Everyday Stupidities

Howdy hiya. The game was still on with the eBay seller for the battery until yesterday. *sigh* Here's a summation of the dialog. I hate bringing this up yet again but it shoulda been friggin' over by now! Okay. You saw a couple weeks ago, around Feb 20, that I had done a Return Merchandise Authorization through their website. Days pass and I don't hear anything from them except a note saying they'd left me positive feedback. It's not often sellers give feedback before the transaction is totally over, but left hand didn't tell right hand, etc. We're into March now, and the story resumes on the fifth through to today...

me: Hi, I haven't heard anything from you about my RMA so I was wondering what's happening.
them: Oh, that got sent out on Feb 26.
me: okay...
them: sends the shipping notice I didn't get earlier, saying it went out on Feb 25 and click this link for tracking.... USPS page says they didn't receive the package from the seller.
me: Hi again, you know that tracking link you gave me? It says the package didn't go out. Could you look into this?
them: Uh, what was the eBay item number and your username?
me: gave them item#, username, and RMA# - quoted the earlier email with the package tracking number and USPS's didn't-receive message. You already know how I hate techs that don't read ticket notes.
them: Oh, that got sent out on Feb 25.
me: Not according to your shipper! It's been over 10 days, it should have come by now. I'll be following up with you on Wednesday, two weeks after you say it was sent out. In the meantime, could you figure out what's up with that package?

Why is this so bloody hard? [twelve hours later] Okay, I have the replacement battery now and it hasn't gone 'poof' yet. Wait, before you say, "you should be patient, Mushy!" -- the postage label on the package is dated March 7. Saturday, when they got the second-italicized-above message from me. I'm good with them realizing the shipping error and correcting it, but am unclear why the next volley still said it went out on Feb 25, not "whoops, error, we're sending it now"...

So, the previously-promised review of the Bio-Ear tinnitus remedy by Nature's Answer, which is $20 a half-ounce. What I've read says that one will see results in as little as a week... I decided to give myself two weeks just to be on the safe side. "Designed to safely and effectively stop the ringing and buzzing in your ears, this natural herbal remedy contains aloe vera for nourishing nerve endings and ginseng for stimulating blood flow so you can experience that inner peace and quiet you so desperately desire." So far, after probably a week and a half, I've heard no difference. Possibly because I'm paying attention to the noise, which I normally don't do. I realize there are various causes of this issue, and knowing me it might be from damage to a cranial nerve from popping my neck or damage to the eardrum itself from a cotton swab (I have had scarring before from overzealous earwax removal) rather than something this can remedy. It's not bad, it's just there, and before you say "go to a doctor"... like a lot of people, I will when I have a job with health insurance again.

The weather here in the Puget Sound area has been really stupid. It'll be totally sunny and warm, then ten minutes later there will be a driving hailstorm. Or you'll go out and get the paper off the porch, it's mildly overcast and a bit cool outside, then when you look up from the front page it's snowing heavily. Other than some Kodak moments and head-scratching, the only effect that it's had on me directly is that my wife and I didn't go out this weekend like we had planned. See, her mother was going to drive across Snoqualmie Pass to do some shopping at IKEA on Friday and it was all planned out how we were going to have lunch with her. Night before, the pass is closed because of heavy snow. Friday we sleep in. Friday afternoon we get a call from her saying that it's open so she'll be over on Saturday morning. Snowing again, and she calls at 10am to say cancel our noon rendezvous. More sleeping in. She's now saying Tuesday, when Paige has to work at noon, or failing that this coming Friday, which will be the last chance for her to do her furniture shopping before her granddaughter with the hex wrench shows up for their St. Patrick's Day festivities. Furthermore, since the nightly news says to expect 20 inches on the pass in the near future, it's possible that Paige might not be going over there for St. Patty's either. It's too warm for snow to stick in Tacoma because it's MARCH... enough with the pointless frozen precipitation already! Oh look, a snow flurry has just started [noon 3/9] and it's sticking in places...

So this morning [10am 3/10] the phone rings. Backstory first: Now, maybe I've mentioned this before, but I'm listed in the phone book by my first initial B, and there's some guy named Benjamin with the same last name that has been ducking his creditors since the late 1990's. We're not related, but the phone solicitors see the initial and immediately think I'm that deadbeat. Now then... The woman asks to speak to Benjamin. Nope, no Benjamin here, I tell her, and never has been. Now, most of the time the creditors will say "oh, sorry, I'll remove your name" or somesuch. This woman, after being told that I am not the 'droid she's looking for, corrects herself by saying this is Comcast and they want to send me a free digital converter box, they just need to confirm some information. *Click* Had I not been 1/4 asleep I would have said what came to me about a minute later: "Please work on your social engineering skills. Comcast knows my name." Needless to say, later when I checked the Caller ID box it was listed as "toll-free". FAIL