Window Shopper

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It depends on the person. Period. Some people who work on the help desks are trying very hard to help you. Others are simply drawing a paycheck and could care less that you have a problem. The companies that hire these people should certainly screen them better, for one thing, and should monitor their progress for another. If they do not show that they have a clue, remove them. The frustration that comes with dealing with those people is huge. You know, I have read tons of those supposedly funny (some are hilarious) conversations from the point of view of a help desk person. Frankly, I would like to know where these people are when I need assistance. They seem to have a brain cell connected to at least one more. I am the customer and my conversations sound more like those but in the reverse.

Recently, I had some problems in my Paypal account because there were two unauthorized payments sent out for magazines we no longer take. The company that took the money is not familiar to me except for what I read about them. In fact, the company in question is a ripoff outfit. They take money from your account making it appear to be legitimate for magazines. If you do not catch it, they win and get your money too. They took nearly $50 from my account. OUCH! So, we called Paypal to see what could be done. The guy on the phone was great. He took care of the removing the transactions. My money was returned to me within a few days. Very nice. In addition, he advised that I cancel the current Paypal card and have them send me a new one. I agreed since it seemed like a really good idea to stop those folks from doing it again. He said that the card should be sent to me quickly. End of conversation. Very satisfying.

A few days later, I did receive the money back into my account. I have patiently waited on the Paypal card to be sent to me since I needed it for some last minute shopping for Christmas. Oh who am I kidding. I am DOING my Christmas shopping and definitely need my card since there are a couple of places, that’s all I can use. One of the most prominent will not ship anything without it.

After seeing the mail today and the card is still not here, I started getting a bit desperate. As anyone knows who buys at this time of year, it is sort of a crap shoot whether you actually get the items or not by Christmas so the earlier the shipping the better. But I still don’t have my card. So, once again, I called Paypal. Those extremely competent people at the help desk must have all been out to lunch. I talked with a young lady who was pretty hard to understand with a very thick accent. Without trying to offend anyone, I would really like to talk with someone who has English as their first language when dealing with such problems. There are too many misunderstandings this way.

She was very helpful as far as she could go. She had no idea about the Paypal card and when it was sent. That sounded somewhat ominous to me. She put me on hold for over 10 minutes. No clue what was going on. When she returned, she told me that the card had been mailed out YESTERDAY!!! Now I had assurances from the other guy that it would be sent out much sooner. And then when I told this to the young lady, she said something that only hit me later. But it was so stupid that I cannot even fathom why she would say it. Perhaps you can catch this?

She said “Ms L., the card was sent out yesterday. If you look on the back, it states that it would be sent out within 4-6 weeks.” Anyone catch that?

And now that I have had time to think about it, I wish I could be back on the phone to talk to her again. However, I will suffice it to say that THIS experience is more in line with what my usual help desk experiences are like. I know you will get the problem here. So I will just say that I hope your shopping is going better than mine.

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Computers seemed to be a hot item today. That has little surprise in it although I think if I had gone out today, it would have been for other items as gifts for Christmas. I do realize that people save enormous amounts of money on a day like this assuming they actually get their items. I suspect that many people went home with only some of what they were after and others went home disappointed altogether. We would have not faired well today at the store. We, that is my husband and I, are quite slow these days. I think we would have to have hired someone to do the running for us.

Now there’s a thought. People who are young, speedy and able to grab hold of the preferred items would be handy, very handy. Of course, you would likely spend the money that you had otherwise saved in hiring said people. However, it is a thought. That could be someone’s new line of business. I can think of so many products and items that we could own if only we were much more speedy of foot ourselves. Computers do come to mind. Lots of computers are much cheaper on the shelves only today. And now I have to admit something. I have never in my life owned a Mac computer. I have no clue about Mac memory, Mac notebooks, Mac hard drives, Mac anything. It is a total mystery to me. All I ever heard was that they were different as night and day from the standard PC and laptops. I have no clue.

Should I now try to find out? I have no idea.

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Especially during the holiday season, we tend to think of all the things we could give a person. However, if we don’t know them well or they happen to be one of those people who have literally everything, it becomes pretty hard to buy something nice for them. Gift cards are a fantastic answer to the problem. I have used them myself on several occasions with great results. Others have gifted me with a gift card as well. I always loved that because then I could buy what I wanted instead of get some strange item that I could never use or return. That made them valuable to me and thousands of other people who either bought them or received them as gifts. The retail stores receive millions of dollars for gift cards. The question is, are they any good when the person tries to redeem them?

When it comes to the larger retail stores, they are likely to be just fine although there is at least one store that is heading into bankruptcy. Smaller stores need to be checked out very carefully. If you do not, the gift card may be worth nothing at all. When the company that sold the card goes into receivership, often the commitment of the card is not honored and you become one of the people who gets to wait until they pay the debts of the company. Unfortunately, they pay the largest debts of the company first. The likelihood of the card holders getting anything back is extremely slim and none at all. If they do, it’s pennies on the dollar. When the stores or companies are in trouble, they still will not stop selling the cards since they are looking for all the money they can find so you, the consumer, get to hold onto a dead piece of plastic that’s worth nothing. You won’t know that until you try to redeem it.

People often believe that gift cards never lose their value but that is not true either. Even if the store is doing fine, that does not mean that the card will always be there just waiting for you. One young man was saving his gift cards that he had received for Christmas and birthdays for a couple of years only to find out that they were worth absolutely nothing due to maintenance fees. Another option is to buy the cards from a bank instead of a store. These are called open loop cards. Seems like a good idea but, again, the maintenance fees will bring down the value of the card to nothing if you wait long enough.

The best idea is to buy the cards from strong, stable companies and stores like Target and Walmart. While I am definitely not a fan of Walmart, we still buy the gift card to save money on gas that we purchase at the gas station. These cards are good as long as they are in business with no fees whatsoever. Many of the large stores are counting on and expecting high gift card sales to bolster they slipping sales for this holiday. So, be warned. Gift cards are not always the gift you thought they were. Givers, buy the cards close to the date of giving the gift. Recipient, use the card as quickly as you can. That way, both of you receive the satisfaction of the gift given and received.

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That sounded goofy, didn’t it. I tend to overlook the end of October’s obvious day and head straight for Thanksgiving. Our family, as much of it is in the neighborhood, always get together at my Mom’s house and celebrate the day. Three are currently away in other states. One of those will be home for the holiday. That will be the big meal. Christmas is usually more about having a good time and celebrating with the kids while they ooh and ahh about their presents. Regardless of the holiday, there is always dessert. Always. What’s a holiday without dessert?

Even now, I can taste Mom’s pumpkin pie, mincemeat pie and there will usually be cookies galore. Mom acts like the typical Grandma with all the kids, young and older. Inevitably, there will be an exchange of dessert recipes because I don’t have all of hers yet. See, I am more of a cook than a baker so my attempts at baking can be disastrous at times. Except for cookies, usually chocolate chip and oatmeal, I tend to leave the grand baking to Mom. The crusts on her pies are awesome. I don’t think I have ever had that type of flaky crust on any other pie but hers. So, do you see why I am skipping the one for the other? Besides, we do not recognize that day at the end of this month anyway. I am thinking of turkeys, dressing, salads, green bean casserole and so much more….and desserts!!! Can’t forget those.

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It is with a great deal of pleasure that I can safely say that the price of gas has gone down here to the lowest we have seen in a while now. At the lowest priced pump in our area, the tag reads $3.29 as of yesterday. Nice. Not nice enough to happy dance but certainly on the way to being a happy dance moment. That moment would come only when the price got below one dollar so it is unlikely that I will ever have to do that dance but the thought is good anyway. The problem is that we may not see this price going down much longer.

OPEC cut production again. Of course, that tends to cause shortages like the one in the southeast that has been going on for a couple weeks now and no one sees it letting up anytime soon. Okay, I will ask the question. What happened? Why is there a shortage on the east coast that no one else seems to be having? Guess I missed the media hype on that one. If anyone can answer that, I will certainly listen.

Prices on food and goods should go down now that gas prices are declining. Yet, I get the feeling that we are in for a rough Christmas season anyway. So, now would be the time to get in on those sales and the online extreme bargains. Do your research. That should be my second line on this blog, I say it often enough. Do your research. You can find good deals even in these sad times if you do a little work. Computers are marvelous inventions. They can be used for many things and research is one of them. Then go shopping. Get those deals that will not be there in December. A case in point would be the Wii console. Not a shot those will be available in December unless you happen on that one guy that still has one left to sell. Right now, they are still available in several locations in brick and mortar stores and online. But Christmas is coming on fast. Too fast, if you ask me. ACK!

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Time and time again, I love thinking about Christmas…until I have to think about presents for people in the family. That part is not on my list of fun things to do when the cash is short. On the other hand, I do love to get presents for the family. That part IS fun. And I just started thinking that particular time of year is coming around again. Really, the only reason I brought it up in the first place is that usually at Christmas is when we all get a load of new DVDs and television shows that we always wanted to watch. That part is very good.

When that happens, we have a mountain of new movies and television shows to watch. I remember one year, someone got Quantum Leap for a present. And over the years, they received all five seasons of the series. So, we decided to borrow it. This is something we do, all of us. When everyone wants to see a certain movie or series, we loan or borrow as needed. I like that. That way, we do not all have to own it. We borrowed the series. Thing is, we sat and watched episode after episode. Of course, in our limited way, we had our home theater seating in the livingroom, otherwise known as the couch and recliner. I cannot recall how long it took to see what we did watch but it was quite a while. And at the end, we wished there were more episodes. On a side note here, we decided that they did not end that series the right way. That just wasn’t right.

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Some of you are not Americans so may not necessarily celebrate our holiday. But we must celebrate our freedom, such as it is today. And I have been celebrating my freedom to shop. But then, I do that anyway. I do love to shop. The problem is that I do not have the funds to do so. Guess that’s the same problem a lot of folks have right now. At some point, we need to see the brightest side of this we possibly can. Why? Because if we don’t, it takes the fun out of shopping. Then it becomes desperate shopping. I would hate that.

Yesterday, it was more or less desperate shopping for us. We had a recent drain on our supplies and needed to replenish. And now we have more month than money. WOW! That was so fast. Today, I sit here thinking about our situation and sometimes get a bit down about it. And then, I think that today is not the day to care about those things. Today is a happy day. Today we get to celebrate the beginning of our country. I do love my country even with all it’s problems, aches and pains. She is still a youngster. She hasn’t quite grown up yet but she is definitely working on it. We love her.

For those who love the American Flag or those who do not understand the American citizen, please take the time to read this post about our flag. Ya might just learn something about our American feelings. We are proud of our country and our flag.

So, HAPPY 4th OF JULY TO EVERYONE!!! Anyone out watching the fireworks tonight? We hear them but can’t see em. Too hot. Too buggy. And we are too used to staying inside for it. Yes, we are wimps. Yes, I have seen my share of fireworks before. I love watching them when I can.

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Ever wanted to show someone else how things are going with you and your family but the only thing you had were a few pictures? Now you can give people a better idea with custom photo cards from CardsDirect who specializes in custom made photo cards.

They have a large number of models to choose from or a blank card can have your logo and picture on it just the way you want it. 73 custom photo cards are available to view on their website right now. Taking a look at the picture I’ve put here, you can see what a great idea this is to get Custom Photo Cards for you, your business or your family cards at a special time like an anniversary, birthday or Christmas.

The particular custom photo card I chose for you to see is a Green Border Christmas Photo Card. As you can tell, it’s very pretty and the color is sharp and the picture is clear. Think of this as a great idea for your business to show your family values. It could also have a picture of your business building on it to advertise especially at those times when you have a huge new advertising campaign going on.

Why not take the time to go to the website at CardsDirect and see what all they have especially for you!

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The Christmas celebration is always a fun time, always. We have nine members of the family all in one fairly large room, all opening presents and talking about what they got. It’s a barrel of laughs and loads of fun. There is just one problem I seem to have as does my husband. We cannot hear half of what was said. Why? Everyone gabs at once!! Haven’t you ever been in a family like that? We all love to talk or most of us do. In this particular family, we have five adults over the age of twenty one, two adults at age nineteen and eighteen and two younger teens, ages fourteen and thirteen. The house is full.

And everyone has the same problem, actually. No one can do sign language. None of us! Isn’t that awful since we all need to hear the rest of the group? There are times when the din gets to be pretty intense. On those occasions, I truly wish that I had subscribed to a subtitle service for the family. LOL! Yes, I know that isn’t really possible but I do wish it was. We have to find a way for us all to hear at the same time. It does not help that some of us “older folk” are starting to lose a tone or two anyway. So, low tone conversations are lost. Sigh. Yes, I do think a service like that would work well, don’t you? Well, maybe not but it was worth a try anyway.

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Are you in the after Christmas blues? Maybe you got some stuff that simply is not going to work, no matter what you do. Hey, I heard about this woman who got a DVD player for Christmas. The tray wouldn’t come out. What do you do with that?? You take it back.

If Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) wasn’t good enough, now we have the day after Christmas when the stores reopen and the reverse rush begins. Sigh. Isn’t getting a tad ridiculous here? First, you have the after Thanksgiving sales. Those take care of the people who are willing to do their shopping early enough to actually get the items on their lists. Next, you have the middle shoppers. These are the ones that shop all December, getting the best deals they can find but the real sales do not start until closer to Christmas.

The next set of sales comes during the last few days before Christmas. This is the time that you really cannot find the one thing you really, truly wanted to give a person because you waited entirely too long. However, they have excellent sales on things like big screen televisions and you could get that instead. Your spouse is likely to never speak to you again but, what the heck, it’s Christmas.

The last day before Christmas is the worst. That’s when there is little that you actually wanted left in stock. However, you find quite a few sales and a number of people you know that are as ridiculous as you are..waiting to to the last minute.

Then Christmas day happens. All the paper is stacked up to be burned or picked up by the garbage guys. The presents are all opened, some to be played with until they break, some to be used sparingly because you really didn’t want it but you won’t hurt the person’s feelings. Then there are the ones that you just know you have to return at first light on the day after…after what? After Christmas, of course.

The day dawns bright and clear and you are ready to go at 8AM. You get to the store and there’s a mob scene. Everybody has something in their hands that they simply cannot use or do not want. Some of it is broken, some not the right style or size, some is just not you…like the lamp from the movie..The Christmas Story…you know, the one with the lamp shaped like a lady’s leg.

The doors open and it’s a stampede to the customer service desk. The line is already so long it’s going to take the better part of the morning to get to you. The item you brought is a DVD that is not working. You have no receipt, nothing to show it was bought here. The store clerk looks at it and wants to know what’s wrong with it. You tell her that it does not work. She scans it and…. nothing. Are you kidding me? Nope. This item does not come from this store. You groan and think of the hours you have wasted already, standing in a line you did not even need to be in for this item.

Outside, you call the person who gave the DVD to you. They claim they did not give that particular movie to you at all. They have no idea who gave it to you. This is not working well. Is this a nightmare or what???? Actually, yes. Time to wake up! There. Now wasn’t your day better than that? I thought so.

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