Tag Archives: letters

Day 24: Tom

Posted on January 25, 2015 | Leave a comment

Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves. ~ Steve Jobs

I tried to stealthily snap this photo of Chris hard at work.

I tried to stealthily snap this photo of Chris hard at work.

Customer experience has probably never been as important as it is now. With online marketplaces commoditizing the vast majority of products and services, it’s the customer’s experience – whether face to face or online – that dictates whether they will publicly praise or shame you.

I had some items to ship on Friday and headed to FedEx. They were awkwardly shaped, so I needed to get them boxed up. I’m terrible at these kind of tasks, thankfully Chris, the FedEx team member that helped me, was awesome. It was refreshing to see a young person take his job, and more importantly his responsibility, seriously. I decided to drop his boss a note.

It’s funny – I called back hours later to get the name of the manager and Chris answered – he’d been there all day at that point and still sounded as polite and professional as he did at 9am. I didn’t tell him I was writing this letter to his boss…I just asked for the manager’s name.

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Tom,

Just a note to tell you how impressed I was with a member of your team. I stopped in on Friday with two large items that needed boxed up and shipped and a young man named Day 24 TomChris did a fantastic job – from making sure that I got the right kind of boxes to guiding me through my shipment options. He took care of everything. His badge said that he was a trainee – I’m sure he’ll be moving up in no time. Please let him know that his professionalism and attention to customer service made an impression on me.

Keep up the good work,
Reed Sandridge

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Day 23: Jack

Posted on January 24, 2015 | Leave a comment


On Thursday I had the tremendous pleasure of visiting the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, FL. It’s an amazing place focused on promoting conservation of Florida’s coastal ecosystems with a special focus on threatened and endangered sea turtles. They have an onsite hospital there too – which I got to see in action. I got to meet Jack Lighton, the President and CEO, who gave us a very special tour of the operations.

Day 23 JackThis is Sven – and this little guy, well he’s not that little actually, was attacked by a shark and has some bad wounds on his back right side. He was being treated by Dr. Charlie and others when we were there, so I got a behind the scenes look at them working on Sven. They were applying natural honey to his wounds – believe it or not honey works as a natural healing agent. Later they used cold laser therapy to expedite the healing. Despite being sedated, Sven gave the staff some work keeping him still during the procedure.

Jack was extremely gracious with his time. He showed me and my colleague Barney around the center and shared with us some of the terrific work they’re involved with. In the grand scheme of things it’s not much, but I wanted to send them a small donation to help them carry on the important work they do.

 

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Jack,

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule yesterday to meet with Barney and me. We were both very impressed – not only with your amazing work at the hospital nursing turtles back to health but also the broader work that you are engaging in throughout the region. Your passion for your work shines when you tell the story of the Loggerhead Marlinelife Center.

I look forward to exploring ways we can work together.

Good luck with your fundraiser next week – I’m sure it will be a tremendous success!

Sincerely,
Reed Sandridge

I saw this little fellow doing yoga - he's got his hind legs crossed!

I saw this little fellow doing yoga.

 

Check out the crossed legs!

Check out the crossed legs!

 

 

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Day 21: Cade

Posted on January 21, 2015 | Leave a comment
Cade Pope's letter to the Carolina Panthers with owner Jerry Richardson's response below. Image courtesy of The Washington Post.

Cade Pope’s letter to the Carolina Panthers with owner Jerry Richardson’s response below. Image courtesy of The Washington Post.

Did you catch my post on Sunday about the 12-year-old from Yukon, Oklahoma who made the news with his handwritten letters to all 32 NFL teams? If not, take a moment to read the story, it’s inspiring. I got to thinking this week, I ought to write young Cade a handwritten letter to tell him how cool I think it was that he wrote each team – and he wrote them all by hand. It would have been so much easier to write the letter once and do a mail merge and send it out.

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Dear Cade,

I’m a big fan of handwritten letters and I love that you took the time to write all 32 NFL teams. You’re awesome! It just goes to show you that you never know who might write you back if you send them a letter – especially a handwritten letter.

YoL-7-2I can’t join you as a fan of the Panthers (I’m a Pittsburgh Steelers fan), but I am your number one fan!

Keep writing letters,
Reed Sandridge

 

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Day 20: Katy

Posted on January 20, 2015 | Leave a comment

CITIZENFOUR COVERHave you seen Citizenfour? It’s the Oscar nominated film documenting Edward Snowden’s leak of National Security Agency documents in the summer of 2013. I was shocked when I went to see the film and saw that the co-producer was a woman I met during my Year of Giving.

Katy was one of my favorite $10 recipients back in 2010. I met her on Day 111 and will never forget what she did with her $10. You can read about that here.

Katy back in April of 2010

Katy back in April of 2010

Anyway, go see the film regardless of what you think you know about the events surrounding Snowden and the release of the NSA classified documents. It definitey changed my feelings about him and his decision to go public with the information.

 

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Dear Katy,

Congratulations on producing Citizenfour – such a beautiful and thought provoking film. It’s honest and opens a very interesting doorway into not only the leaking of NSA classified documents by Edward Snowden but also into the areas of privacy, security, technology, secrecy, transparency – what it means when we call ourselves a democracy. Your film changed my opinion of Mr. Snowden and the series of events that led up to and unfolded during the summer of 2013 – that’s awe-inspiring and powerful! I hope you are well and look forward to one day catching up with you.

All the best,
Reed

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Day 17: Chaz, The Pug

Posted on January 17, 2015 | Leave a comment

I met up with some friends from my hometown last night and we ended up at a bar on H Street that I had never been to. The Pug is a bar. Plain and simple. In fact their website describes the place as, “No idiots. No bombs. No shooters. No specials. No politics. Relax. Drink. Be cool. Behave.”

Me with Chaz from The Pug

Me with Chaz from The Pug

What they don’t tell you is that you might have to wear this ridiculous hat. Yep, that’s me on the left sporting the obnoxious Cat In The Hat style hat. This photo doesn’t due it justice as the long top of the hat has fallen over and isn’t really visible.

The guy next to me is Chaz, a bartender there. My cell phone was dying (this happens all the time since I have an ancient Samsung S2) and I asked Chaz, who was standing steadily behind the bar, if he might be able to charge my phone. “Absolutely,” he said with a grin that should have warned me, “but there is a condition.” He explained that I had to wear that hat the entire time the phone was charging. “If I see you not wearing the hat, I unplug the phone. Got it?” I laughed and agreed.

The weird part was that despite being packed, not a single person in the bar asked me why I was wearing the pitiful head piece. I didn’t even really catch anyone staring at me.

So if you’re on H Street in DC and want a no frills, good time bar that doesn’t try to be anything that it isn’t, you’ve found your home at 1234 H Street. Cheers!


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I found this in my pocket the next morning. It’s a Trivial Pursuit card from The Pug. I included it in my note to Chaz.

Chaz,

Great to meet you last night at The Pug – I appreciate you charging my cell phone and was honored to wear that ridiculous hat – very clever of you guys! I’ll definitely be back the next time I’m out on H Street.

Cheers,
Reed Sandridge

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