Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/26748
STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Janice Burton Joy Crowe editor@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITER Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Marybeth Leiby Marybeth@upandcomingweekly.com OFFICE MANAGER Deborah Baughn deborah@upandcomingweekly.com –––––––––––––– GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Soni Martin, D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, Bob Cogswell, John Hood, Jhana Lewis, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, Heather Griffi ths, Beth Solzsmon-Carpenter –––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan Street P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: (910) 484-6200 FAX: (910) 484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a “Quality of Life” publication with local features, news and infor- mation on what’s happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per per- son. Subscriptions can be purchased for $30 for six months or $60 for 12 months, delivered weekly by first class mail. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. INSIDE PUBLISHER’S PEN by BILL BOWMAN Hey, where has good customer service gone? “When the going gets tough ... the tough get going!” Really? Well, economically speaking, it seems the last few years have been as extremely “tough” as it can get for maintaining a business and customer service. Record- high unemployment, cutbacks, exploding gas prices and a wave of fi scal restraints are crashing over our community like a tsunami. This has many business owners struggling and wondering whether they can or will survive. Well, of course, we hope they do. However, the low-level of customer service we are experiencing in the marketplace does not refl ect much of this “sense of urgency.” Usually, when business is off and sales and production quotas are not being met, the level of customer service, which costs next to nothing, gets better as businesses compete and attempt to attract new customers and retain existing ones. Well, at least you would think it would. However, not so much, in reality. In too many cases, customer service is getting worse or being eliminated all together. This is not good. As a community, and as a nation, we must be careful not to forget or diminish the positive effect customer service has on our Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast March 11 Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast Friday Thursday March 10 Saturday March 12 productivity and how it defi nes and fulfi lls the American dream. In other words, we should be working harder in these tough economic times and all Americans need to step up their customer service and productivity levels for the betterment of the community and nation. Everyone must realize that we cannot work at the same intensity during a recession and tight economy as we did in a vibrant, stable economy. It just doesn’t work. Businesses need to work harder, smarter and more effi ciently in a tight economy. Eliminating and cutting back services and productivity are the worst things a person, business or organization can do in these challenging and stressful economic times. So, to improve our community and our local economy, I recommend that businesses step up their levels of productivity and customer service. Consumers should expect and demand excellent products and customer service and settle for nothing less. In doing this, everyone one will be contributing to getting America back on the road to fi scal stability and out of the grips of this stifl ing recession. So, let’s all get to work. Thanks for BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, Up & Coming reading. Weekly, COMMENTS? editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com CalCall 910.354.1679l 910.354.1679 Sunday March 13 Monday March 14 Tuesday March 15 Calendar ........................................... 14 Concert Connection ........................ 19 Movie Review .................................. 22 Games .............................................. 22 Free Wheelin’ Feelin’ ....................... 23 Classifieds ........................................ 24 News of the Weird ........................... 26 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 26 Customer Service: Defining Moment In a Tight Economy High 68° Low 40° Thunderstorms 4 UCW MARCH 9-15, 2011 High 59° Low 37° Sunny High 67° Low 45° Sunny Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. High 67° Low 40° Sunny High 63º Low 44º Sunny High 70º Low 43º Showers WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 24 / 7