The Yin & The Yang

I came home from rehearsal today feeling beaten up and sore from spending my energy cleaning the theater. I didn't quite make a dent.. it's needing some heavy-duty work, but I got a head start on the company cleaning project for next week. Made me feel like things were a bit more in order and ready for this next show's opening, which is this Friday. The show isn't ready.. but I can't do anything about that so I cleaned instead.

My OCD was on a rampage so I let it take over and it continued once I got home. I cleaned everything I could. It didn't help that when I walked in the door, Miss Emma Kitty had left me, I kid you not, at least seven kitty barf messes. And one that was not barf.. Um. Hmmm. If that doesn't get you into cleaning, I swear to God, I don't know what will. I can't be mad at Miss Kitty.. the non-barf item was shown to her and her proper place for that as well. Sometimes she seems to forget for the spry thing she is.

It kind of reminded me of my new Ebay situation - the non-barf present. Ebay and Amazon have never let me down. You buy from random people, cute little stores, and you spend your money and the appropriate person or business sends you whatever you selected since you so promptly paid for it. Ebay, of course, is a bit different being that you have to bid and watch said item so you can, hopefully, win it. I don't use it often, but when I have bought jeans or phone batteries, or whatever, I've never ever had a problem. Not once. I'm rated a good buyer by everyone.

And then I felt I needed a new Mac Box Set to kick-start this little MacBook of mine. She's slowing down a bit in her old age of three whole years. Baby needs an upgraded pony. A new Mac is out of the question being that I'm still unemployed.. but wouldn't you know that you can bid on the box set, which is normally $165 retail and get it for a fraction of the cost. What I didn't know is that when I won said item at $107, including shipping, and paid for that baby, that would be the end of the transaction.

Like I said, I rarely buy things online and when I do, I read the fine print. This said 'Seller sends within 3 days of cleared payment'. At three days, I emailed the seller asking when to expect the item and added the appropriate 'please' and 'thank you' where needed. He wrote back the next day and said he'd been out of town on the win day (a Thursday) and would send on Tuesday. He didn't say he wasn't back so I didn't know why Monday wasn't an option and emailed back asking if that was possible. No response. Tuesday at 5pm and no email from him with the shipping info came so I emailed again, asking for a status. Then I looked up the item, found he'd re-listed either mine or a 'similar item' and really didn't understand. I emailed him again, now concerned that I really needed to know when this was being sent because he seems to have re-listed what I already paid for.

You'd think he might've been understanding. Sellers are supposed to send promptly, especially when you pay promptly. But I didn't get an ounce of that. What I did get was an email filled to the brim with snark saying he 'didn't live and breathe Ebay' and didn't appreciate 'all' my emails because two in one day was apparently overkill. Um.. I'm sorry, two emails are a bother, but taking my money and then NOT SENDING what I just PAID FOR isn't a problem? Hm.. Ok. Right. I'm the crazy one. He added he'd send the item that day and I shouldn't 'threaten' him with negative feedback. I didn't threaten him. I simply said I'd follow up with feedback if there were further issues. He hadn't done what he said he would, which is what feedback is for and the sellers set their terms, which he, himself, had not met. I'm still at a loss how that's unreasonable.

I asked for the eta and the shipping info to be sent by end of Wednesday, now six days after purchase. He immediately writes back and asks why he should send it at all now since I already posted the negative feedback, which is true. And, since they only give you a single line for this, all I said was, 'Been 5 days since won/pd for item and no shipping info sent. Really unhappy', which could've been fixed HAD HE SENT IT. But INSTEAD, tells me he WAS going to send it two-day air, but NOW I WON'T RECEIVE THE ITEM UNTIL HE 'FEELS LIKE SENDING IT'. This is after mocking me for shortening the word receive to rec'v, which in my former line of work, is normal and any moron would understand what I meant, but he said I clearly was saving time on using extra letters because he knew I 'had other people to piss off today'. Wow. Ok.. well.. actually, that's a pretty good zinger, but hardly the point because of course that wasn't what I was doing. So there. Then he proceeded to tell me my 'standards were to high' and 'you'll get it wen you get it'. I'm guessing 'wen' will be.. something around the time of never? But the guy was only good for one insult and the rest grammatically went down from there. I sure learned my lesson about who the smarter one of us is. I bet he's a real winner when using your and you're and there and their.

Um.. to my rescue was NOT Ebay or PayPal. Their policy is to wait seven days, which is fine, but they're auto response is that your item is 'probably on its way' and in the midst of being shipped. Um.. no, it's not. He told me it wasn't. But there's no match for that when you search for your 'question' of 'asshat seller who refuses to send purchased item out of retaliation and essentially just stole $107 from me'. No no, there is not.

Actually, 'they' are 'looking into it' and 'will attempt' to get to it 'in 30 days'. The status today says the seller has until June 27th to respond now. Because you know what? He hasn't. Color me shocked.

What I would like 'looked into' is just getting my money back. Do you think Apple would've given me this problem? Not in the slightest. You give them money, they give you stuff. That's how this retail type of world works. Because taking money and NOT giving you said wanted thing is actually A CRIME. It's called STEALING. Or in online situations, and within a fucking thesaurus, A SCAM. It's pretty clear the rules of selling on Ebay kind of look down on that practice (tho yeah, I probably shouldn't have written negative feedback BEFORE I received notice of the item being shipped.. ahem.. I know, ok?!).

Oh and in case you're wondering why I just didn't call PayPal or Ebay, I thought of that first. Like.. duh. But there is no number to reach Ebay or PayPal. Not even a teeny tiny customer service group out of India with strong accents I'd have trouble understanding. No hold music, no 30-minute wait. Simply no number to call. Ever. Genius really.

So here I am, NOT thinking about how much faster this little baby would move had something been sent in the mail in a timely fashion or all the cat puke stains on my bedroom carpet or the calamity on stage about to happen Friday. Here's why:

I made super yummy non-fat brownies for the cast for tomorrow's tech rehearsal.

I also made blueberry cornbread muffins. Also yummy. Broken all over the place tho but oh well. Muffin tops are the best anyway.

My house is totally clean.

Emma is the cutest kitty currently all curled up on the couch all mouse-like and I could just eat her up.. sort of. Not really.

I think I have no wrinkles on my face because seriously? This lotion, Neutrogena Healthy Skin with Alpha-Hydroxy/spf 15 might be the most amazing thing ever. Not new to me, just sharing. True story. I dare you to find a single crow's foot anywhere around my eyes. Pretty good for 38. Just saying.

I've been invited to my first ever gay wedding. Stoked!

Breathe (extended version) by Telepopmusik is simply one of the best songs ever. Provides instant relaxation for some reason and I always feel better listening to it.

A friend just bought me a massage. Just because. Hi. How awesome is that?! SO awesome, that's how! I kind of wanted to cry I need it so bad. More thank you's are in order for that.

I love my new theater friends. They are truly talented, which I admire, but they are just really good people. Sometimes, you have moments where things line up perfectly and perfect people come into your life. I just like that.

A local bartender just named a drink after me at one of my favorite little speakeasy bars. It's originally called the St. James Cooler, but I don't love whisky so Jameson is out. Instead he substituted brandy to the rest of the St. Germaine, lemonade, soda and mint. Try it. You might think it's refreshing and rather 'angelic' as well.

Off to bed thinking positively now.. I know I'm supposed to try a bit harder not to let the negatives get to me, but I also know myself and venting is cathartic. As long as I end on something happy, I think that's improvement. Sweet dreams kittens!