Interesting Request #5

I had a client who wanted to throw a pirate themed party for her son and his friends. I created a treasure map as the invitation that led the guests to the house. Everyone who attended received a pirate bandana upon arriving. There were crafts, such as creating a pirate hat and pin the eye patch on the pirate. A cake was made to look like a treasure map. Everyone had fun and all of the guests left with small treasure chests filled with pirate goodies including root beer barrels.

If you want to share your interesting requests, email me at angel@angelatyourservice.com with “Interesting Requests” in the subject line.

Interesting Request #4

I had an interesting errand in November of 2005 and it made me think of the giving spirit that is still out there to this day. I had an errand come in from another errand service on a Wednesday. They had a client who wanted someone to purchase a bed that was only available at one store and deliver it to his brother on that Saturday.

After giving me the information, I told her that her problem was solved. I had a membership to that store and a truck, so I could make the delivery myself. I then received a call the next day saying there was a misunderstanding and she actually needed the bed there on Friday. I called my sister and bribed her with lunch to go with me.

I estimated that it would take about three hours. No problem or so I thought. I called the brother the next morning to find out when he wanted the bed delivered. I wanted to get a head start as traffic gets BAD. I got directions online, gathered my paperwork and headed out the door. I went to the gas station, filled up my gas tank, picked up my sister, and then started my time.

Since she lived down the road from me, it took less than 10 minutes to get to the store. I had the item number and know the bed is there, since I had not only checked online, but called the store the day before to make sure it was in stock. I went up to the manager and ask for help in getting the bed.

We set out to find the bed. He starts looking up and down the aisles and states that he can not find the bed. We both know it is there because he checked on his computer to make sure it was. He was having a hard time finding it and it was putting me behind schedule. I had to call the brother to tell him I was running behind. After 40 minutes of looking, the manager finally found the bed.

It took another 20 minutes for them to get the bed down, get me through the register, and get the bed out to my car. Now this bed was in one piece, was almost 175 pounds, and was almost 7 feet long. The guy who was helping me did not want to get hurt and went off to find someone to help him. I was looking around because I wasn’t sure how we were going to get it in the car.

Two NICE looking college guys came by and asked if I needed help. I said that I did and without hesitating, they lifted up the bed and put it in the back of my car. All I could say was, “Thank you so much for your help!” over and over and smile. As we were leaving, we happened to pass by the guys’ car and they waved at us. I was telling my sister that I wish I could have given them something for helping me. I then told her that I wanted to go and buy some $5 and $10 dollar gift cards at various places and hand them out to people that helped me, like those guys. She thought it was a neat idea. We then headed off to the brother’s house to deliver the bed.

The drive was not that bad, but I was still behind schedule by an hour already. When we got there, the brother took one look at the bed and asked how we were going to get it into his apartment. After standing around for 15 minutes, we decided to open the box and carry in the bed piece by piece. As we were taking turns carrying in different pieces, there happened to be a gentleman working in the garage two doors down. He came over and helped the brother carry in the big pieces of the bed. I needed a gift card for him, but didn’t have one yet. The brother and I thanked him for his help.

I then headed off to get my sister her lunch she deserved. What started out as a 3 hour errand ended up being a 4 1/2 hour errand, but during that time we had people helping us out who didn’t need to, but decided they would help anyway. I have always believed that what goes around comes around.

If I let someone in while I am in traffic, I know there will be a time when someone lets me in when I need to. If I open the door for someone, regardless of whether they tell me “Thank you” or not, I always tell someone “Thank you” if they open the door for me. These are all gestures that aren’t too hard to perform.

This season lend an extra hand to someone, whether it is your client or not. You will be rewarded. Who knows, someone could be watching you in your business outfit with your company name on it and see you helping someone out and because they were impressed they will call you to ask for help themselves.

Interesting Request #3

At the beginning of October 2004 I received a call from a woman asking if I offer pet services. I told her that I did. She then asked if I offered pet sitting and pet taxi services and again I stated that I did. She then proceeded to tell me that she had an unusual request. I was thinking to myself, “Animals? What can be unusual?”

She then proceeded to tell me that she was getting married in two weeks and that she wanted her two Bassett Hounds to be part of her wedding and would I be able to help her out. All I would have to do was pick them up from her house, dress them, take them to the local golf course, basically sit through the wedding, and then take them home after the wedding. I am beginning to think, “Easy money.”

I told her that although I had never received a request like this before, that I would be happy to help out. She had stated that she had “outfits” that she wanted each of them to wear. There was a veil for the female dog, Snuggles, and a groom outfit and pillow for the male dog, Sugarjack. After I told her that I would have to charge hourly for
something like this and told her my price, she agreed to it. We then decided on a mutual date for me to go over and meet the dogs, pick up my money, get a key, and have her sign paperwork.

A day before the wedding it had been raining and the morning of the wedding it had been drizzling on and off. My daughter Taylor, who was my assistant for the day, dressed up and we were on our way to get the dogs. When we first got to the house Sugarjack was VERY excited to see us and jumped several feet off of the ground to greet us. He then proceeded to take his outfit in his mouth and try to run around with it. After chasing him and his outfit around, I was able to get it on him. I then put his pillow on him and started to put on Snuggles’ outfit.

Next it was off to the car. Taylor had to sit between two drooling dogs all of the way to the golf course. Once we got to the wedding site, getting them to follow my directions was another thing. I took pictures before they could go wild or ruin their outfits. We then met up with the bride and groom so they could take pictures with them. After that we had to wait a while before the actual ceremony. People were “Oohing” and “Aahing” over the dogs and I was trying to get them to pose. I wish I would have had someone videotaping it all.

The ceremony finally started and I handed them off to the Maid of Honor. Just about 10-15 minutes into the ceremony Snuggles started howling. I was trying to dodge the video camera and photographer to take her off to the side. At the end of the ceremony I handed her back off to the Maid of Honor to walk back down the aisle with both dogs. It started raining so we took the dogs home.

Overall, Taylor and I had some great laughs and enjoyed ourselves, but I am not so sure about the dogs as they were ready to nap at the end of it all. It was an adventure of a lifetime and a service that I can chalk up to as unique.

Interesting Requests #2

This errand was both personal and business. The two people you see pictured are my husband’s cousin and her then fiancé, who is now her husband. This picture was taken at their engagement party several years ago.

I was asked if I could create something wonderful food wise by my husband’s aunt. Of course I said I would. She offered to pay for my time and supplies.  I love chocolate dipped strawberries and had seen pictures before of strawberries that looked like tuxedos and wedding gowns.

I decided to try my hand at these and purchased these enormous strawberries at Tom’s Farms in Corona, California.  I don’t know what was going on with the strawberry crops that year, but the ones I purchased were outrageously big.

Dipping the whole strawberry in white chocolate was the easy part. I let them cool and then went about dipping the sides in milk chocolate at an angle for the tuxedo strawberries. The hardest part came when I had to make the buttons and bow ties on the tuxedo strawberries and the lines and pearl necklace on the wedding gown strawberries.

I was up 4 hours before we had to leave for the party putting these together. I did share with my children any rejects that I had, although I tried to sneak in a few extra for myself. After snipped lunch bags left over with melted chocolate were all over my table and hands, I was finally happy with the results.  As you can see from the picture so were they.

My mother-in-law has told others about them up until this day and I ended up making miniature wedding cakes for a bridal shower and more strawberries for a wedding night surprise and other engagement party.  They were a lot of work, but oh how great they looked and tasted. Not one strawberry was left over.

P.S. If you want to try these on your own, stir in a little bit of oil with the melted chocolate. It will make the chocolate stay on even after they bite into the strawberry.

Interesting Requests #1

Have you ever had an interesting request come in? Over the years I have received plenty. I thought I would share one that I thought you might find fun or interesting.
 
I received a call from a client who was living in Alaska and had found me in the Verizon Superpages online, but her son was attending boarding school near where I live. Apparently the kids at the school need to have quarters to wash their own laundry, almost like a college dorm, but their change machine is broken and their on site store will not sell quarters to the students.

She had me go to the bank, purchase several rolls of quarters, package them up so no one could tell what they were, and drop them off at the school. I then had to contact him and leave a message that his package was at the school. I left the message stating who I was, that his mother had me drop off a package, and that if he had any questions that he could contact me or his mother.

He called me later, but as soon as I said “Hello” he was like “Who’s this?” and then I said “Well, who’s this?”. After doing that another time or two, he finally told me his name. I then realized who it was and then explained that I had left a package for him with the security guard. I then went on to apologize for the “Who are you?” thing, but explained that with his young voice I thought he was one of my older son’s friends and that he was playing a prank on me.

When I contacted his mother to confirm the delivery and explain what had happened, she got a big kick out of it. She then went on to tell me that as soon as she had a chance, she would put my information in the school newsletter so other parents could use my services.

 
If you have an interesting request you would like to share, email me at angel@angelatyourservice.com with “Interesting Request” in the subject line.