I thought I’d help out Chris Kringle this year with a naughty and nice list.
I’ll start with a big old lump of coal for those of you slagging the service around town. You know who you are: the same people who drone about the snow conditions, the Sea to Sky scare and how expensive everything is in Whistler.
I was getting into a different kind of spirit, the Whistler kind, last week at one of the Spirit Programs. I’d like to say getting to better know the town I’ve grown to love over my two plus years here was the motivation behind taking four hours out of a perfect blue bird day. However, I reasoned it out, with the discounted Spirit Pass, Whistler-Blackcomb paid $100 an hour for me to get up on Whistler jeopardy and I even had a little fun.
Yes I failed to list all three walk in clinics – a new one just opened up across from Elements – and I guessed at the question "What does Whistler only have one male and one female of?" as having only two cougars, opposed to two youth workers – sorry about that Greg and Claire – but I was surprised to hear the facilitator bring up Whistler’s "reputation" of giving bad service.
Now maybe I’ve got good karma on my side, but I have received some of the best and friendliest service in the world right here in our mountain town – and no, that isn’t after I’ve flashed them my business card.
So businesses around town that I am recommending for Santa’s nice list this year are as follows:
Barney’s Automotive tops my list this year.
After running a few hundred dollars of tests on my truck at Canadian Tire in Squamish, the mechanic’s brilliant assessment was that he simply didn’t know what was wrong with it – although he did assure me it was broken and that I should bring it down for more tests.
I was young, female and didn’t know anything about cars – and obviously the mechanic was well aware of that and went to town.
I towed my truck to Barney’s and thankfully had an entirely different experience. Within an hour the problem was assessed, Honda City called to deal with the problem (a part on the truck was recalled), I paid over the phone, the company arranged another tow truck pick up and all of this over the phone with a minimal assessment fee. If you are a female car owner new to town, this is the place to go.
Sometimes workers go above and beyond their job descriptions. The good boys and girls of Whistler Printing and Splitz Grill are sure to be on Santa’s good list.
A bad day at work, the kind where nothing seems to go right, I decided I didn’t want to cook for myself and my dog Teddy and instead order out something we could share. Chicken strips and fries from Splitz. I called five minutes to 10 o’clock.
"I’d like to order some chicken strips," I asked over the phone.
"Actually, we are just closing up," the Splitz employee replied.
No. My world was crashing in. Where was I going to get chicken strips at this hour? Teddy was very particular.
As if hearing my distress, she asked how far I was from the village and despite being all the way out in Function Junction, she waited for me, my dinner hot and a smile to boot.
Whistler Printing similarly went out of their way when I was madly knocking on the door at 6 p.m. at night, more than an hour after closing. An employee was working late, obviously seeking the quiet to sort out paperwork, but still went out of her way to photocopy some music sheets for my dance class starting in 15 minutes.
Other good list nominees include nurse extraordinaire Janet Hamer for the best bedside manners in town, Joern Rohde of Insight Photography who held down the WAG Santa Photos fort until I arrived, and of course Pique Newsmagazine staff for letting me bring Teddy everyday to work.
Such seemingly small things can make such a difference in someone’s day, someone’s life. So to all those frontline employees thanks for going the extra mile and employers remember to treat your staff well because like the old saying goes, whatever you give in this world is what you will receive.
