Sweetie always orders a glass of wine, and since i don't imbibe (nothing against it, but i know more than a couple of sips puts me to sleep so i don't bother) i order a glass of hot tea.
The first time i did that, i was taken with the pot they brought me that had the hot water in it. It was small but held enough water for two good sized mugs of tea. It was made of solid cast iron, very heavy, and instead of being the typical, round pot, it was square.
When i commented on how nice i thought it looked, Sweetie asked the bartender if he could find out where we could get one like it. A talk with his manager elicited the information that they order them from a special distributor, the one that also supplies most of their other implements and cutlery and plates and such. He took my name and phone number to give the manager, with the promise that, the next time they placed an order, they would get an extra and let my buy it from them.
A couple of months later we went back for our usual treat, and asked the bartender if he had heard anything about the tea pots. He asked again, took my name and number again, and i simply waited.
Each time we would go back, he would talk to a manager, get my name and number, and they would promise to call when they had one to sell me.
Yesterday, we went back again. Upon receiving the tea pot, Sweetie again asked about whether or not we could purchase one. The bartender, the same one who is there every time we go, hardly let him get the words out before he was heading to go talk to the manager about it.
He came back a few minutes later and said, "I and the manager really want to apologize. The fact is, we haven't called you because we haven't had to order any more of these pots in so long. We have about 15 of them in store, and even on our busiest nights we never use more than three of them at any given time. We just don't ever really have to order more. So the manager says, since you've been so patient and have offered several times to buy one, you may have this one, no charge!"
Sweetie and i both protested and offered to buy it, but they insisted i simply take it. It seems they felt badly that they had been telling me they would somehow get one for me to purchase for well over a year and hadn't been able to do it.
Now i have a very nice, and rather unique, tea pot.
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| It has a strainer inside, too, so you can use loose or bag tea! |
Today is
10,000 Crestonians 4th of July Celebration -- Creston, IA, US (fun before, during, and after Independence Day; through the 6th)
Canada Day -- Canada
Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day -- a great way to start off Ice Cream Month; try a new one and you just might find a new favorite.
Day to Celebrate All the World's Creatures -- commemorates the day in 1975 that endangered species became internationally protected.
Distressed Elves Day -- Fairy Calendar
Doctors' Day -- India
Eastport Fourth of July and "Old Home Week" -- Eastport, ME, US (bounded on all sides by the Bay of Fundy and Canadian islands, the celebration includes Canada Day and runs through Friday)
Emancipation Day -- Sint Maarten
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Independence Day -- Burundi(1962); Rwanda(1962)
Intact Day -- celebrating genital integrity, as far as possible from the Feast of the Circumcision on Jan. 1
International Chicken Wing Day -- some sites say the 2nd, celebrate today or tomorrow, your choice
International Joke Day -- as declared by many internet sites, but i can't find out why today; then again, why not?
International Tartan Day -- anniversary of the repeal, in 1782, of the Act of Proscription which banned the wearing of Tartans; celebrated especially by Scottish diaspora in Australia; New Zealand
July Morning -- Bulgaria (dates back to the '70s, young and old people hitchhike to the Black Sea in late June to greet the dawn of July 1 with Uriah Heep's hit song July Morning; began as a subtle anti-communist protest, now in memory of the fall of communism and to celebrate the start of summer vacation)
Keti Koti -- Suriname (Emancipation Day)
Madeira Day -- Madeira
Memorial Day -- Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Mineral Collecting Field Trips -- Bancroft, ON, CA (every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday this month and next, geologists lead mineral collecting field trips, educating participants about mineral identification, collecting techniques, and earth sciences)
Mount Fuji Official Climbing Season begins -- Japan (through Aug. 31)
Moving Day -- Quebec, Canada
National Boating Day -- US
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National Financial Freedom Day -- can't find how this one started, but it's as good a day as any to take a good look at your finances, and start learning how to better manage them.
National Gingersnap Day
Ommegang Pageant -- Grand-Palace, Brussels, Belgium (three days of recreating of the medieval entertainment at the court of Charles V)
Presidential Inauguration Day -- Panama
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Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo -- Halifax, NS, Canada (through the 8th)
Sata-Hame Accordion Festival -- Ikaalinen, Finland (one of the worlds biggest and best accordion festivals; through Sunday)
Skiraphoria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival of cutting and threshing the grain)
Sir Seretse Khama Day -- Botswana
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Holy Healers' Day -- Bulgaria (a special festival for the two saints/brothers who were healers; celebrated especially by all healers, fortune-tellers, witches, sorceresses and herbalists)
Territory Day -- British Virgin Islands
U.S. Postage Stamp Day -- first US postage stamp issued this day in 1847
Yukon Gold Panning Championships -- Dawson City, YT, Canada
Zip Code Day -- US (inaugural anniversary in 1963; when you mail that letter, zip it up! no zip, slow trip; wrong zip, long trip)
Anniversaries Today:
Prince Albert II of Monaco marries Charlene Whittstock, 2011
Haleakala National Park established, HI, US, 1961
Mammoth Cave National Park established, KY, US, 1941
Dwight D. Eisenhower marries Mamie Geneva Dowd, 1916
Birthdays Today:
Hilary Burton, 1982
Liv Tyler, 1977
Ruud Van Nistelrooy, 1976
Missy Elliott, 1971
Pamela Anderson, 1967
Andre Braugher, 1962
Princess Diana, 1961
Carl Lewis, 1961
Michelle Wright, 1961
Alan Ruck, 1956
Dan Aykroyd, 1952
Deborah Harry, 1945
Karen Black, 1942
Genevieve Bujold, 1942
Twyla Tharp, 1941
Jamie Farr, 1934
Jean Marsh, 1934
Leslie Caron, 1931
Farley Granger, 1925
Olivia DeHavilland, 1916
William James "Willie" Dixon, 1915
Estee Lauder, 1906
Charles Laughton, 1899
Thomas Andrew Dorsey, 1899
Louis Charles Joseph Blériot, 1872
Ignaz Semmelweis, 1818
George Sand, 1804
Debuting/Premiering Today:
CourtTV(Network, now TruTV), 1991
"Nick at Nite"(TV), 1985
"The Liberace Show"(TV), 1952
"Mama"(TV), 1949
NBC(Network, first scheduled TV broadcast ever), 1941
Today in History
Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor, 69
La Noche Triste: a joint Mexican Indian force led by the Aztec ruler Cuitláhuac defeat Spanish Conquistadores led by Hernán Cortés, 1520
Lexell's Comet passed closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 a.u., 1770
American privateers attack Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, 1782
A system of the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths is established in England and Wales, 1837
U.S. Postage stamps went on sale for the first time, 1847
In the first instance of photojournalism, a French photographer's daguerrotypes of Paris riots were turned into woodcuts so as to be published in the weekly newspaper L'Illustration Journal Universel on this date in 1848
Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) in Suriname, marking the abolition of slavery by the Netherlands, 1863
The British North America Act of 1867 takes effect as the Constitution of Canada, creating the Canadian Confederation and the federal dominion of Canada; Sir John A. Macdonald is sworn in as the first Prime Minister of Canada, 1867
The Philadelphia Zoological Society, the first US zoo, opens; admission twenty-five cents for adults and ten cents for children, 1874
The world's first international telephone call is made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States, 1881
SOS is adopted as the international distress signal, 1908
Grant Park Music Festival begins its tradition of free summer symphonic music concert series in Chicago's Grant Park, which continues as the United States' only annual free outdoor classical music concert series, 1935
NBC makes the first scheduled television broadcast, 1941
Tokyo City merges with Tokyo Prefecture and is dissolved; since then, no city in Japan has had the name "Tokyo" (present-day Tokyo is not officially a city), 1943
The merger of two princely states of India, Cochin and Travancore, into the state of Thiru-Kochi (later re-organized as Kerala) in the Indian Union ends more than 1,000 years of princely rule by the Cochin Royal Family, 1949
Zip Codes are introduced for the U.S.mail, 1963
The first color television transmission in Canada takes place from Toronto, 1966
The European Community is formally created out of a merger with the Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Commission, 1967
Sony introduces the Walkman, 1979
O Canada officially becomes the national anthem of Canada, 1980
German re-unification: East Germany accepts the Deutsche Mark as its currency, thus uniting the economies of East and West Germany, 1990
The People's Republic of China resumes sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonial rule, 1997
Saturn orbit insertion of Cassini-Huygens begins at 01:12 UTC and ends at 02:48 UTC, 2004
Smoking is banned in all indoor public spaces in England, 2007
The oldest European remains of a white man are discovered in Australia; the Manning River Skull may belong to a man born in 1650, predating the country's history that Captain James Cook was the first to land on Australia's east coast in 1770, 2013
how neat is that!! and even better, their customer care of you!
ReplyDeleteWay to go. You scored a free one. Good for you. Very unique indeed. I don't think I've ever seen a square teapot before. Well until now.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. Scritches to all the babies. ☺
Really like that pot. Patience pays off, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteIt's cute. Congrats on finally getting your teapot. My mother-in-law always orders a white zinfadel with dinner. In a restaurant, they usually charge $7 a glass; however, my husband and I bought a bottle at the liquor store for $6.
ReplyDeletehttp://joycelansky.blogspot.com/2014/07/ww-how-to-take-perfect-photograph.html
It is a unique looking tea pot and you have a great story to go along with it.
ReplyDeleteGreat customer service. I bet they'd appreciate reading your post. Perhaps even finding a link to their business. They know how to treat their customers. And your Sweetie is very persistent. And you're both patient. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice gesture. Though it is small potatoes for them, it is very wise marketing as you will retell the story to others and continue to visit yourself. Little things go such a long way.
ReplyDeletethat is a very cool tea pot! Love it. So nice of them to give it to you. I've been looking for a clear one forever..... I can never find quite what I want.
ReplyDelete