Weekend Events

Welcome to the weekend, people! It seems that you have successfully made it through another week. Most of the time we just chug on through, but every once in a while an unexpected obstacle makes the week feel unnecessarily difficult. Have you ever heard the saying that if someone does a good job you will pass the word along to one person, but if they do a bad job the word quickly passes to ten people? I suppose it speaks to our nature to "vent". It somehow makes us feel better.

This past week was made difficult for us due to a lighting store called City Lights in SoMa. If you need lighting of any kind, and are looking for even a small amount of customer service, this is not the place to go.

It started at the beginning of the week when we were trying to brighten up the kitchen in our client's loft. Anja went down to City Lights on Folsom in the SoMa district and picked out the perfect one. She placed it on hold and sent the seller to pick it up the next day. He went, and unbeknown to him, was given the wrong lamp. He took it home and hung it; Anja went by to see it and saw that it was the wrong lamp; she took it back for the original choice as the one he was given did not solve the lighting problem.

Can you believe they did not want to do the exchange! Not only that, they told her she couldn't have her original choice as it was new and they needed it on the floor. Why didn't they tell her that to begin with? She had to choose another lamp, which in the end didn't work either, and that was just the beginning of a long chain of events that ended with Anja being the not so proud owner of a $400 lamp she does not want. They were extremely unpleasant from the beginning, even though the whole sting of events stemmed from their misake.

What ever happened to customer service? OK, see, I feel better! In the end, we purchased a light and supplies from Universal Electric Supply just around the corner, where the prices are better and the cusomer service is brighter!

Let's move on to the weekend! There are 120 open houses scheduled for today (Saturday October 27th) and 873 open houses scheduled for tomorrow. Those numbers have been pretty consistent this month. If you are in the Potrero Hill neighborhood, stop by 1605 18th Street. It was featured in yesterday's post.

If you are a fan of the regular Saturday afternoon farmer's market at the Ferry Building, this weekend is the weekend to go. All weekend long the Ferry Building Marketplace will be hosting the fifth annual Harvest Festival. It actually began on Friday with wine and beer tasting, and goes through Sunday with wonderful local vendors, book signings, cooking demonstrations, and on Sunday Barn Yard by the Bay for the children. Have a look at these South Beach properties while you are in the neighborhood.

Going from the Bay to the Pacific, another event for those of you with kids is the annual "Boo at the Zoo" at our very own San Francisco Zoo. Along with all of the regular zoo attractions, there will be trick or treating, live entertainment, arts and crafts, and special presentations. Just be sure to leave your masks at home; you don't want to scare the animals! While you're in the neighborhood, stop by these Outer Parkside and Lakeshore open houses.

Just one more thought on the "venting" idea. The idea is that we are upset when we are not treated right, so everybody and their mother hears about it. Maybe we should try to pass the word along as aggresively when we are treated right. When somebody does a good job, let's try to pass it along to ten people. They deserve it!