096 - Makin' money the old-fashioned way...

... by returning things to the store. In the last couple of days I've returned and/or cancelled enough stuff to put $70 back into my bank account. *smile*

My allergies were killing me and I couldn't concentraheth wiroth a dhgbnm, so I cut out of work two hours early. I went to Walgreens to pick up some Zyrtec, a sample size to audition (fingers crossed) because I've never used it before. Wow. Expensive. But Claritin doesn't work worth a crap for me, and neither does Allergra. Benadryl does, but it makes me sleezzzzzpy, and I didn't want to be sleezzzzzpy.

Then I set out on a whirlwind mission to find something to wear on my lower half for Halloween. Oh. I'm sorry... I skipped ahead -- I had another bad customer service experience this afternoon... (I need a theme song)

On September 26th I placed an order with Cosplay Costumes (you may note that today is October 19th). All I wanted was a black petticoat to lend volume to my skirt. Once I submitted my credit card info, they sent me an email letting me know that it would ship from the manufacturer in about 5 to 10 business days. Cool. They also said that if I had a specific date in mind, to let them know and they would do their best to meet it. Okay. I let them know that I had to have it by October 25th, and if they couldn't meet that date -- cancel my order. I heard nothing back. Sometimes silence means there's not an issue. Other times silence means they're ignoring you.

Today I used my old friend, live chat, and asked if my order had shipped yet... by my math, it's been 23 days. She said it should ship out sometime this week. What I didn't like about that sentence? Three things: "should," "sometime," and the fact that it hadn't already shipped out. I told her no one let me know it was on backorder. It wasn't on backorder, she replied. Really? I thought.

While I was at it I told her no one responded to my email. Maybe it went to your spam folder, or we didn't receive your email, she suggested. I check my spam folder, there was no reply, I said. In my head I'm thinking, 'I check it every day before I empty it, because sometimes things get in there by mistake. I even wrote a blog based on the contents of my spam folder. Don't lie to me, it's unbecoming. You either have a crappy IT team, or bad customer service, either way, it's not my problem. It's yours. Cancel my order. I'm done with you. P.S. Thank you for screwing up my Halloween.'

So now I'm down to the wire, and I have no petticoat. I went to two consignment stores and three thrift shops this afternoon. One of the consignment shops had the perfect skirt, but it was more than I wanted to spend even after a 20% coupon (it was probably a two-piece wedding dress to be honest). I couldn't bring myself to do it. But I will have pangs of regret as I think about how perfect it was. Ironic how the stuff I took back, was more than enough to buy the perfect skirt. Tempting, even. Very frickin' tempting, since I could wear this again, as a fancy dress or a costume. Hmmm. And the lady at the consignment shop was awesome -- the polar opposite of the online costume shop, this lady seemed almost as enthused to be helping me as I was to find it. Damn. I think I'm going back and getting the dress.

None of the other shops had anything that fit in with my vision.

I think I might be able to rig something with fabric I have at the house by pinning some material to a skirt I have, and draping it in folds to get the same effect that the perfect skirt had, and fluffy enough to give the volume of a petticoat even though I don't have a petticoat.

That's what I think anyway. But it's a lot of work, and it might very well look like crap.

Also odd... my sky high energy bill? With a heavy sense of dread, I logged on to the website and prepared to fork over the dough, only now, the bill included charges for the next billing cycle... but the total amount went down by $80. Interesting. Mayhap I was right and they overcharged me... I am almost always right after all, but some people have to learn that the hard way.

Watched The Unborn. Wished I hadn't. I want my hour and a half back. And it's funny how you can watch something and think it's great, then years later watch it again, anticipating that same wonderful experience... and not get it. Take the case of H-E-Double Hockey Sticks, a Disney presentation that first aired in 1999. I thought it was one of the most hilarious movies I'd ever seen. I remember commenting to my friend Debra that it was one of the most hilarious movies I'd ever seen. It so impressed me that when I saw it was being aired on the Disney channel this week, my heart began to beat faster, my sweat glands became active, and my pupils actually dilated.

Let's just say that sometimes it's better to keep a fond memory than attempt to experience it a second time.