Thursday 22 August 2013

Facing the Truth


Have you seen that internet phenomenon - Grumpy Cat?   



I'm probably the human version of that.    I don't *deliberately* look that way.

I was at the supermarket the other day, looking at the vegetables.  Going through my usual "should I buy a couple in an attempt to look healthy, and then let them turn to mush in the fridge , or just give up the pretence" argument.   

Then suddenly, a man bellowed at me from across the vegetables, "Don't worry love, it might never happen!"

I tore my eyes away from the phallic zucchinis, and sidled away (to fondle the cucumbers).  But I admit, it was a surprise that someone even noticed that I existed, let alone what the look on my "resting face" seemed to show.

The nicest thing my ex-husband ever had to say about my looks was that I had an "open face".

Well, I guess that's closed now.   Rather than the now-public disease of Bitchy Resting Face, I think I have "disgruntled resting face."

And that makes me even more disgruntled.  Soon I'll have babies crying at ten paces, and sweet little old ladies setting speed-limits on their walking frames, as they hurry in the direction of away.


OK, so I've been extra-down for the past couple of weeks.   The cute guy at the Post Office has gone AWOL. For two weeks he was not there.   That probably explained the extra downward droop of the corners of my mouth.  A visit to the PO, was now no longer a lovely pervy adventure.

Perhaps I laughed a little too maniacally at his adorable jokes.   Perhaps I gazed too longingly upon his big chubby (ringless !) fingers as he typed on the tiny keyboard.   Perhaps when I said to him "have a nice day" as I left, he could read what my mind was actually thinking.  Eeep!



So this morning, I shuffled into the PO, everything drooping that could droop (a combination of gravity & misery)  --------     and there he was.   The drooping parts of me got perky, ( except for the gravity-based drooping - no hope there).

He served me!   Oh that smile, oh those eyes!   He made an adorable joke, I laughed maniacally (with a extra dash of desperation & relief).    I purchased extra things I didn't need, just to draw out the experience.    The PO profits from this too!

I floated to the supermarket with a dumb grin on my face.   Fondled zucchinis, cucumbers, and a couple of nice wrinkled passionfruit.     Purchased a packet of two-minute noodles and a bag of chips.   Chips are potatoes, right?  That's a vegetable.

Ha!  Bet I didn't have disgruntled face then.   Probably more "Warning  - looney person. Approach with caution."

Now I have a reason to make some attempt at trying to look vaguely human, and not like something that has just crawled out from a ditch.




(But I can't perform miracles - YET).

Wednesday 14 August 2013

Taking the Bait


I admit, after the third offer of 5,000 free listings from eBay, it is making me list like a mad thing.

My store is at 935 items, and I hope to get to 1,000 - but with only 3 days to go until the offer ends, I'm not sure that I'll get there.    But hey! It's working great at getting me to go through my towering piles of videos and books that I have been ignoring.

These free listings combined with being able to make my store a Basic Store has lowered my costs so that I am actually keeping up with my eBay fees.     Hurrah!    Having said that, having over 900 items in my store has not increased my sales.   I don't go with the "list more, and the sales increase" theory.  That has never worked for me.   You don't have to list more, you just have to list what people want, and that is the secret to it.



Last week, I accidentally left my garage door open.   Now, I can sit in my car outside my garage door, madly pressing the button on my remote (on the keyring).  It might take 4-5 presses for the darn thing to  open.

But once I'm inside the house, one extra-soft accidental press on that button has the garage door opening wide without any extra voodoo or swearing on my part.

I came out the next morning, through the door at the back of the garage and saw the roller-door was open.   Snort.  Silly me.  Then I loaded some things in the boot of my car, and went to get in.   My driver side door was ajar.  I looked inside and my glove box was open, with items sitting on my seat.

My heart dropped, as I realised that someone had gone through my car.     Happily, there is nothing in my car worth taking.   I have an old GPS device (with maps 4 years out of date), but I had it sitting in the built-in drink holder.  They didn't find it, and there was nothing else worth them taking.

They even left the whole 20 cent piece in the coin container.  How kind.

I hoped that they were pooping their pants scrounging around in my car in the dark.  Ha ha!   All that effort for nothing.    What an embarrassment for me to have nothing worth stealing!

Then that night, as I sat in my PJs making friends with a bottle of wine, I remembered that I'd had a huge roll of bubble-wrap in the boot of the car.    Ack!   Panic stations!   I shuffled out to the garage, and opened my car.   Whew, still there.  



Oh lovely bubble-wrap!   You mean so much to me, I would have hunted them to the ends of the earth if they'd taken you.

Yes, this is what my life has come to now.



Saturday 10 August 2013

A lesson learned

Excuse me, whilst I slink back onto my blog that I have ignored recently.  Sorry about that!


The other day I received a "kick in the bum" email from a buyer.     

He was the buyer of this game, that I had sold for my sister.  It sold for $21.99

His email stated that I could not wrap a vintage game in some bubble-wrap and expect it to arrived undamaged, that my packaging had been inadequate to protect the game, and I should have put more thought into it.   He said he was more forgiving than other buyers that would have left me an instant negative.   He ended the email with the words "from one ebay seller to another."

My stomach became an acid bath, and I deleted the email with a petulant finger.   How dare he tell me what to do!!!    I would ignore his words, and he could take his email and shove it.

An hour passed, and I began to think about the email.  Of course he was right.  As I packaged the game, I remembered thinking that I should add some cardboard to the outside, as the lid was especially damaged.  The game box was not heavy cardboard at all, but at 40 years old had softened.  

But I didn't add that extra cardboard.   Do you know why ....  because it would ruin the look of the parcel.  I wanted the game to arrive neatly covered in bubble-wrap with my sticker on the top.   Cardboard would have ruined the look.

Shame on me.

I had gotten caught in the trap of worrying about looks, and following the same process for each game instead of treating each game differently depending on its condition.

I replied to the buyer's message, humbly telling him that he was right in his criticism, and apologised.  I thanked him for giving me the "kick in the pants" that I needed.

A couple of days later he left positive feedback of "thanks".  I checked my DSRs and noticed that he'd dinged me for "item as described".   I took that one on the chin as being deserved.  I was thankful for not getting negative feedback.

So after 10 years on eBay, I had become stuck in a rut with the wrapping of my items.  Process as follows : - wrap with bubble-wrap or brown paper - stick label on - pretty parcel ready to go. 

This was a great lesson to learn, to really think about the item I'm packing for postage, and treat each item individually, instead of just another parcel on a processing line.

Even though my bum hurt after a good kicking, I was proud that I had seen the error of my ways, instead of acting like a kicked puppy.   Who knows, I might even become a grown-up soon.

...  Off to sit on my icepack now.    ;-)