Mo*Bee's Blog #11: Ten Dollars



Mo*Bee's Blog # 11:  Ten Dollars

Great thing happened to me today. Being a mom is always a super hard job. Sometimes your kids do things that make you want to crawl under a rock and hide. But sometimes, they do things that make you so proud that you just want to scream to the world ” Hey, did you see that, that's my kid!” I would like to take a moment, in keeping with Mo*Bee's mission statement where it says "make a difference," to talk about what happened to my daughter Candice today.

First, I have to start back when she was just starting high school. Candice, like most kids do, was going through a phase. She thought wearing black, baggy clothes, and having her hair dyed neon pink was a cool look to have. It was the kind of look that made even her dad ask me," Why do you let her dress like that? It makes her look like a kid that's going to cause trouble." To which I replied," Hey, she don't drink, she don't do drugs, she's not pregnant nor has she been pregnant, and she gets A's and B's, so if that is how she wants to rebel, or if this is her way of looking cool, then I say we let her do it. Besides, if we approve of it, she may start to think, 'Hey, if my parents are okay with this, then it can't be cool.' "

Candice in High School

Before she started high school, I told her,"People judge you by the way you look. If this is how you are going to start high school, you need to know that teachers are going to think you are a troublemaker." She said, " No they won't, I'm not changing it! I like it, and this is how I want to look." So off she went to high school with her baggy, black clothes and bright bright pink hair, in a fauxhawk no less. When she got home that first day she said," Mom, one of my teachers hates me." I said, "No, she doesn't, she just met you today, she doesn't even know you yet."  She said, “No, she really does! She told me we are like oil and water, and we are not going to mix.” I said, "If she said that then... maybe she does hate you." Then I laughed! Candice got mad and said “it's not funny, mom! She hates me.” I asked her what she had done to make this teacher hate her. She told me she didn't do anything. It was almost time for the class to be over, and people were just sitting talking to each other all quietly. The teacher just walked over and said that to her. I told Candice, “You're going to have to give her some time to get over the way you look. Once she gets to know you, you'll be fine.”
Two weeks later she came home, all happy and taking two pieces of hard candy out of her front pocket. She showed them to me proudly, as if she had won an award. She said, " Guess who gave me these? She said my teacher Ms (Blank) gave them to me!" I said, " I thought she hates you." Candice said, " I know, the more she gets to know me,  the nicer she has been to me."
I told Candice then that this was a good example for her to see that she should try hard not to judge people by the way they look. Try to always be open and friendly to everyone you meet no matter what they look like. The world would be a much better place if we judge people solely by the way they treat us. Crazy thing is that people will go out of their way to avoid a strange looking person walking down the street. They'll even lock their car doors if they see someone coming toward their car who they feel looks untrustworthy. Yet they'll drive that car home to a place where they know that there is a good chance that once again, they will be beaten or verbally abused. They will stay in that relationship even though they know their fate could be death this time. Like I said, it's a crazy world.

This teacher, who happened to be nearing retirement age, was taught something herself. The girl she had met on that first day of school, the same girl who she had said something hurtful to, was the same girl who she later chose as a student of the month and after that, to be her personal assistant throughout her time in high school. It was the same kid whom she gave flowers to and a gift to on graduation day! It was the same girl who even to this day, she runs over and gives her a great big hug and tells her how much she misses her when she sees her in town.

While this teacher may have learned not to judge a book by its cover, Candice has not learned to tone down her look. As I suspected, the black, baggy pants and pink hair lost its coolness, and she toned that down. For a while, she looked like an ordinary teenager. I don't know what happened... while I was perfectly okay with the wild look back then,  I must say I am not at all fond of the new look. It could be because piercings and tattoos tend to be permanent. I've always liked that look on other people, but for some reason, I just don't feel the same seeing it on her. Anyway, to finally get around to what happened, my tattooed and pierced-up daughter called me on the phone. It went something like this..." Mom, I just went to the grocery store with a friend of mine, and when we were coming out of the store, in the parking lot, I saw a man drop some money out of his pocket. I went and picked it up, then ran up to the man (which made him jump and look suspiciously at me) and said,' hey you dropped this money.' He looked at me, at first startled, and as I handed it to him, I saw that it was a $10 bill. He took it, and then said thanks. He started to walk away but then stopped and asked me if I liked tomatoes. I told him I did, and he said that he sells produce at a produce stand and he has some leftover tomatoes if I would like some. We all walked over to his car, where he gave me some tomatoes. Then, he took the $10 bill back out of his pocket and held it out to me. He said,' Here, you take this. You deserve this for being so honest. It makes me happy to see a young person like you be so honest.' " She said, " I told him no, it was okay, it was his money, and I gave it back to him because it belonged to him." She said he then insisted she take it for doing such a deed.

She was so happy about getting that $10.00, not to mention those tomatoes. This whole incident made me really proud, because while Candice forgets about how she looks to strangers, I know that at first, all that man saw was a young, tattooed, pierced-up kid running towards him. But then he saw past all that, to who she truly is. I wish I could have been in the parking lot that day.  I wish I could have screamed, “Hey Mr.... that's my kid!! ”

My hope is that by sharing these stories we can all start to make a difference. Let's all try harder to wait and see how people treat us before we decide how we in turn should treat them. I'm going to go find my kid now, give her a great big hug and tell her how much I love her and how proud I am to be her mom.

Until next time
Dee
a.k.a. Mo*Bee

Share your knowledge!  List your next class on Mo*Bee's Class Finder.com!

Mo*Bee's Blog #10: Job Well Done

Blog #10:  Job Well Done

In a world where sometimes it seems harder and harder to find businesses or individuals, for that matter, who still take pride in their work and deliver exceptional customer service, let me shine a spotlight on some that still do.

I order little plastic bags to put my business cards in, along with bird seed, dog treats, or smiley rocks. This is just one of the things we do in order to stay in line with the part of our mission statement that says, "Make it easy.  Make it fun.  Make a difference." These bags are part of our “Make it fun.” Gifts International delivers these bags and as trivial as it may seem, they get it right.

The bags from Gifts International

It's not that Gifts International does anything that I'm not expecting; it's just the fact that they consistently do exactly what I'm expecting. I order my bags from them online and the mere fact that I can order them online without any assistance from someone else shows that placing an order with them is easy. Next, I consistently receive in the mail, within the time frame that they gave me, exactly what I ordered. That's it folks!  I'm impressed with this company for the very fact that they consistently do a good job. So to the folks at Gifts International, don't think that it goes unnoticed when you're only doing what you're supposed to be doing.

Next up is Trivette Images. I hired Trivette Images to make my business two videos, one to show instructors about Mo*Bee's Class Finder and the other to show prospective students about Mo*Bee's Class Finder. I chose Trivette Images over all the other production companies that I looked at because of their compassion. That's not to say that I didn't also think that they did an outstanding job producing videos. All the places I looked at did outstanding jobs producing videos. If you'll take just a second to visit Trivette's website and watch a few of their videos, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.



Trivette Images

I chose to do these videos with a very small budget because, for the most part, I was having them made to show one man who was going to give me some guidance about promoting my website. Because we had not yet launched, I needed a video to show him from each perspective, why someone would want to use Mo*Bee's Class Finder.

I worked with Dylan Trivette who was kind and gracious and a pleasure to work with, just as I had suspected because of the compassion shown through the subjects of his videos. If you ever find yourself in need of hiring a production company, I highly recommend Trivette Images. You will not be disappointed with them or their work.

Instructor video.

Student video.



Okay here's the last one I'm going to talk about today. I hope you don't mind me taking time to give these businesses and people a plug. I know I like my friends to tell me where they get good service so I don't have to waste time trying to find good places on my own. That being said, there's no way I could not think to tell you about Kia of Greer. I've been going to Kia of Greer for a couple of years now.

Kelly bought her Kia Sorento from them a few years back. (Just in case you were wondering, yes, that is the vehicle that I was driving when I got that ticket in Virginia. The one I talked about in blog #2.)  Anyway, I was with her the day she bought it and couldn't help but be impressed at how easy they made that much dreaded ordeal that women have to go through.

I have always hated having to buy a new car. I hated going to car dealerships; I hated car salesmen; I hated being treated like I am stupid; or that I could be easily tricked into paying way more for a vehicle than my male counterparts would have, just because I'm female. I had even told Kelly before we went, “I'll go with you, but they're probably going to make me so mad that I'll have to walk out.” That's what I said out loud to her, but in my head I was really thinking, “I'm probably going to end up in jail today for punching some car salesman in the face. All this because Kelly didn't want to sit in a car dealership all day by herself.”  Lucky for me and her car salesman, the purchase of her Kia Sorento was incredibly smooth.

Kelly had done months of research for not only what kind of SUV she wanted, but also for what was a fair price to pay for one. Armed with this information and before we ever got out of the car, Kelly said, "This is what I want blah blah blah blah and I will not pay a penny over X amount. I don't care what their salesperson says. So, if I can't get this price, we're leaving."

I said okay and we both got out of the car the way warrior ninjas would arrive fully prepared for battle. We walked into the dealership and were introduced to a salesman who asked what exactly we were looking for. Kelly told him what all she wanted and he said we've got that right here on the lot. What color do you want? Okay we've got that; come with me and I'll show you exactly the one you're looking for. He walked us over to where the SUV she had previously described inside was sitting and said,”Here you go.” By now I'm thinking okay great, half the battle is won. They have exactly what she's looking for right here on the lot, so we're not going to have to fight about either having to upgrade something or downgrade something.

Knowing that the biggest battle was yet to come, the battle over price, I finished off a bottle of water to make sure I was fully hydrated.  I was also trying to slow my heart rate which had begun to slowly rise from the moment we had pulled onto the car lot in anticipation of the pending arrest and subsequent stint in jail. Kelly fired the first shot and asked, "How much is it?"  He answered with something that went somewhat like this, "Well, the suggested retail price is blah blah blah but we can get you in it for X amount."  Kelly and I turned and looked at each other dumbfounded. My brain raced frantically trying to figure out what's the trick? What's going on here? The amount he had quoted her was about a hundred dollars or so under the price she had quoted me before getting out of the car when we had first arrived. For a split second I thought, maybe Kelly doesn't know what a really good price for this SUV is. But, then I snapped back into reality and remembered that this is Kelly that were talking about. She, as I mentioned before, had done months of research on not only the vehicle she wanted but what would also be a fair price according to what everybody else all over the United States is actually paying for this particular vehicle. You know the end of the story. You know she bought it, because like I said it's the one I got a ticket in. Anyway the people at Kia of Greer were super nice. It does, however, still take a long time to type up all that paperwork but, that aside, I can't complain. I ate a pile of popcorn which they provided and then we were off.


Kia of Greer









Since then I have returned to Kia of Greer a number of times in order for Kelly to get her oil changed. Me being me, I spend this time talking to everyone who gets within 5 feet of me. One day that happened to be Tony Sellers, the sales manager. Tony is great fun to talk to, so now I'm always eager to go with Kelly when she needs to have any maintenance work done. I've even taken her Kia down there for her on days when she had to work, but her oil change was due.  If you had told me five years ago that one day you're going to go to a car dealership just because you enjoy talking to the employees there, I would've said you've lost your mind and probably would've punched you in the face.

Tony Sellers.

Now comes time for me to buy a car to use for my Mo*Bee's business. Hey, it was a no-brainer!  So, off I headed to Kia of Greer. I knew exactly what I wanted. ..a Kia Soul.  I wanted a Kia Soul for two reasons. One, because I thought it was an ugly little car and if you want to draw attention to a car it needs to be either breathtakingly gorgeous or ugly. Breathtakingly gorgeous usually comes with a really big price tag. However, ugly is affordable to all. The other reason I wanted a Kia Soul was because it had nice, big flat places to advertise Mo*Bee's Class Finder on.

So not to bore you, I'll give you the short version of buying my Kia soul. I told Tony the sales manager and Sam the sales consultant what I wanted. They found it and I bought it!  It was so easy and Sam ate popcorn during the whole process. (Ha ha!  Just kidding Sam.) 

I'm also happy to tell you that while I bought this car solely for the purpose of advertising Mo*Bee's on it, I must say I love this little car. Surprisingly, it's very roomy whether carrying passengers or cargo.  (Ha ha!  Cargo… that means I went shopping!)  It gets great gas mileage and it's fun to drive. 

So, the next time you're in the market for a new car head on over to Kia of Greer. Ask for Tony Sellers and tell him Mo*Bee's sent you. Grab some popcorn and relax; I think you'll agree there's no need to feel like you may have to punch the salesman in the face. 

Okay, I have to wrap it up now. It's time for me to go to meet my sister Dawn and fill my Soul with cargo!

Until next time.

Dee
a.k.a.  Mo*Bee

Let others find you by listing your next class on Mo*Bee's Class Finder.com!