Consistency

What does it mean to be consistent? Well if we go to Merriam-Webster we can see all the definitions but the one I am talking about isn't how thick a substance is. Rather : firmness of constitution or character : Persistency

How important is it to be consistent? With pretty much anything business, life, diet, exercise, etc. You have to stick to it. You have to be consistent. You can consistently stick to bad habits too.

I love going to a place where I know the type of service I am going to get. I love calling somewhere and getting that familiar voice on the phone that I know is going to take care of things.  Recently I have had a number of things that went wrong and I needed help. I mean not one place, not two, but three! It seems my threes are coming in sets of three, threes! And it was just like OK...what next. Lucky for me I had people that I knew would take care of it when I called them. I mean that is a good feeling especially today. It really stinks that something is broke or needs to be fixed and not being able to get someone to fix it. Having people that you can call and they call you back and do what they say is unfortunately rare today too.

That is one of the things I hear more complaints about then anything. Both here on our group and also in my own business. We get calls quite often from people who tell us they had called their prior company and it has been a week and they still haven't heard back after several more attempts. And it isn't one or two calls it is a number of them. The same goes with our group. I have countless messages from people regarding this business or that business that never called  them back after hearing so many great things about them on our group. I am not sure why but I always apologize...and I always hear that they thought I would want to know. The shame of it is a number of these businesses I think are just overwhelmed with work and don't have help. But just letting someone know that you aren't going to be able to get to them is a much better way to handle that situation.

Recent Meals Out

I have to say I was so happy to get great service at most of the restaurants we went to this past week. I am not going to bore anyone with the details but I have had a few things that have been a headache to deal with lately. And you know what they say they come in threes. Well I think mine must come in sixes or something. It was one thing after another.

The other week we got away and I honestly I haven't been posting as many meal pics as normal. Some of that is because so much of my time on FB anymore is just keeping up with the activity on our group. Approving posts, removing posts, seeing what was reported, approving new members, replying to messages. It keeps me pretty busy daily and I was a bit burned out. And it is also partly just because and partly because the recent service and food that I have had at some places we had been to recently weren't that good at all and there was nothing I could write or do a post on Shop Local Delmarva about. In one case we had a wonderful waitress. But the food was not really good at all. I mean it was pretty sad the crab dip had the consistency of soup, see what I did there? Now this is a place that we have been to enough to know that wasn't the norm. But if this had been the first time we had went I probably wouldn't go back. Then on a couple of other occasions we have been out and the service well I will just say they came to work. So it was quite refreshing to walk in see the smiling faces and get not just great food but also great service.

I am going to end this part of the blog with this. Things are expensive. Pretty much everything we buy is costing a lot more. Eating out is expensive too. It is costing the restaurants a lot more money to purchase the food and keep their doors open as well.

Another big foodie that I chat with quite a bit and I had a conversation about our recent trips out to eat. He has had lackluster experiences from some places he has been recently as well. And what was more concerning was it seemed the morale of the places were just not that great. There really wasn't a welcome greeting or that big smile that we were used to getting. You may not be able to do anything about the cost, you may have to adjust your menu, maybe you have to remove items or once again to adapt to this crazy environment we seem to be in. But one thing you can control is how your customers are treated and that is more important than ever. And dealing with the higher cost of running a business can cause additional stress as well. So don't let your negative attitude contribute to the poor morale of your team either. We are all in this together.

Our Shop Local Delmarva Scholarship

AND if you haven't heard we are giving away $1,000 to a local student from our Supporters, Partners, and Sponsors. For all the details just click here.

Submissions will be accepted through Aug. 31, 2022,

The winning recipient will be announced by the end of September 2022. Entries will be judged by a team of community members from Shop Local Delmarva.

Students in Wicomico, Worcester, Somerset, Dorchester, Talbot, Caroline, Accomack, Sussex and Kent counties are invited to enter.



David

Shop Local Delmarva

And don't forget our Supporters, Partners, and Sponsors.

You may notice certain businesses are highlighted and standout not only in the directory but we highlight them on our Facebook Page as well as our group. This ever growing list of businesses help us promote  a lot of great things in our community. Many of our blogs which you can find right here are focused on our community and our local businesses.

Many of these businesses are helping us promote other local businesses. Which really is what Delmarva is all about. I am asked quite often how a business can be part of Shop Local Delmarva. If you are part of our group you are part of Shop Local Delmarva. If you like the group and like the concept of a digital type of media that we share blogs, videos, highlights and features and want to be part of it we would love to have your support. You can find out more information here. All of our supporters, partners, and sponsors are on the rotating banners on most of our blogs just like this one.

If any of our supporters, partners, or sponsors have upcoming events we encourage them to let us know so we can help them promote them as well.

The whole idea of Shop Local Delmarva is all about our local community supporting local businesses, and our local businesses supporting our local community. It goes round and round.