The Power of an E-mail
So, after going to Monkey Joe’s and learning of their awesome military discount, I figured I would call the one down here and ask them if they did the same. I assumed they would because Orlando is the number one tourist destination in the world. Sea World, upon request, mails out free passes once a year to Military families.
So, when I called and got some uber-rude chick on the line that said they offer a 10% discount – I was like, “huh?!”
Don’t get me wrong, 10% on a party reservation that costs $220 is awesome, but on a regular admission fee, it would save me $.80.
So, I got down about the crappy discount, and pissed at the rude girl.
So, me being the ever-so-shy me (joke, people, laugh!) I wrote an e-mail to the management.
The e-mail was as follows:
To whom it may concern:
I am very disconcerted at the lack of consistency in your prices as a company. My husband is a Marine, and we just recently were in North Carolina. We visited a wonderful Monkey Joe’s in Wilmington, and when we went there and showed our Military IDs, we were only charged $5 per person, regardless of age or day of week. Now, when I call your branch, I am told you offer a 10% discount. On an admittance fee of $8, I will save $.80.
A military family needs outlets such as Monkey Joe’s, when a mother of two or three children has gone months without a husband due to deployment, and needs to let the kids run around a bit. But to know that you think so little of military families, that all you offer is 10% off, is ridiculous. I could understand 10% off parties and whatnot – that’s wonderful. But off the main door fee? If you want to attract military families, and appear as though you support our military, you might want to reconsider how you treat and welcome us.
Thank you for your time.
Natalie Scott
Proud Wife of a U.S.
Marine
A little harsh, I admit…
Lo and behold, with in ONE HOUR, I receive a reply, not from the management whom I e-mailed, but the OWNER of the 5 Central Florida locations. I was speechless.
This is why:
Dear Natalie,
I am sorry about that. I never thought about the military families coming to Mj’s. We don’t have a lot of military in Orlando. I had a military appreciation night last May and only one family showed up, but I plan to now make it an annual event. I am also going to send you a frequent user card which is good for 10 entries. I am also going to institute a military discount as you described. I love the military, I am an Navy man. I’m sure your husband will be pleased by that fact 
LOL. I also love this country and I will be honored to help out in ANY way I can. Please send me your address and I will have my manager send you that card. It is good at any of my central FL locations. Thank you for your email Natalie. I am sorry that I did not think about this sooner.
Michael Carter
Owner, Monkey Joe’s CFL
Wow.
So, I wrote this back:
Dear Mr.
Carter,
Thank you. I have to admit, I am pleasantly surprised (astounded!) at your attitude. Thank you so much. It’s not often we run into such welcoming arms in a town without a base. There aren’t many military families here, but now that I know how friendly you are to us, I will spread the word to every military family that I know, and I am sure you will get more business from military families. I participate in a website aimed towards Marine spouses, and I will make sure to put a link to the CFL Monkey Joe’s, for anyone that may come to visit or move down here. I know of a few recruiters in particular, in this area, that have kids and would be very pleased to learn of this. Thank you so much for your cooperation in making your business more military friendly. I hope I was not too harsh in my e-mail, but I guess I had expected more, with the things that Sea World and Disney offer.
Sea World actually sends Military families free passes upon request! Also, thank you very much for your own service to our country as part of the USN!
Even had my e-mail not personally helped myself out, I enjoy the thought that I might have paved a way to make things easier for other Military families.
Thank you again! Have a good day, God bless!
Sincerely,
Natalie Scott
Proud Marine Wife
I just wanted to put this up too, for three reason:
1) To show the friendliness, showing there is yet hope for this wretched world of ours
and
2) To inspire any of you, if you ever run into a similar situation, to not be afraid to say something – you never know what may come of it
and
3) To share the benefits! Visit Orlando’s Monkey Joe’s!
in case you aren’t aware of the wonderful company:
We are all about kids having fun, jumping, sliding and playing in the best indoor playground you have ever seen. Kids come first and parents are a close second.
Monkey Joe’s is also about keeping kids healthy. We make exercising fun. We guarantee to burn off that excess energy before they leave Monkey Joe’s. Rain or shine, there is not a better place to bring your kids than Monkey Joe’s. It is the perfect place to come inside and still feel like your kids are getting all the fun of being outside.
Monkey Joe’s teaches kids to play with other kids. They run, jump, slide, climb and most important laugh until they drop. Kids and parents are guaranteed to have a good time at Monkey Joe’s.
Now, I know for a fact that the one in Wilmington, NC offers a Military discount. Show your ID and you only pay $5 per person as opposed to the $8.
But, Central Florida Monkey Joe’s also does this now as well.
So, it’s a great, fun place to go to let the kids run around, while you get to sit down in AC and use their free Wifi! Def, check it out if there’s one near you!
Deprived for your freedom, and STILL loving life…
77 days and counting…
77 days until my husband returns home from his training with the Marine Corps.
My husband left December 17, 2007. We have visited twice, for 3 days each.
He is willing to sacrifice his life, his family, his health for this country, for you, for everyone that calls themself an American citizen. I’m so proud of him!
I make fun of him, saying he gets to work out and hang out with his buddies while I am at home, changing diapers, homeschooling our kids, and, at times, feeling like I am a single mom.
It’s hard, I don’t deny that. But it’s wonderful.
When he is home, it’s great. We enjoy each other’s company, and make each other our first priority. We do that all the time, but moreso when we are together. We love doing things as a family, with the kids. The kids love their “papa” so much, we watch videos every day of him, and we send him pictures and videos on the cell phone all day every day. Even though he may be far away, we try our best not to feel like it.
Nobody’s life is perfect, we all deal with the pitfalls. Ours happens to be distance at times. If that’s my only problem in life – I’ll take it. I’m in love, I have a wonderful family who loves me in return… I’m happy.
So, please… do me a favor. Do ALL military spouses a favor. NEVER, EVER, ask any of the following questions. While most are meant in a polite way, they REALLY don’t help…
“Aren’t you afraid that he’ll be killed?”
This one ranks in at number one on my “duh” list. Of course we’re afraid, you dimwit. We’re terrified. The thought constantly lingers at the back of our minds – but thank you so much for reminding me yet again. Maybe next you can go ask someone with cancer if they’re scared of dying.
“I don’t know how you manage. I don’t think I could do it.”
Though this is really annoying, I feel bad about mentioning it because I know that it is intended to be a compliment. Still, it’s not like all of us Marine Wives have been dreaming since childhood of the day we’d get to be anxious, light-sleepers who carry cell phones with us to the bathroom. We’re not made of some mysterious matter that makes us more capable, we just got asked to take on a challenging job and we rose to the challenge.
“He’s in Iraq? I’m sorry.”
This comment, while meant to be helpful, is infuriating. My marine is doing exactly what he wants to do. He is making a positive difference in the world, training the Iraqi military and playing with children who dream of growing up in a world free from strife.
“Do you think he’ll get to come home for Christmas/anniversary/birthday/birth of a child/wedding/family reunion, etc?”
Don’t you watch the news? No. They don’t get to come home for any of these things. Please don’t ask again.
“What are you going to do to keep yourself busy while he’s gone?”
Try to keep my sanity. Maybe there’s a military wife out there who gets bored when her marine leaves, but I have yet to meet her. For the rest of us, we find ourselves having to be two people, strong in public and ourselves in private. That keeps us plenty busy. We do get lonely, but we don’t get bored.
“How much longer does he have until he can get out?”
This one is annoying to many of us whether our guys are deployed or not. Most of our men aren’t counting down the days until they “can” get out. The Corps isn’t a slave program they are sold into, it’s a choice. Many of them keep signing back up again and again because (gasp!) they love what they do.
“This deployment shouldn’t be so bad, now that you’re used to it.”
I’m sorry, just how do you get used to watching your husband go off to war? It’s not a little business trip. There are bombs, bullets, and some very bad people who are bent on killing. My man and his guys are the barrier that keeps them from coming here and trying to kill us. Sure, we figure out ways to make life go smoother while the guys are gone. But it never gets easy and the bullets and bombs don’t swerve around our guys just because they’ve been there before. The worry never goes away. It’s not exactly conducive to easy sleeping. We learn coping skills. We never get used to it.
“My Husband had to go to Europe for business once for three weeks. I totally know what you’re going through.”
This one is similar to the one above. Do not equate your husband’s three week with a 7-10 month deployment to a war zone. Aside from the obvious trip length difference, nobody shot at your husband or tried to blow him up with an I.E.D., your husband could call home pretty much any time he wanted to, he flew comfortably on a commercial plane, slept between crisp white sheets and ate well, paying for everything with an expense account. There is no comparison. We do not feel bonded to you in the slightest because of this comment and, if anything, we probably resent you a bit for comparing a combat deployment to a business trip.
“Don’t you miss him?”
No, not really… What do you think? Of course we miss our husbands. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be together!!!
—-
On that note, I hope you have a great day, and I hope you realize the sacrifices that are made for you to live the life you lead. With the freedoms we all so cavalierly enjoy.
How I became a Marine Corps Wife
Okay . . .
So, the first thing I get when people find out that my husband is in the Marine Corps, is one of the following:
“OMG! Aren’t you scared?”
“Isn’t hard to be away all that time?
“Oh, that’s too bad.”
“How long until he gets out?”
Screw you ALL! Serisouly. Does anyone want to take a moment to actually ask me how I feel about it? I’m damn happy and wouldn’t have it any other way. AND, just to prove that to you, for all of you that DON’T know me, here is the story of how, exactly, Cliff became a Devil Dog . . .
I’ve known Cliff for 8 years, we’ve been married for just over 5. Ever since i have known him, he has talked about how much he wished he would have joined the Corps. He participated in Marine Corps JROTC all throughout high school, and has his pictures from then, in uniform, around the house. He talked about what he would do, were he to join, their history, the types of weaponry they use.
So, one day, after reaching my limit of watching and observing how miserable he was in life because he worked a 12 hour night shift job that SUCKED, and the money wasn’t worth it, I asked him, “Why don’t you join the Corps?”
He looked at me as if I were crazy. I’m not sure if he was surprised that I might support it, or that I thought it was a feasible option. Either way he thought I’d truly lost it.
He then proceeded to make excuses. He insisted he was too old, had too many dependants, was not in shape . . . basically he was afraid of failure. Never once in his arguments did he say he didn’t want to do it.
SO . . . me being me, I told him a few days later, “Cliff, here’s the recruiter’s telephone number. If you don’t call them, I will!” I don’t think he believed me because he still hadn’t done it after 2 days. So, after 2 days, I grabbed the number and the phone, and told him i was going to make the call. I walked into the bedroom to get away from the noise of the TV and children.
To make a long story short, I emerged from the bedroom 2 hours later. I walked up to Cliff and looked at him sheepishly, saying, “Ok, so don’t be mad at me, but we have an appointment with the recruiter at 9:30 tomorrow morning. If you don’t want to go, fine, but I’m going to go and at least get some information.”
He protested for all of 10 seconds, and then grudgingly agreed to attend.
So, we show up at the recruit office the next day, and to this day, our recruiter still tells people he wasn’t sure who he was recruiting. not to mention he admits that I scared the crap out of him. LOL.
Before we started anything, i looked at our recruiter, who I knew was married with 2 kids, like ourselves, and said to him, “Look, I know that recruiters have a tendency to lie and sugarcoat things to “make bones” and get the guys to join. But if you lie to an 18 year old idiot right out of high school who has no one to worry about but himself, it’s not that big of a deal. But if you lie to us, to Cliff, you’re going to be affecting not only him and his life and his future, but my future and that of my children as well. So, if you do or say anything that fucks with that, I WILL hunt you down and inflict serious pain upon you. Ok?!”
He looked at me, slack-jawed, then looked at Cliff and asked, “Is she ALWAYS like this?”
Cliff’s reply was, “Hell, she’s being nice!”
I then proceeded to ask many, many, MANY questions, so that I would know what to expect every step of the way. At the end of it, I looked at Cliff and said, “Well?” He looked at me and said, “I don’t know, what do you think?” I smiled from ear to ear and said, “Let’s do it. and if we do this, let’s do it all the way – no reserves or any shit like that. Let’s do this right!”
So, he signed the papers, we got our life in order, did what we had to do. I helped Cliff train physically to get into shape, I even made him memorize all his orders and traits and even his oath (Yeah, I memorized them too in the process). He’d come home from a 5k run, and in the middle of his 30th sit up, I would shout out, ” What’s your fifth general order?” and make him recite it verbatim.
Graduation was one of the proudest, happiest days of my life. Most people I know think I’m crazy for what I’m about to say, but here it is:
I LOVE PARRIS ISLAND.
If I had it my way, Cliff would be a rifle instructor (which is what he wants eventually) on Parris Island, and we would live either on base, or in Beaufort.
OOH FUCKING RAH!
You should see my car. I have . . . 8, yeah, i think 8, Marine Corps Decals on it – magnets, window vinyls, stickers. I’m so proud to be a Marine Corps wife. I have so many USMC shirts it’s laughable. And my friends DO laugh at me, because when I’m cleaning, I like to listen to my CD of marine Corps Cadences.
My fave:
Everywhere we go, people want to know
Who we are, where we come from
We come from an island
A motivated island
They call it an island
Parri Island
So, that’s how I became a Devil Dog Diva.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Attention US Marines
First, I will tell you a little story.
I was in San Diego, boarding an airplane headed for Atlanta. No exagerration, there were about 30 (if not more) Marines. Now, they were either junior Marines or Boot Marines, and if not, then Lord help them!
First of all, they were loud and obnoxious, generally speaking. Secondly, they were rude. While boarding, they were cursing loudly, frequently and excessively. Now, I might not be offended, but they were not only in a public place, but in a public place with children. A woman walked by and asked them to show some respect, and that she was in the Navy and trying to enjoy her leave with her 2 year old daughter. Instead of shutting up and apologizing like they should have, they started mouthing off to her. This I could NOT tolerate. I stood up and told them that they should sit down and show some respect. I was dressed in mot wear – both my pants and shirt had USMC logos on them. They saw this and sat down and quieted up for a little bit. Then, after we took off, one of them in front of me took off his shirt and was just going to chill out on the flight in a white wife beater. Yeah, I don’t think so. I KNOW he knows better than that. So, I thought about it for a minute and came to the conclusion that I could not let that slide, so I leaned forward and tapped him on the shoulder. He looked back at me between the seats. I asked him what his name and rank were and he stared at me blankly. I gazed back and stated that I was NOT hitting on him but knew that he should know that what he was wearing was NOT proper attire for a Marine in a public place. Then I placed my brand new copy of Marine Times on his arm. He looked at it, looked at me, and put his shirt on right fast. He turned his little overhead light on and read the paper cover to cover. After we landed in Atlanta, I stood up. Every Marine within sight ( a good 25) looked me over once or twice, got their shit and quite nicely and quietly deboarded. They proceeded to wherever they were going without any further complaint from me, but I did notice that they contninued to glance my way every now and again in turns. ROFLMAO.
So, my advice to you is this:
Follow the rules. All Places. All Times.
Because you never know who is around and knows their shit and will call you on yours.
You’re a Marine. One of the few. The proud. The Elite. You set the standard for the best, not for mediocrity. Now man up and act like it!
Because trust me, you pull crap in front of ME, and I WILL call you on it, and should that happen, you BETTER shape up, because I will find the right person to complain to to get you in a world of trouble.
DON’T screw with a Marine Corps Wife.
You think YOU’RE hardcore?
You haven’t met me then!
OOH RAH!
