Miss me yet?

I stopped blogging for a while, because I found it wasn't very fulfilling. There are thousands and thousands of blogs out there; why would anyone want to read my rambling rants? I guess I will try to post some more, since it is nice to complain to an audience that is not my husband.

In the wings:

• It would appear that I actually got accepted to do a product test/review/giveaway through tomoson.com, thanks to some sort of management-related snafu. I won't tell you what the product is, but I can tell you it has nothing to do with coffee.
  
  
• Most likely, I will ramble about shoes. One of my Facebook friends told me that my frequent posting about ShoeDazzle and Sole Society "had the potential to be annoying" to some people, so I'm taking that here. I have 16 times fewer friends here than on Facebook, and I'm probably easier to ignore on my blog.
  
  
• I will probably post regularly about some dental issues. I don't want to give away too much, but you'll read about it soon.
  
  
• I might compile some more humorous police blotter entries. Depends if you folks want to read them. Or, I could just make stuff up like James Lileks did here.
  
  
• Whatever else I think of. Anyone have something they'd like to see me write about?

Dear eBay sellers:

If the item you're selling has small, shiny discs on it, they are called "sequins". They are not, however, called "sequence".

From merriam-webster.com:

se·quin
noun \ˈsē-kwən\

Definition of SEQUIN
1: an old gold coin of Italy and Turkey
2: a small plate of shining metal or plastic used for ornamentation especially on clothing

vs.

se·quence
noun \ˈsē-kwən(t)s, -ˌkwen(t)s\

Definition of SEQUENCE
1: a hymn in irregular meter between the gradual and Gospel in masses for special occasions (as Easter)
2: a continuous or connected series
[redacted because the definitions took up too darned much space]


NOT THE SAME

The raspberry beret is covered in sequins.
This game is called Sequence.

To make a long story short, sequins ≠ sequence. That is all.

Getting jewelry on the cheap

I used to like Fantasy Jewelry Box, until I realized they were getting a lot of their products from Chinese wholesalers.

I discovered that after I found "Wendelyn's CZ Leaf Design Genuine Tahitian Pearl Solitaire Necklace", which FBJ sells for $38.95, for sale on eBay for $12.95 with free shipping (it has since risen to $14.71 + $6.14 shipping). If I did some more diligent searching, I could probably find it for less. I wouldn't want to, because this is actually a very unattractive necklace in person, but still.

I've since spotted a handful of other dupes. You could get "Willetta's Antique Gold Nature Theme & Ribbon Tie Necklace" for $21.95 at FJB, or you could get it off eBay for $4.99. If you want 240 of them, you could buy them off Alibaba.com for $2 apiece. FJB gets the shipping advantage here, since the eBay seller is located in China. It's a difference of about a week, based on my prior experiences with both FJB and Chinese resellers.

Don't want to drop $69.95 (marked down from $109.95!) on "Marie's Fancy Multi Color Crystal Peacock Bracelet" or "Maylen's Fancy Purple & Blue Crystal Peacock Bracelet"? You could get this blue one, red one, or this green one off eBay for as low as 1 cent starting bid. Heck, you can get the multicolored one or the purple one for $15.95 plus $6.95 shipping. Don't want to buy from that seller? You could buy the multicolored bracelet from this seller too. Or from this seller, who actually lives in the US. None of those costs more than $20, including shipping.

If you see something you like on Fantasy Jewelry Box, it would behoove you to take a look around at other options before settling on FBJ.

The customer is always right... right?

WARNING: the below post contains some instances of potty language. If you're easily offended, why are you even reading my blog in the first place?


As anyone who knows me can attest, one of my biggest pet peeves is having to deal with rude cashiers.

Having been a cashier several times in my life, I've had to put up with awful customers: people constantly treat you as though you're mentally inferior because you're "just a cashier". They seem to think it's acceptable to belittle you, make unreasonable requests, or bitch you out for trying to be helpful. When I was a cashier at Target, I asked a little old lady if she needed help bringing her groceries out to her car. She replied, "Unless you're also going to bring them into my apartment, don't even bother!" Another time, I had to buy a woman a new pair of underwear and shorts because she shit herself and got it all over the floor while waddling from the cafe to the bathroom. I've had customers make me cry on more than one occasion, though I always managed to hold back the tears until no one could see me.

Nowadays, it seems like cashiers are getting rude and nasty in response to customers' constant denigration. I'm not suggesting that they blithely accept this treatment, but would it kill people to just be nice?

I try to be nice to every cashier I meet, since I know what kind of crap they have to put up with (or up with which they have to put, I guess, if you're into the whole "not ending sentences with prepositions" thing). However, I have encountered my fair share of petulant little twits who need a serious attitude adjustment. Why are there some cashiers who won't greet customers or even make eye contact with them? When did it become acceptable to throw decency and respect to the wayside? When you work in customer service, you need to at least pretend like you give two craps about the customer. That's YOUR JOB. If you're having a bad day, I'm sorry, but don't feel like you're entitled to take it out on me. Your personal piss-offs are barred from entering the store where you work.

Let's make a deal between all the cashiers and all the customers in the world: just freakin' be nice to each other.

International Delight coupon winners

I am Internationally Delighted to announce the winners of my giveaway: in first place, winning three coupons, is Kristen; in second place, winning two coupons, is Chandra. Winners have been notified and have 48 hours to respond, lest their prize be awarded to someone else.

Since there were only ten entries, I wrote everyone's name on a little slip of paper and tossed them into my Twins baseball cap:


I then had my husband draw two names:


I also took a picture of him drawing the names, but he didn't want his disembodied, ghostly hand posted on the internet, so you'll just have to imagine a man's hand in a hat.