Wednesday, May 27, 2009

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I hate screws! Yesterday I had some very good intentions of fixing the signs on one of the exhibits on the museum floor. I'd been putting it off for a while, but realized I had to eventually get off the pot if I was ever going to get the thing fixed. I went downstairs and began to remove the screws from the sign frames (there are two that have to be replaced) and on each frame there is one screw that will NOT COME OFF! I stood there, hunched over the barrier, trying to unscrew the darned things, but they would not budge. I thought I was going to be able to get the things apart and upstairs in just a few minutes, but I ended up taking way longer than I needed and having to screw the stupid things back down again until I could scrounge up some tools that will allow me to hold the nut still while I turn the screw. How come Mr. Harris' shop class didn't prepare me for this frustration?! :) Meh, well, I at least learned to arc weld, so it wasn't a complete waste of time!

2) I almost passed out at my desk yesterday! Sometimes if I stretch a certain way, I think I pinch a nerve in my neck or something, because I get that "tingly face" and tunnel vision feeling that means things are about to go dark. Normally if I just sit still for a minute, I'm fine. Yesterday, however, I was dizzy and tingly for a long time after that. When things didn't get better right away, I thought maybe I was having a low blood sugar issue, so I ended up eating several of those embarrassingly-shaped Hannah Montana gummis that I had hidden in my desk, but that didn't work either. It took about two hours for me to feel normal again. I still don't know what was going on, but I hope that doesn't ever happen again! No, I'm not pregnant, so don't ask!

3) Scarlett Johannson, bless your heart. Stop singing. Seriously. I normally would never say something like that to anyone, but I'm trying to help you out.

4) I think I'm going to have a moral dilemma soon, and I need advice. I don't know what's going on at this point, so I'm not sure if I'll actually have the dilemma or not, but this is just in case. It's not serious, so don't get scared. OK, a couple of weeks ago I placed an order for some candy from a company in Japan. Shut up, it is candy you can't find anywhere in the US and even in Japan it has to be specially ordered from some region I've never heard of. I had a jones for it. Anyways, when they ran my credit card the first time, it was declined either because I had forgotten to add "SE" to the end of my billing address, or because it was an unusual transaction. They sent me a message about it, and I told them that I still wanted the order to be processed and asked what I should do to make it happen. I had already gone in and fixed the problem with my address, so I didn't think anything of it when I got another message on May 20th saying that my order had been processed and was being shipped. Me = Glad. A day later I got a message confirming that the box was being shipped and would be shipped to me (hopefully) in 7 to 10 days. Again, Me = Glad. So color me surprised when I got an identical message this morning saying that my order (same order #) is being processed and shipped. I thought maybe something from my original order had to be shipped separately from the first box, but then I remembered that the reason it's been taking so long to have it shipped in the first place is because they were waiting for part of my order to come in before they shipped in the first place. So I went to my account information on their website. In the order history, it shows the steps they take to get the package out of their hands, like, "We have packaged your order" and "We have printed a shipping label and mailed your package." I now have that same series of things entered twice on the same order history. At this point, I've got three different ideas about this: A) I don't know if I've been processed for two different orders, charged twice and am being sent two separate orders of the same things. B) I have been charged only once, but am possibly getting two separate orders of the same things. C) It's possible that the two different order conformations I got is a mistake and for some reason they sent my conformation again for the same package that they supposedly sent last week, or my original order wasn't actually shipped until today and the first set of conformation e-mails were sent by mistake.

Here is my possible dilemma: If "B" is the case and I do get the two packages, but wasn't charged for one of them, do I contact the company and see about sending one of the packages back, or do I keep it because it was not my mistake? On one hand, it's kind of a pain to deal with their customer service because we are 14 hours apart, and it can take up to two days to get any kind of answer from them if you have questions about anything. Even then, you usually get an automatic message of some kind instead of an actual reply. If "C" is the case, I'm afraid if I contact them at this point and tell them to cancel that second order, it's going to somehow screw up my original order, so I don't want to say anything until I know for sure what's going on. On the other hand, I'm not sure I'll feel right keeping something that I didn't pay for. If it wasn't for the huge pain in the butt that comes with shipping a package internationally (and the almost surety that some, if not all, of the candy will ruined by the heat if they are shipped around for too long) it wouldn't even be an issue. However, who doesn't love free candy? I need some people to sit on one shoulder or another and tell me what they think I should do.

3 comments:

amy said...

I guess I'm on the bad shoulder, because if you end up with a double order and not being charged for it, I would say keep the candy. If it were at the store in your neighborhood, I could see taking it back. If it were a mail order company in the US, I could see sending it back. But it is an all-fired mess to send things overseas.More trouble than it would likely be worth for both parties. However, if it soothed your mind, I suppose the most ethical thing to do would be to contact the company and ask them what you should do. They might even tell you to keep it because it is too much trouble, or maybe they would pay the postage to send it back if it were their mistake.

Of course, you could just eat the candy.

Anonymous said...

Eat the candy!!!!

Seriously, this sort of thing happens all the time. Most vendors don't even want to worry with the hassle of having you return it.

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, one other thing I forgot. On your sign/screw project. You were schooled by Mr. Harris. Screws are no challenge to you! You should laugh at them with an medieval chuckle. Seriously, pliers or a crescent wrench and a screwdriver should do it. If not, they make these things called "EzOut" or "ScrewExtractors" and they sell them at Harbor Freight, Sears, and maybe even Wal Mart.

--JT