06/06/06

The sign of the beast. Well, I do not know about that. I am Christian, but Revelations always stymied me. It makes about as much sense as a Nostradamus quatrain. However, yesterday, 06/06/06 was not my best day, at least technically. To begin with, I was awakened by a phone call from the Marina. Jim was calling to apologize for sending me a harsh e-mail. He said he had been reading the e-mail I sent him about the blog I set up for our Marina. He clicked on a hot link in the e-mail which lead to the blog, and at the blog, had clicked on an e-mail link and found himself inside his marina e-mail box. He did not know how I had gotten access to his marina e-mail box, but somehow he thought I had the expertise to do this, until---- his son's girlfriend, a more PC savvy person, told him that since he was already in his marina email box when he clicked on the link, of course it took him back to his marina email box. Hence his apology for the harsh e-mail to me. That's nice, but I am retired. A call later in the day would have done just fine.

The second thing that happened was that a Buy It Now eBay Buyer e-mailed me that the checkbook cover and FREE bookmark she had paid for had never arrived. I had mailed it to her on May 25th. It surely should have been there. The US Post Office web site says first class mail is suppose to arrive within 2-3 days. Even allowing for Memorial Day, it was now way over 2-3 mail days.

I immediately made plans to replace the items. In fact, I made the inserts, put them in the vinyl covers, and even produced a new receipt and printed the address on an envelope. The ironic thing was that this buyer lived within 25 miles of my home. If gas were not so expensive, I could have just driven the item to the buyers door. Because of the closeness, the buyer, at first agreed to pick up her replacement at my son Joe's, aka SafeTinspector, store, Auction It Today on eBayIII. But in a subsequent e-mail, my buyer decided she would rather just have a refund.

I immediately sent a refund. Almost immediately she sent an e-mail stating her mail had been delivered and the checkbook cover had arrived. Where that envelope with the buyers purchase had been for 12 days (another two 6's) is beyond me. I mailed one of my checkbook covers to England once. It got there in less time then this envelope took to go 25 miles. Weird but true. Now I have to wait for her to pay me again for the checkbook cover and FREE matching bookmark.

But, oh no, that was not the end of the weirdness on 06/06/06. Another buyer had ordered a Sunflower checkbook cover. The one with a very vivid yellow sunflower against a bright blue background. I sent the command from my PC to my HP printer to print out this checkbook cover. Freakishly, the printer added a wide lilac stripe in the middle of the sunflower checkbook cover. Had to print it over. It printed perfectly the second time----------------------

The mistake, however, was pretty enough, so trying to salvage my cost at least, I decided to scan it into the computer and put it on eBay for sale. I started scanning it. In the middle of the operation, it just stopped. The software being used to scan seemed to freeze, I could not get it to close even. I used Ctrl Alt Delete and told my computer to end the non responding program. Even though the window indicated it had closed, it had not. I tried to use the shut down choice on my start menu. I got a message that the PC could not shut down as it was still scanning. By this time, I had even turned off my scanner. I was forced to reboot with the little reset button.

I tried scanning it again. The scanner and the software worked perfectly now. Next I set about printing another checkbook cover insert which another buyer had won on one of my auctions. The printing was fine, but when I went to put the insert in the vinyl cover, I noticed a small hole in the cardstock, which must have been a manufacturing defect. Problem was it was right in the middle of the checkbook cover insert, making it unusable. Had to print that one out again too.

Then, when I went to print the buyers address on an envelope, my computer decided to send the instructions to the wrong printer, where the address was printed on a plain piece of paper instead of an envelope. So had to do that one over again too. By now, these tasks which would have normally taken maybe an hour or so, had eaten up over 3 hours of my time. It was time for a break. Shut down the computer and did not go back to it until 11:30 PM.

Amazingly, the lady to whom I had given a refund just as her checkbook cover was delivered- late- by the mailman, had e-mailed me to complain about my shipping and handling charges. Could not understand why it only cost me $.63 to mail the checkbook cover and bookmark, but I had charged $4.00 shipping and handling. I am afraid I lost it. I sent her a rather harsh e-mail about what I saw as ingratitude on her part. I had bent over backwards to accommodate her when we both thought the item she had ordered had been lost by the USPS. Now she was begrudging me my shipping and handling charges. I wanted to challenge her to find as unique a checkbook cover at a lower price. I have done my research. There are a few folks selling clear vinyl checkbook covers with homemade inserts on eBay, but in general, these others are commercial patterns either cut from paper or cloth and glued on a cardstock insert, with an asking price of $8.00 and up before adding mailing charges, and not unique or original designs.

Currently the most one pays for a checkbook cover with a unique computer graphic insert, designed by me alone or with my husbands artistry, is $7.89, and for that one receives a FREE matching bookmark. Without the bookmark for Buying It Now, one of my checkbook covers can be won for as little as $4.99 including shipping and handling. A bargain either way, I think.

Thus ended 06/06/06. I was gratified today, my son's birthday, by the way, to find my buyer with the late checkbook cover had left a positive feedback for me saying she liked my product and my thorough e-mail communication. I also found out from my son, SafeTinspector, that I could have refunded through the original Pay Pal payment from my buyer and saved myself $.53. Well, I guess my missing this opportunity on the Pay Pal payment record was just part of the 06/06/06 techno curse. I could swear I looked all over that entry on Pay Pal and saw nothing about refunding, though when I looked today, it was plainly there.

I do know one thing though, if any buyer ever says they have not received their checkbook cover in the future, I will ask them to wait at least three weeks before I refund their money. And I am glad that to date, not one of my checkbook covers have gotten lost in the mail.

This rant is now done. Amen