During my four years in Maryland I came to really appreciate something I had never noticed before: good customer service. Now, I don't know if it's just a Baltimore thing, or an east coast thing, but the customer service there is miserable! My dental school wives and I would sit around comparing grocery store and other customer service horror stories and try to outdo each other. And so, in memory of those gripe sessions, and in an attempt to make those still on the east coast jealous, I am going to relay some key moments from my grocery store trip this afternoon:

• Free orange slice samples are always in abundance in the produce section
• A worker helped me find the peanut butter by not only telling me what aisle it was on, but by also telling me where in the aisle, on which side, and pretty much which shelf
• A worker guided me to a checkout line that was empty
• A worker insisted on unloading my groceries onto the conveyor belt for me
• A worker offered to get free balloons for my kids and then let us pick the colors and the ribbon color
• A worker asked if we needed help to our car, and then asked again when I refused.

For all those who ever wondered, California is indeed a magical, wonderful place.