4089 Overwhelmed

Wednesday, August 13, 2015

"Computers make it easier to do a lot of things,

but most of the things they make it easier to do

don't need to be done."

--Andy Rooney--

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Poor Andy (above).  He may have been right 15 or 20 years ago, but I guess he never saw the scary video I posted on 8/7/15.

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I haven't updated in a while because I've been, well, not so much sick as wracked.  Things are piling up.  I've been trying to get to the grocery store for weeks.  I am literally out of everything, have been living on Subway and WaWa sandwiches and salads, and what few things like cereal, milk, and eggs I can pick up at the corner quik-shop!  Which brings up another complaint -- my bank, which started out less than a mile from here, has moved to about 8 miles down the highway, and now my grocery store, across the street from where the bank used to be, is closing.  Going out of business (A&P).  The next acceptable one is a few miles down the highway, and most significantly, this being New Jersey, it's on the wrong side of the street, which adds another mile to the trip.

So Monday I gave up and placed a $300+ order with PeaPod, which was delivered yesterday, and with my back out, I still haven't finished putting all of it away.

Again, I'm late on paying the monthly bills.  I'm glad I don't foresee having to apply for any loans, because I'm sure my credit rating is in the toilet.

The Nugget has had a heavy chest cough since 8/2, but doesn't seem to have anything else going on.  Last Friday, 8/7, I started coughing.  It's a tickle in the back of my throat (which Nugget has also described), and a heavy dry cough.  Nothing else seems to be going on.  No fever or stuffy chest feeling.  The cough is really bad in the morning and late evening.  During the day it's not so bad.  Nugget and I together sound like a seal colony.

However!  As frequently happens, the coughing has affected my back.  My lower back "went out" Monday morning.  I'm wearing an elastic belt arrangement that presses against my tailbone and at least allows me to stand and walk, but the pressure on the nerves from whatever's out of place affects my legs.  My right leg is almost numb.  And it also causes, um, bathroom urgency.

I am very unhappy that (AGAIN!) I am unable to go to the country house.  I haven't been there in a month.  Things keep happening that make it difficult to leave.  I have to schedule my trips carefully to avoid traffic (like definitely no travel on Fridays or Sundays, and so on).  Going up on Thursday morning and returning on Saturday afternoon is ideal, because then I don't miss garbage or recycle pickups.  I had planned to go tomorrow.  Not happening.

I've been shopping online, and have received several packages over the past few weeks.  I hear a thump on the porch, the doorbell  rings, I walk immediately to the front door, maybe 30 feet, open the door, and there's no one there.  Just a box or package next to the door.

I look up and down the street, and there's no truck, no delivery person.  Nothing.  It's getting eerie.

Last week WOOT! had a really good deal.  They had blackout drapes in a variety of lengths and colors for only $30ish a set.  They were described as two panels at 72" wide each panel by various standard lengths.  That would mean one set each would fit my breakfast SGDs, dining room windows, and the two front bedrooms upstairs (where the sun blasts in every morning, and the streetlight all night).  So I ordered a set for each of those four rooms.  Then, after I ordered, WOOT! noticed the description was incorrect, and the panels are each actually only 36" wide.

WOOT! promised to refund the credit card and accept return of the drapes for everyone who had ordered before the description was fixed.   So, since the middle of last week, I've been writing increasingly frustrated emails to WOOT!   Their first note said all I had to do was refuse delivery.  A later email said they would be sending prepaid return labels to everyone who needed one (that was last Thursday or Friday, I think).

On Friday, the doorbell rang, and there was the box, and no delivery guy in sight.

Note to WOOT! --- "box arrived, no opportunity to refuse delivery".
Response from WOOT! --- "simply refuse delivery".  
Note to WOOT! --- "no opportunity to refuse delivery, please send return label".  
Response from WOOT!: ---  "simply refuse delivery, or we will send a return label." 
Note to WOOT!: --- "Please send return label". 
Response from WOOT! --- "simply refuse delivery".

I don't understand.  The box has been sitting on my porch since Friday.  Am I supposed to call FedEx and have them come and get it?  Will FedEx consider that refusing delivery?  I guess I'll have to call FedEx and find out.  Is WOOT! going to send a label or not?  What's most frustrating is that the return address on the box is the fabric company, which happens to be just 14 miles from here.  I told WOOT! that I would be willing to return the box to the fabric company myself if it didn't screw up paperwork, but I got no response from WOOT! on that.  Well, I did get a response, but it said "simply refuse delivery".  I'm not kidding.  They're obviously not reading any communiques, just pushing the "refuse delivery" button.

I used to like WOOT!, but their customer service is the pits.
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