The Power of Social Media

This past week I was having quite a runaround with my trusty Walgreens. I won't bore you with all the details, but I would classify it as technology problems. Computers were not working as they should have so I made 2 trips there in 1 week and have to go back again this week. Kind of annoying.
On Friday I was feeling a little perturbed and expressed my annoyance with Walgreens in a tweet.
What do you know: they responded to my tweet!

Sry to hear this. Pls DM the location and your contact info and I will have mgmt look into this. Thanks Sarah.

I was pretty surprised. I hadn't expected to see this in my mentions panel, mainly because I don't follow @WAGSocialCare. But I decided to follow through and I direct messaged them my e-mail and the Walgreens I was at.
Checked my e-mail a few hours ago and lo & behold, an e-mail with the subject: Pharmacy Dissatisfaction.

Hello-

I'm sorry you had a problem with our Pharmacy, generally our computers work great. Next time there is a problem, ask to speak to a manager, because maybe we can speed up the situation. We really don't know if there is a problem until someone lets us know. Thank you for bringing this to our attention and I hope you do visit us again.

Thanks and be well

Wow, they actually followed through with this. I am impressed, Walgreens. Very impressed. To be honest, I never thought about talking to a Manager about the problem. Though everyone in the pharmacy department knew of the problem, I assumed the manager did. But why be passive aggressive on Twitter? Why didn't I just express my concerns with Walgreens directly? Maybe it's because I'm a midwestern girl and passive-aggressive is our middle name? Or maybe I was just so fed up that I didn't want to spend anymore time there. Whatever the reason, I will keep this in mind.

This whole experience gave me a new outlook on customer service. And how powerful social media is. In other news, CarrieEmge.com is live!!

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The city mouse and the country mouse

When I first meet people in the Chicagoland area/am giving tours I tell them that I am from Southern Illinois because no one has heard of my hometown, Freeburg. However, the other day my friends and I were talking and Freeburg isn’t really that “Southern Illinois.” Now that it’s becoming built up and more populated, I feel it is more of a St. Louis suburb. There is so much more farmland south of us in towns that don’t have a Pizza Hut, McDonald’s Dairy Queen, AND Subway. Yeah, we’re rolling in the deep in our fast food chains.

So Monday my friends and I drove down to visit our friend who is in Carbondale for his first year of med school. On the drive down we drove through some real Southern Illinois towns. I’m talking desolate, hopeless looking, and populations smaller than Freeburg. I’m sure nice people live in those towns... and only know their town of DuQuoin or Elkton. It made me appreciate my life. Freeburg (fortunately) doesn’t look that dumpy when you drive through it, but I was lucky enough to get out. I don’t have to spend the rest of my life there. For some people, that’s great and I’m not bashing it. But I truly belong in the city. I’ve tasted what life in Chicago is like and I know I can’t live anywhere else. New York is too crowded and too expensive. California is too far away. Chicago is just right; for me anyways.

Sometimes I feel like I'm both of the mice from that Aesop fable story "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse." I might complain about Freeburg/Southern Illinois sometimes, but it is my hometown and gave me many experiences during my first 18 years of living there. It will forever be home to my parents and for that, I will always love Freeburg despite its quirks.

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FEST 2012

Last Friday (June 1) was FEST, which is hard to believe by everything that has happened since then (mainly finals). This year we brought Portugal. The Man and Lupe Fiasco. I was so thankful it didn't storm that day.

This year I was in charge of tickets. There were stressful times, but all of us assistants worked together very well. It was a great community and we had a great coordinator, Liz.

It also reaffirmed my decision to not enter the event planning business. My friends can tell you that I like to plan things and I enjoyed my time as Comedy Coordinator last year, but it's not something I can see as a career. I guess it's more of a hobby? Friday, needless to say, was a ton of fun. But then Saturday came and that meant putting my life back together and studying for finals. Hooray for the quarter system.
On Tuesday I did something I had never done before, and it was quite a relaxing experience; I walked home from the Loop campus. Of course I made a detour to Water Tower Place (very dangerous building/con of living in the city ;-)) I really got to see the city from a different perspective. I walked through neighborhoods and took some time to enjoy the fresh air. I was a little tired when I got back two hours later (WTP is out of the way if you're walking back to Lincoln Park) but it's something I definitely think I will do again at some point.
So now summer. I'm taking it off and enjoying myself before my senior year and then (gasp!) becoming a real person. Stay tuned for my summer adventures. Hopefully I'll be blogging more in the next few months :-)

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