WGOW-FM

7-15

I'm all a-Twitter. I capitalized Twitter because that's what I mean: Twitter. Follow me @KevinWestWGOW.

If you don't know what that means, you're not far behind me. I'm very much still learning the mechanics. I've been on Facebook for a while, but just because that's also a "social media" site doesn't mean I can speak Twitter. There's a learning process. It's kind of like an Army guy crossing over to the Navy. There are lots of reasons to do it, you've been part of the military, but the language between the two entities is different and it takes you a while to communicate efficiently.

Unlike the Army-Navy analogy, I'm not leaving Facebook. Don't have to. Both seem very useful in different capacities. But if you want to help me on Twitter, I'm certainly open to the advice.

Much praise for the way above-and-beyond service at the O'Charley's in Fort Oglethorpe. Date night last Saturday night turned into a series of mis-adventures and the thought of a "date" went out the window fairly early on in favor of getting Ginna's Volkswagen Bug running again.

Did you know they make it impossible for the common man to get the battery out of one of those cars? I didn't. But they do.

I also didn't realize that almost nothing is open on Signal Mountain on a Saturday night, but it isn't.

Ginna was stranded at the soon-to-be-opened Follicle Salon across from the Signal Mountain Pharmacy on Taft Highway. Eventually we got the old battery jumped and charged enough to keep the car running and chance a trip down the Mountain. Of course by then, there wasn't much in Chattanooga open anymore, either, and we couldn't stop and turn the car off. It was hard enough to get it going once.

After stops on Signal Mountain Road and Dayton Boulevard, we finally found a place still open in Hixson and bought a new battery. But even the parts place could install it, so we were nearly back to square one. At least we did have a new battery, so maybe it was square one-and-a-half. Either way, we weren't going to get it into the car until the next day at the earliest, so I decided the best course of action was to get her back to her house with the car safely inside the garage, where it wouldn't rain on it with the top down. The top doesn't go up when you have a dead battery.

When we finally got the vehicle back down to her house in North Georgia, we were completely worn out and ravenously hungry, so we jumped into my car and headed to O'Charley's on nearby Battlefield Parkway. There was one group in there, they were getting ready to leave, tables were being put up, vacuum cleaners were out and I realized they were about ten minutes away from closing.

I remembered my food service days and determined the odds of us getting anything to eat were very very much against us.

Maybe it's a North Georgia mentality. Maybe it's an O'Charley's philosophy. Maybe we looked nearly homeless and more forlorn than dangerous. I don't know. I just know Kristin and Aaron invited us to come in and sit down and told us everything on the menu was available. They brought us drinks from the bar, took care of us like it was noon rush and even let us stay for desert. We didn't leave until 35 minutes after the place had closed.

Don't tell me you can't find good customer service anymore. I'd match what Aaron and Kristin do at the O'Charley's in Fort Oglethorpe against anyone from anytime and anyplace, anywhere. Those are the kind of people you want to do business with again and again and again.

The food was fantastic. The company was a blast. And it turned what seemed to have been a busted date night into a very memorable date night.

Now......teach me how to Twitter all that in 140 characters or less.

Kevin West