I unpacked my last two suitcases yesterday. Then I remembered why they were still packed. (I still have about four boxes–Mexican things, cd’s, dvd’s, and books–no shelves to put them on.)

The bureau which was supposed to come immediately has been back ordered four times. The items I didn’t need and were supposed to be back ordered came immediately.
I received an email stating that the bureau was being shipped on a certain day and should have arrived at least two days before I called customer service. This was the fourth email referring to a new delivery date.

The customer service rep assured me that this is normal and she knows not only the furniture business but retail in general, the Internet, and all customer service a lot more than I do. (She said this with no knowledge of who I am or what I do or have done in my life. It struck me both funny and sad that a person would make assumptions so readily.)

Obviously I should understand that they didn’t mean what they said in any of the four emails. She actually stated that and then stated that she understood this process so much better than I ever could.

I don’t expect to be treated as a total idiot. If a person is lucky enough to have a job right now, they damn well better treat every person who calls with dignity. I have no idea why the bureau was back ordered so many times nor why I got an email saying it was being shipped when it wasn’t being shipped, and neither did the customer service person.

I furnished my entire house off the Internet and didn’t have one other problem. I don’t do ebay or Craigs List but I’m kind of an expert on finding things in a store and buying it on the Internet. I usually save much in shipping and taxes that way plus any extra “internet only” sale–and there usually is.

When I was in New York I went to “high end” (as they call themselves) lighting stores and noticed that they all used the same catalogue. That catalogue’s even larger on the Internet–over a thousand pages. It took three weeks of three hour days and three days of eight hour days to find the simplest lighting in the world.

It took five minutes to find the perfect dining room pub table, chairs, and sidebar–and two days of looking in stores and two days of looking online–just to make sure.

I kept the pivotal furniture from my apartment in Manhattan–the couch is in the study; the coffee table in the guest room and the bed, uh, in the bedroom. I haven’t furnished the sunroom yet–just stuff from my apartment and I used furniture from Kroger’s for the downstairs deck. I want both the room and the outdoors to be truly special and haven’t figured out what I want yet.

An all white sun room. OK I ran out of steam and can’t stand the thought of paying anymore money for anything here.

In the suburb I come from the worst, very worst thing you could say about somebody is “they have no furniture.” It implies and infers a world of things. Here I can tell people are confused by how sparse I keep most rooms. I like bold colors. I like collecting things. If I could live without furniture I would. This is all in defense of “I know how furniture stores work and I sure know how the Internet works.”

I no longer get angry when I speak to stupid people. I ask to speak to their supervisor who in this case asked whether I wanted a store credit for $75 or a credit on my credit card for $57. I chose the later as a store credit is meaningless.

That still doesn’t solve the problem. My bureau hasn’t arrived and I have two densely packed suitcases of clothes in the washer, dryer or waiting to be placed in one. Fortunately I have huge closets and a former night stand with six drawers that’s in the bedroom walk in closet. Unfortunately I find organizing closets on a par with going to the dentist.

I just began the litigation process over my plumbing problems. This isn’t the way I wanted to begin in a new town. Fortunately I have bought built up a lot of good will here. I don’t feel as if I’m doing it just for myself (or I would never do it) but on behalf of single women everywhere who have the audacity to upset what some men and I guess some women believe is the natural order of things and buy a house.

Having to be in litigation depresses me. I really would rather forgive and forget which is why I invented the “this isn’t just for me” excuse. I believe blogs were invented so that I could get whatever is bothering me out and go on with life.

In this case I can’t–then I remember that I was denied full coverage in health insurance though pay as much as somebody who has full coverage. I couldn’t work on that because just then I got a notice from the IRS stating I owed them my life and spent three and a half weeks finding obsure information so that my accountant could send the results to them in a timely manner. Then I found out he forgot to send it…I always thought he was a good dependable accountant. His letter to the IRS made it seem that both of us were working on it for months as it was so complicated and so wrong in so many places. No I worked on it for three and a half weeks.

I know you’re thinking any person with a modicum of intelligence could have worked on the IRS notice and the pre-existing conditions at the same time. I couldn’t work on two tedious things, one (the health insurance) that was set up so I couldn’t answer their questions properly. It just angers me so much that I’m willing to pay–and I know I’m being selfish in only looking at the “me” aspect of this. But one major sickness and everything I have….

I try to stay healthy so I won’t have to be denied claims. I refuse to feel stressed as that could lead….so if I whine into my blog please excuse it. I do feel stressed. I try not to bring up the disability I suffer from, as I have accomplished so much despite having it. It’s another unsolved problem and there are times I just want to bury my head in the sand.