Saw a great t-shirt online the other day. Bookmarked it. Would have ordered it, but it stopped one size before I did. Now it's link is down, so I have to paraphrase what it said: "2020 is a unique leap year: 29 days in February, 3 months in April, 5 years in May." I'm positive I got some of that wrong, but it's faithful to the idea. The reason I went back to try to find it was not only to blog about it, but because I know parents stuck home with their kids after the schools closed.
I also know how time is dragging while I wait for my online shopping orders to arrive. Wasn't that three months ago by now? What, 10 days only? Jeez.
Online shopping these days is a mixed bag. Early in April I ordered hand sanitizer. Supposedly it's still... somewhere. The tracking shows a green line growing half a millimeter a day to demonstrate its progress, without ever claiming a location. There was a disclaimer when I ordered it that it could take long enough that it isn't really overdue yet. There was also disclaimer all over the news back then that only necessary shipments were going to be treated speedily. My 1 oz. bottle of sanitizer in the car has a quarter inch in the bottom, a tribute to how little I go anywhere where it should be used. But still, isn't that "necessary"?
I ordered rubbing alcohol online. The day after the order, eBay shut down the seller's site. PayPal informed me there might be an issue, so keep track of it. When I messaged the seller, they added a tracking number to it. Big whoop. Tracking numbers do not equate to having actually been shipped. Tracking numbers should tell you where the package is now. This one says nothing. Just that it has a number. A couple other items I've ordered add information that USPS is awaiting getting the package, and one even goes so far to give a daily update which says, "arrived shipping partner facility, USPS awaiting item." It appears at least that there is some movement in that last one. But why is the shipping partner sitting on it?
Some things arrive promptly. One arrived overnight, actually showing up on a Sunday. Nothing important, something electronic. Go figure. The seller was really impatient though, requesting my feedback before I even had a chance to try it out.
(Note to self: be sure to check out "guaranteed delivery by..." versus "estimated delivery by..." Apparently there is a difference!)
Shopping online at least avoids crowds and possible contagion. (That's my new excuse, now that I no longer have "I can't walk that long and that far.") Steve has clothes wearing out. Not a real surprise considering they've had nearly a decade of use. I checked online, found a dependable name brand that's been around forever, and yesterday ordered from the factory site. It has a tracking number now. A tracking number. I'm keeping my eye on it, hoping, since it's summer wear, that they arrive before we make the decision to head north. If a package has to chase us across country, will it take so long that it has to chase us back again?
Some things tend to arrive just after I've been able to find and purchase them in the stores again. It's not a rule though. Toiler paper is back on some shelves... briefly. My order showed up just before that. My paper towels arrived at the door two weeks back while I'm still waiting for them in the stores. I'm not even bothering to check the stores for hand sanitizer any more.
On all of these, I pay through PayPal. I love the security of never giving out to a third party my credit card or banking information. I also love the ease of not having to fill out 17 blanks in a form for each order. And I love that they fight for me! Back before this all was keeping us home, I tried one of those sites that gives all sorts of information on anybody. It was a whim. I was a little bored and curious. First I checked out myself. There were lots of corrections to make. Dates of where I lived were wildly off, along with one of the addresses. (No wonder I got a sales call asking me to let them reroof that property!) There were " possible associates" I've never in my life heard of. Aliases I never had. And gaping holes. But still.... They did make a couple of the corrections I asked for.
I went on to check out my kids, my ex, a few other people. My ex was interesting. I'd come to know what a liar he was, after years of comparing his stories with the rest of his family. His claim of knee damage from parachute jumping was debunked into happening at a high school track meet, for just one example. There are lots more: his alleged CIA experiences, my supposed misbehaviors as heard from his #2 ex while we were coordinating on getting money out of him, what he told his other 2 fiancees while still married to #2.... Here he was true to form, claiming military service. One of his actual true stories was of his trying to join the Air Force, back in Viet Nam draft days, before they could draft him for service of lesser glory. Having a wool allergy, with all military uniforms being wool then, they flunked him on his physical. Then they turned around and drafted him for the Army. Turns out the doc doing the physicals was the same person who'd already flunked him. And now he claims military experience? Sure....
It didn't take me long to lose interest. I'd signed up on a pay-per-month basis. I got notice of them re-upping me for the next month before I'd had my chance to cancel. If you start the 29th of one month, they shouldn't bill you on the 28th of the next, right? I contacted both them and PayPal, and the charge was magically dropped and reimbursed.
I'm getting ready to contact PayPal again. One of those orders, the one that they flagged a bit back, will be overdue at midnight. It's only $7.75, but....
Meanwhile, I think I'll go check out whether anybody else guarantees a speedier delivery on hand sanitizer... if any is available anywhere.
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