This is an awkward email to write as it has basically nothing to do with chocolate but instead Chocolate Alchemy and myself and something that might affect you (yeah, you probably want to read all of this).
If you have been observant you might have noticed in some of my videos that I have a minor twitch in my left eye. We did our best to play it down because it is distracting, if not to you, then at least to me.
The deal is that it has been getting worse for the last 18 months or so and I’m going to be doing something about it (hopefully).
It is a condition called Hemi Facial Spasms (HFS). The short of it is that I have a vein pressing against the nerve that controls the muscles on the left side of my face. It causes a both a droop in the eye and an uncontrollable twitch. There is only one treatment for it and it is surgery that goes by the name of Micro Decompression Surgery (MDS) and I am having it at the end of April.
What this means for all of you is that I’m not going to be around for probably 3-4 weeks while I recover from having a hole in my head (let the jokes commence). Specifically it means
I'm probably going to have a cool 3-6" scar behind my left ear,
I’m not going to be answering emails as quickly as I always have (it might be weeks)
Large wholesale orders may hit some delay (see below)
There might be a few extra order errors
There might be a little extra delay in order processing.
Some questions won’t be able to be addressed
I would really appreciate if you would look at your larger cocoa needs (this is aimed toward the wholesale crowd) and try to order NOW trying to project ahead through your needs for May. And to be clear, I am talking about full bags, pallets or larger (over 200 lb) roasted nib orders. Less than 100 lb is normal and day to day here so should not be impacted that much if at all.
Most of you know I just lay it all out there and don’t like to hide things so we are going to keep on with that.
I hired an assistant back in January so I could get them trained and in place so that most of that stuff up there I would not have had to say. But. Isn’t there always a but? They quit very unexpectedly last week and so that plan went to hell.
Luckily another person here has been able and willing to step up to the plate and help out but there is a LOT of information I am throwing her way. Mind you, she is doing awesome, yet there are a lot details to convey and things might slip through the cracks – or they might not.
I guess what I’m saying is please be understanding, forgiving and empathetic to a fellow person (goodness we all need that right now) who is helping out should things get a little less than perfect over the end of April and most of May.
To that end, there will be a different Support email you will be using while I’m gone (sorry bots, we are not putting it here - good old humans may have already worked it out though) . We’ll make sure that is posted around everywhere) and the wonderful Jasmine Bell will be helping you out should you need it. She is going to be able to handle most everything business wise but mostly like very little from a chocolate making or troubleshooting standpoint. Those are simply going to have to wait until I’m back.
Over the next couple weeks I'm going to steer emails to Jasmine to see how it all goes before I am gone.
For those of you who like details, my surgery is April 30 and I will be gone from email April 27 – May 5 completely while I’m in hospital and traveling. After that recovery will dictate when I start working back into emails and the business flow but the expectation is at least 1 week in a stunning case and possibly up to 3 weeks or more should it go less than stellar.
I guess that is it.
Thank you in advance for all your support and understanding over the next couple months.