Instead of an Ask the Alchemist this week, I want to share a lovely email I received from a long time customer, with her permission of course. It honestly brought tears to my eyes thinking about the ways Chocolate Alchemy has changed lives. I don’t usually give it much thought and I don’t really have any point to make here. If you find any significance, wonderful, and if you don’t, that’s ok too.
Before we get to her note, I want to give everyone a heads up that we are going to be doing maintenance on the website next week. Expect it to look funny for up to two weeks, links may be broken and getting around may well be kind of hard. Apologies in advance. And this will only be affecting the part of the site not related to the Retail and Wholesale stores. Those are hosted by a different service and we are making sure you can get there easily.
Onto Mimi’s email.
I just watched the $100k month business video and loved it. In the video you mentioned something to the effect that you liked how you could impact your customers. I want to share something with you about how you have made my life and many others better.
I was making a lot of chocolate in preparation for my husband’s hip replacement surgery. I give it to doctors and you are no longer just a number. He was supposed to have surgery on 5/6. On 5/1 I was a klutz and tripped, flew through the air and hard landed on ceramic tile in our foyer. Bad break of left arm. In emergency room they put it in a cast and said it will be better by August. My husband called his hip surgeon and said they needed to push out surgery and asked if he knew anyone who could look at it. On Friday 5/3 in the morning I saw a traumatist in their practice. I brought a bar of chocolate when I met him. As a practice because I like people to understand the bean a little better, I copy info from your site (stating it is from Chocolate Alchemy) so they can read about the bean.
Over the weekend we had a number to call if there were any questions. My wedding ring (which would have been on for 47 years in November) wasn’t coming off so we left a voicemail asking if they had a way to cut it off before surgery. We were not expecting the doctor to call but he did and said he ate the whole bar on Friday while he was doing paperwork.
On Monday 5/6 I brought another bar and told the doctor if he fixed my arm so I could make chocolate, he would always get chocolate. He said on Friday night he brought the wrapper and bean info home to show his wife and she yelled at him that he didn’t save any for her and made him promise that any future chocolate bars must be brought home whole.
Picture below but I have hardware from my elbow to shoulder. 30 staples.
In the hospital, I had small bars that I gave to the nurses and aides. I had the best hospital experience because instead of someone yelling at them, they received chocolate.
Around 8:00 in the evening on 5/6, a doctor came in the room, introduced himself and said he worked with Dr. Grant and wanted to know how I was doing. He just stood there and I asked him what he heard about me. He responded ‘you make chocolate’. I told him I would call my husband and have him bring in more bars the next day and if he comes back he can have one.
Dr. Grant came in about 9:30 pm and I saw the envelope with the bar sticking out of his cargo pants. He said he couldn’t wait to get home to try it with his wife. He also said that he spent a lot of extra time working to make sure I didn’t have any nerve damage.
The upshot of this very long story is to let you know that because I learned to make chocolate on your site, I could give it to the various healthcare professionals and it made their days a lot better.
When I give bars, I copy the info you have with spider chart and say it is from Chocolate Alchemy and put it in the envelope with the bar.
At the end of December I gave 6 or 7 bars to our Retina Specialist. The morning of the day I broke my arm we went to see him as Michael had an issue he wanted him to look at before his hip replacement surgery. Dr. Ober said that he and his wife and kids sit down at night and read the info about the bean and try a small piece of the bar. He said it has been such a great family experience and they all love learning about the bean. He also said if we ever need to get in to see him, he will always see us. Normally you wait weeks to get in.
So reason for email is to emphasize how fantastic your descriptions are and how much they are appreciated. Also that if anyone wants better healthcare, give the doctor a chocolate bar.
So, thank you for going into the chocolate business and sharing your knowledge.