Summer's Shenanigans

Okay, by this picture, can anyone tell me what this item is:

I would think that just looking at the picture, a normal person would be able to tell that the above image is of a belt buckle that is in the shape of a gun, right? I sell this particular belt buckle on eBay and here is the actual auction:

Gun Belt Buckle Auction

So, between the picture, auction heading "COLT 9MM HANDGUN BELT BUCKLE" and the detailed description, I just don't understand how I could have received such a moronic email for the person that purchased this belt buckle:

"Ok cool thanks I was also wondering if you could tell me what ammo I need for the colt and is it a colt 45 or what kind of colt it is just wondering about that so I know where on ebay I can find ammo for this gun."

I was trying to be nice, so my response was:

"Well, since this is a belt buckle, it doesn't shoot bullets"

Come on, people! Are you f-ing kidding me?! Sometimes I feel like I'm being punk'd...

So, when are you due?

I don't care if she's big as a house and shopping for baby items. NEVER, never, never ask a women when she is due or if she has "a bun in the oven". I thought this was a well known "don't", but I was proven wrong last Saturday night. I was out with 4 friends (3 guys, 2 girls, counting myself) and we were eating/drinking at The Shack in La Jolla. The waitress had taken our order and came back around to check to see if we needed refills our our drinks. My friend (who will remain unnamed, but he may or may not own a vintage clothing store or two) opened his big mouth and asked, "So when are you due"?. Everyones mouth dropped as it was apparent to everyone else that she wasn't preganant, the waitress started crying, my friend turned beet red and the back peddling began...

"Oh I thought it was apparent because you were GLOWING!"

"You just look so beautiful that I figured you must be pregnant"

etc.

etc.

I excused myself from the table for a good 5 - 8 minutes and when I returned the guys were still trying to back peddle and the waitress was STILL standing there with tears streaming down her face. I told everyone to drop it and let the poor girl be on her way.

This poor girl is probably 5'5" and 133lbs but she was not wearing the most flattering outfit. Let this be a lesson girls...When you check yourself out in the mirror before you leave the house, don't suck it in, because you won't be sucking it in all night ;).

We don't get changes in weather very often in San Diego, but when we do, damn, we get some cool weather! This lightening storm hit San Diego a couple of days ago. I didn't actually see it since I was inside trying to keep my dog from freaking out, but luckly I have a bunch of pro photographer friends. Check out these shots:

This was taken in Pacific Beach, Ca

This was also taken in Pacific Beach, Ca


This was taken on Mount Soledad, which is in Pacific Beach, Ca


This was taken at Wind N Sea beach in La Jolla, Ca


All of these photos were taken by Anthony Ghiglia (who is a friend of a friend), and he has lots of cool photos on his website. I think I'm going to buy a print of the Wind N Sea one!

Is this for real?!? I know that pregnancy is supposed to be beautiful but it just creeps me out. If I saw some little baby foot trying to karate-kick its way out of my belly, I would probably pass out...

So I just got back from Washington DC and was planning on wowing everyone with the awesome photos that I took, but guess what?! My awesome new memory card decided to erase 75% of them. SO, prepare to be amazed at the pictures from my trip:

BEHOLD! A picture of...my hair...yeah. Great photo.

Never leave Washington DC without....a blurry picture of a cooler full of crabs that busted open on the baggage carousel.


And, last but not least a picture of my boyfriend looking hot and me looking really tired and drunk. Attractive.


So there, you have it. ALL of the photos that I have from one of the most historic cities in the United States.

I did actually walk around to all the historic landmarks and took some really great pictures, but now they are gone. SO, here is what I have for you:

The Washington Monument: It's big, it's tall, it's pointy.

The Lincoln Memorial: Lincoln looked bored (Stefan said it's probably because he's been there for a while). There was a really great quote etched above his head, but I didn't bother to memorize it because I took a picture of it (great).

The Vietnam Memorial: Lots and lots and lots of names on the wall. So many, in fact, that I had to ask if those were the names of everyone that fought in the war, or actually the names of the Americans that died in Vietnam. Vietnam was gnarly.

George Washington University: Their cafeteria actually has decent food (I snuck in and had lunch).

Georgetown: It's a part of Washington DC that has really good shopping.

Washington DC: It's in Virginia, but it's not a part of Virginia. I still havn't gotten a very good explaination about this. Washington DC is also hot as hell this time of year (I heard the summer is unbearable).

That is all I have to report about Washington DC. ;)

Here's a prime example of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus"...

Offered by an English professor from the University of Phoenix: The professor told his class one day: "Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back-and-forth. Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached."

The following was actually turned in by two of his English students, Rebecca and Gary.

THE STORY:

(first paragraph by Rebecca)

At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.

(second paragraph by Gary)

Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. "A.S. Harris to Geostation 17," he said into his transgalactic communicator. "Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far..." But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.

(Rebecca)

He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards,Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. "Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel," Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. "Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully.

(Gary)

Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace disarmament Treaty through the congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid Laurie.

(Rebecca)

This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.

(Gary)

Yeah? Well, my writing partner is a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium.

"Oh, shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F--KING TEA??? Oh no, what am I to do? I'm such an air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels!"

(Rebecca)

Asshole.

(Gary)

Bitch

(Rebecca)

F__K YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!

(Gary)

Go drink some tea - whore.

I just made a donation to Noah's Wish (thanks for the tip Fryman ;)...), which is a California based non-profit organization that rescues animals that are misplaced or stranded because of disasters. They are currently in Louisiana searching for, rescuing and caring for animals that were stranded by Hurricane Katrina. (Noahs Wish also emails a receipt so you can use your donation as a tax write off.)

Check out the pictures of the great work they are doing!

By the way, the title of this post is a joke. I'm not very "politically correct" am I? ;)

...a tiny ass Chihuahua with big balls chases you down your street.

Yep, it just happened. My neighbors who lives across my street have this really old, really little Chihuahua who happens to have very large balls (both literally and figuratively). I was starting my jog and just reached the Brown Pride mural. When I heard a chirpy little bark. It got closer and closer and I finally realized the little fucker really was chasing me!

This little dog is so funny. He patrols his entire block all day and all night. One time I parked my car on "his" side of the street and as I opened my door he had walked around my car into the street to confront me as I exited my car. He didn't bark, oh no, he just stared me straight in the eye as if to say "I've got my eye on you, white girl. You better watch yourself!", then he turned around, hopped back on to the sidewalk and continued his "patrol".

The barrio is so very entertaining...haha.

It has been 1 year since I started my blog! Actually the 1 year anniversary was a week ago, but come on, cut me some slack!! Check out my 1st posts. The very 1st entry is very innovative and titled, "I made a blog!" (isn't that everyones 1st post? haha).

...the side of your local Circle K is a huge "Brown Pride" mural.

This is the Circle K that is 1/2 a block from my house. My Spanish skills are getting much more use nowadays...I love the barrio!

I am so fucking fed up with corporate "customer service". You know what I'm talking about, call any corporations "customer service" and you get the automated system that prompts you through 10 minutes of: "If you'd like our address press 1, if you'd like to cancel your service press 2, if you'd like to access your account press 3...(This is where I usually zone out)...If you'd like to listen to these options again press 9, you can also access our website at www.randomcorp.com, which is spelled w-w-w-.-r-a-n-d-o-m-c-o-r-p-.-c-o-m. Oh and if you'd like to speak to a customer service representative press 1957...". SO if you are lucky enough to make it through to an actual human you'll hear something stupid like, "Thank you for calling Random Corp, this is Jessica Smith speaking and how can I provide you with EXCELLENT customer service today". What sort of corporate monkey took a little too much Prozac and then came up with this stupid crap!? I can't think of a more insincere thing that they could force these customer service reps to say. Well for starters it would be EXCELLENT if you didn't just waste 15 minutes of my life (excluding the time holding to reach customer service)...Then after you actually get the info you were calling for, a nice "Thank you and have a great day" would be nice. BUt NOOOOo, you get "Thank you for calling random corp my goal was to provide you with excellent customer service today would you say that I've met that goal?".

QUIT WASTING MY F*&#^*$% TIME MR. CORPORATE SCRIPT WRITER!

I could go on about this all day, since I did work in a customer service call center a few years back. Where I worked they decided that customer service reps were not allowed to say the word "goodbye". WTF is that all about? Customers would say "goodbye" and we were instructed to say something like "Thank you, sir" or "have a nice day". Those are not human responses to "goodbye"! I refused to do that (and 75% of the other bs they instructed us to do) and my managers didn't know what to do with me, so they promoted me out of the call center...haha.

ANY HOW, this post has a point. Here is what pushed me over the edge on this subject...I sell stuff on ebay and had a small problem that I needed them to fix so I emailed ebay customer service:

"...This bidder email address does not work, I have not received payment (its over 30 days), and I no longer have this item in stock. I opened a "mutual agreement" dispute since I can not contact the bidder and he denied it and eBay closed the dispute. I want my final value fee back, so I need to change this dispute to a nonpayment. Thanks"

Ebays response:

Hello,

Thank you for writing eBay.

While researching this situation, I was able to verify that this Unpaid Item Dispute was closed, and you have not received an Unpaid Item Strike for this item.

To ensure that your future transactions run smoothly, we recommend that all buyers keep the following information in mind:

1. You automatically enter into a legally binding contract to purchase the item from the seller if you win the auction or use the Buy It Now feature.

2. Be sure that you understand the description of the item, and the seller's payment and shipping terms, before placing a bid. If you have any questions about the listing, be sure to use the "Ask seller a question" feature.

3. After the auction end, if you have a problem communicating with a seller through email, you can request their contact information (including a phone number) at the following eBay page:

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQtZvbQQsofindtypeZ9

4. Ensure your contact information is up-to-date, including your email address, and that you don't have any "Spam" blocking software installed that may limit a seller from communicating with you.

5. If you have computer or connection problems, please remember that you can access your eBay account through any computer with Internet access, such as those at a library or friend's house. Your bids can be monitored through your "My eBay" page from any computer.

Thank you for being part of the eBay community.

Regards,

Denton
Investigations Team
eBay Trust & Safety


Oh awesome, that has nothing to do with what I was asking, so I sent this response:

Well, gee. That's great. Did you READ my original email? Let's try this again. This is what I said:

"This bidder email address does not work, I have not received payment (its over 30 days), and I no longer have this item in stock. I opened a "mutual agreement" dispute since I can not contact the bidder and he denied it and eBay closed the dispute. I want my final value fee back, so I need to change this dispute to a nonpayment. Thanks"

Let me see if I can explain it better, since obviously, you didn't understand...

I am the SELLER. The buyer did not pay for the item with in 30 days. The buyers email address does not work, so i can not contact them. I opened a "mutual agreement dispute" because I can't get a hold of the buyer to explain that this item is no longer available for him to purchase since it was relisted since the buyer failed to pay for the item. The buyer refused the mutual agreement dispute, so now I need this dispute changed to a "non-paying bidder" dispute. I WANT MY FINAL VALUE FEE BACK. Item # is 8201222533

I then recieved this response from eBay:

Hello,

I appreciate you notifying SafeHarbor with your concern. My name is Elsie and I am happy to help you today.

While investigating the matter, we have not been able to reach the account holder or verify the accuracy of the account holders registration information. As a precaution, we have temporarily restricted the member's ability to trade on eBay until further information can be obtained. Our difficulties in reaching this member may be caused by something as simple as a typographical error in his or her contact information. For this reason, our decision to restrict this member should not be viewed as a negative reflection on that member.

We appreciate your assistance in keeping eBay a safe and secure place to trade.

Regards,
Elsie
Investigations Team
eBay Trust & Safety


My response:

Thank you, Elsie. When will I be getting my final value fee credited for item #8201222533?
Cheers,
Summer
Vicious Enterprises

The next response from eBay:

Hello,

My name is Dunley and may I just say thank you for sharing your concerns with us about the rod1900 account.

While investigating the matter, we have not been able to reach the account holder or verify the accuracy of the account holder's registration information. As a precaution, we have temporarily restricted the member's ability to trade on eBay until further information can be obtained. Our difficulties in reaching this member may be caused by something as simple as a typographical error in his or her contact information. For this reason, our decision to restrict this member should not be viewed as a negative reflection on that member.

We appreciate your assistance in keeping eBay a safe and secure place to trade.

Regards,

Dunley
Investigations Team
eBay Trust & Safety


My response:

Yes, I understand that this member is unreachable (I've tried many times as well). But, I'm really more concerned on when I'll be getting a fee refund on this auction. Thanks.
Cheers,
Summer
Vicious Enterprises


Another pointless response from eBay:

Hello,

Thank you for writing to eBay's Customer Support. My name is Michael.

In order to receive a credit of your Final Value Fees, you will still want to complete an Unpaid Item report.

To file an unpaid item dispute, please follow the directions below:

1. Click on the "site map" link located at the top of any eBay page.

2. Once there, click on the "Report an Unpaid Item" link from the middle column under the "Manage my items for sale" heading.

3. Enter the item number and select the User ID of the buyer as well as the reason you are filing.

4. Once you've completed this, please click the "Submit" button.

From here, your buyer will be notified that an Unpaid Item has been

filed against them.

If the buyer is no longer a registered user, you will automatically receive a Final Value Fee credit. If the buyer is still a user on eBay and does not resolve the situation within seven days, you request a Final Value Fee credit by following the steps below:

1. Click on "My eBay" located at the top of all eBay pages. You may be asked to sign in if you haven't already.

2. Click the "All Selling" link located on the left-hand side of the page.

3. Click on the "Unpaid Item disputes" link located in the "Related Links" section.

4. Locate your item.

5. Click on the "View Dispute" link.

6. Click "Close your dispute."

7. Choose the correct option to close the dispute and request a refund.

8. Click the "Submit" button.

You should see a confirmation page indicating whether or not you have received a credit.

Thank you for your time. I was happy to help and I wish you the best of luck with your sales.

Regards,

Michael M.V.
eBay Billing Support

My response:

OKay,
Let me explain this again (for the 4th time now?). Actual, I will copy and paste my 1st email...again...:

"This bidder email address does not work, I have not received payment (its over 30 days), and I no longer have this item in
stock. I opened a "mutual agreement" dispute since I can not contact the bidder and he denied it and eBay closed the dispute. I want my final value fee back, so I need to change this dispute to a nonpayment. Thanks"

I CAN NOT OPEN A DISPUTE FOR THIS. A DISPUTE WAS ALREADY OPENED SO I CAN'T DO A DAMN THING. I can read and I know how to open a dispute. Unfortunately, EBAY (you) needs to do something rather then respond to my numerous emails with canned "answers". I NEED SOMEONE TO GET OFF THEIR A$$ AND FIX THIS ALREADY.

Apparently there are no independent thinkers over there, so, here is what you need to do:

1. YOU (remember, ebay will not allow me to do this) need to REOPEN the dispute that was filed on item# 8201222533.

2. YOU need to change the dispute to an "unpaid item" dispute rather then a "mutual agreement" dispute.

So, remember before you hit the canned response button...I CAN'T DO THIS! YOU NEED TO TAKE SOME SORT OF ACTION. PLEASE DO NOT WASTE ANY MORE OF MY TIME. If you can not perform the above action, i need to speak with a supervisor. I can be reached at (760) 720-0517.

Cheers,
Summer
Vicious Enterprises

I would say that i have been more then patient with the numerous emails and weeks I have been trying to get a fucking answer...If someone wasted this much of my time and patience in person I would have punched them in the face after the 3rd "answer".