Starring Dexter in: The Day the Milk Went Bad

We are big fans of Ritchey's milk, which is produced by a local dairy, and we often drive out of our way to buy it. On Sunday morning, we opened a new container of it: a half-gallon of 1% milk. The expiration date on it was nearly a week away.

Dexter the Tabby always clamors for a little bowl of milk in the morning, but he turned his nose up at this morning's bowl, and would not drink it. My husband threatened to never give the cat milk again; why would we waste fresh milk?

So I tried the milk myself and discovered the flavor was off. Starting to turn? Yep! This was one of the first times EVER that this has happened. So I filled out a form on the Ritchey's website, and alerted them to the tragedy: the cat was very upset without his daily bowl of "muggies."

Within an hour, the phone rang. It was someone from Ritchey's. They recognized the critical nature of the situation, and stated that they would have someone in our area in an hour and a half. They'd be happy to deliver a replacement half-gallon directly to our home, STAT!

Around a quarter to three in the afternoon, the guy showed up. He pulled into the edge of our driveway, dropped off the milk, offered his sincere apologies for the problem, and left! I walked into the house, triumphant, holding the new milk.

And so now we have good, fresh milk for the cat (and also for me). And Dexter was EXONERATED!!! Now THAT is what Dexter and I call top-notch customer service! I am writing this post as of Monday morning, and thanks to the speed of Ritchey's response, today, Dexter enjoyed a delicious (and quite cold), fresh bowl of MILK!!!  Hooray!

I took this photo of Dexter lounging on his box in the front hallway by the stairs in the early afternoon. He was napping, but he couldn't quite get settled. I got the camera and he fixed me with a bleary eye. This is the sad look of a cat who didn't get any fresh muggies, on the day the milk went bad!

The soundtrack tune: Elton John, with Sad Songs (Say So Much).