism, Yelp is an open forum.  I would think, however, the company would want to rectify the situation.  This review was one person's OPINION based on their own experience and was in no way libelous or defamatory. This isn't the first time I've come across something like this.  There's a country western dance saloon located in Anaheim and whenever someone criticizes said saloon, the owner takes to yelp and aggressively responds to the customers' negative criticisms.  

So I pose some questions, as consumers, do we have the right to publicly complain about poor services or bad products on sites like Yelp? How responsible should companies be for their employees actions and how should owners respond to the negative comments?  How much does a consumer's review really impact a good or service? 

I use Yelp all the time.  I use it to research restaurants, day spas and nail salons. Consumers have the right to know when a particular company's product or services are bad.  I love sites like Yelp.  A few weeks ago I spent a few hours researching reviews of dog groomers.  I wanted to make sure I was taking my Mia to a place I felt comfortable with.  Before I purchase a Groupon to someplace new, I research consumer reviews on Yelp.  

By the way, the customer's review of this day spa didn't affect my feelings about it.  I went for the first time on my birthday, had a lovely experience and now I have a gift certificate for a 90 minute massage, which I will be using soon.

Gotta love the freedom of speech.

To quote George Washington, our first US President, If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.  

Speak up folks!!

 

Summertime is Almost Over

My summer will soon be coming to a close and work will start up again (only a week left). I'm anticipating a wonderful year.  Not much has happened this summer but the hubs and I had multiple "mini"-adventures.  I caught up on my reading, watched my Friends DVDs, one season at a time, went to more weddings than I can count on my one hand, and caught up with old friends.

I'm currently reading Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith, which I'm actually enjoying.  Grahame-Smith is the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a book I also read.  I like them both, but Abe has a slight edge.  I love true stories! (wink wink)

Tim hasn't surfed in a while

Being funny at the fair

Timmons and I had a great time attending the OC Fair, in Costa Mesa, together twice this summer. There's nothing like going to the fair and enjoying chocolate covered berries or a caramel apple at the berry stand. We pass on all the gross fried stuff.  I wonder what they'll try to fry next year. Fair time is really the best time of the year for me. I love the Carnival of Products and the petting zoo. I can't wait for July 2013, can it be July 2013 yet? Tim went a 3rd time to see Duran Duran, a concert I skipped out on.  It was too hot and the idea of being on the lawn wasn't too enticing. I saw them in 2003, at KROQ's Inland Invasion, that's enough. 

In the petting zoo.

It's been extremely hot here this summer, so any way we can escape from the heat we do, even if that means sitting through a not so great movie.  Has anyone see The Bourne Legacy?  Movie time is always fun time, but I noticed we didn't go so much this year.

Feeding a deer.

I started working on my scrapbook.  I'm not one for "scrapbooking", actually I use another name for it.  But these long hot summer days I had to find something to do with my time. My first scrapbook is almost finished and while it took me almost 3 years to complete, I find it a great accomplishment. Next I'd like to tackle a scrapbook of our dogs, and then maybe be more adventurous and try my hand at a wedding scrapbook. I don't know, they take up a lot of time. 

Best Buds Forever

This summer I got to catch up with old friends I haven't seen in years.  That's the great thing about Facebook, getting reacquainted with friends I haven't seen in years. Oh how our lives have changed!

Since April, we've attended seven weddings.  While each and every one was lovely in their own way, Tim and I are "weddinged" out and are happy to spend some quiet time, alone with our little loves.


I can't say that this summer offered spectacular surprises or travel to exotic places, but it was still entertaining. Soon Tim and I will be accomplished ballroom dancers. OK, maybe not accomplished because were still in the beginning stages, but we can do a pretty mean cha-cha! 

Cutest dogs ever!!

To quote American Pulitzer Prize winning writer Russel Baker; Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it. I concur. It's been a very very hot summer!

Next month Tim and I will be headed to Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo in Los Angeles, to the Funniest Orange County Housewives Comedy extravaganza in Orange County and on a  Harbor Cruise of Long Beach (we got free tickets)!!  Looking forward to September!!

 

Summer!!

Have to say, it's been a very long while since I've posted on my blog, partly due to the craziness which is my life and partly because I haven't had much to say. I still don't have much to say. 

I've read many books that I've forgotten, I've seen many of the summer blockbuster films which weren't worthy to review. Haven't this year's summer movies been a tad mediocre?  A couple were good, The Avengers and Hunger Games I liked enough. I refused to watch the Hunger Games until I read the book.  I was a bit late to jump on the Hunger Games bandwagon after my disappointment with Twilight, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book, well the first chapter at least and then everything after page 130.  The movie exceeded my expectations, thank god! It's been so long since I read and watched the movie, I won't waste my time reviewing either, but read it and go see it.

My life changed completely, for the better of course.  After years dealing with layoffs, department restructuring and part-time and freelance work in Public Relations, I'm teaching again.  It's what I enjoy doing. I learned that, yes, I had the best of both worlds, but one fits better into my lifestyle.  I learned that I don't have to give up the things that I love.  I can still blog, still do a little bit of Public Relations freelance work, and I can still be a social media guru! I learned that I am resilient, strong and am capable of many things.  Life is good right now, I just need to take care of myself, lose some weight, get in shape, and try to be a little more laid back.  Things work out in the end, sometimes it takes going back to where it all began. Am I a success? Right now I think so!

Have a great start of the summer (at least it's my start).  I look forward to what the future has in store for me!

Unfortunately I had nothing to review, so I have no Gerber Daisies to give out. As usual I have quotes, three to be exact, all on the topic of success.

The world belongs to the enthusiast who keeps cool, William McFee, English engineer and writer
Though a tree grow ever so high, the falling leaves return to the root, Malay Proverb
You always pass a failure on the way to success, Mickey Rooney, American actor and entertainer

I'm going to be writing a new blog very shortly about a Monster Job article I just read. Make sure you stay tuned............

New Year Resolutions

I've been struggling for some time, thinking about a new blog posting.  As you can see my last actual post was in November, and I'm not talking about the videos that I posted a few days ago.

It's already the third day of the new year and guess what? I haven't broken any resolutions yet! You want to know why?  Because I didn't make any!  Resolutions like promises are easily made and easily broken. They're just pure silliness. So it got me thinking, why do so many people make them?  I recently read an article about why New Year's Resolutions fail, which prompted me to write this blog.  Here's a link to the article in case you were curious! http://news.yahoo.com/why-years-resolutions-fail-keep-them-210120290.html.

Below are the things that I would like to work on for the new year, but these aren't actual resolutions, because resolutions fail!

1.  I'm going to the gym more:  I'll have more time on my hands and therefore will have no excuse....Enough of the exercise laziness!!

2.  I'm going to read more:  See comment above.

3.  I'm going to walk my dogs more:  See comments one and two above.

4.  I'm going to make a better effort in seeing my friends and family:  Same as above 1-3.

5.  I have to get my career BACK ON TRACK!!:  This is just ridiculous.  I'm signing up for the CSET in May.

6.  I want to continue to volunteer my time to help out various charities in the area:  I started this one last year and was very happy I did!!  Volunteer work always gives me a great feeling of accomplishment.

7.  I'm hoping for a better 2012: although 2011 was a good one for me!!

8.  It's just the right time to move on and be happy.

9.  Enjoy my life and try not to stress so much:  Yeah right!!  I know I'm the main star in the movie called "Jonelle's Life" and I have to appreciate every day I wake up to see the sun. I don't want to look back at the end of my life and wish I could have been.....

10.  Continue to work on my marriage.  Hello all marriages need work, even the most outwardly "perfect" marriage needs work. No one ever said marriage was easy and you never really know what goes on behind closed doors!

Enough said!!

Here's to a great 2012, even though the first 3 days were less than desirable, I have high hopes for the rest of the year!!

This time I'm ending my blog with two quotes about "time" because, as we all know, time goes by so quickly. The first from Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), a Bengali polymath, and the second, a quote from Dean Rusk (1909-1994), US Secretary of State under JFK. 
"A butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough."
"One third of the people of the world are asleep at any given moment. The other two thirds are awake and probably stirring up trouble somewhere."  --- Why of course!!

Since I didn't review anything, I don't have any Gerber Daisies to give out, maybe next time!!