Please fill in a witty subject line on your own

[smeddley]

First off, the only news worth reading today: The Stephalopod made it to Australia! Now, if he can only avoid becoming a serving of Tender Vitals…

Secondly, my word count is crap. This looks like it’s shaping up to be another ‘last year’, with the bulk of the writing being done at the last minute in a frenzy of I WILL NOT FAIL.

Thirdly, there’s some irony to being sick the day you’re supposed to go to the heath insurance meeting…

And, fourthly: WANKITY WANK! Sadly, it features me as a right wanker, but there you have it.

It all started by me being lazy, really. I have crap to get rid of (speaking of, who wants Christmas presents?!) and I’m too lazy to haul it anywhere. So I joined the local Yahoo! Freecycle group. In theory, it’s simple. You send out a message saying what crap things you’re trying to get rid of, someone responds, you tell them where you are and they come and get it. Dazzling in its brilliance and simplicity, no?

The reality is that you send out a message, tons of people respond, but when you e-mail them back, only half write back. Of those half, 90% will make plans to pick things up and then never show up, leaving you sitting around, waiting. And to top it off, if it is picked up and you post a ‘taken’ message, people still flood your in-box with ‘is this taken yet?’ e-mails. Basically, it’s a giant cluster of annoyance.

But still, I persisted because when it did work (and there are good people on the group, don’t get me wrong) it was nice and easy. But no good deed goes unpunished.

A few weeks ago I advertised I had some old printers to give away. I got plenty of responses, though most were for one specific printer that got picked up right away. After that, I worked my way through the rest of the e-mails and gathered a bunch of non-responses and no-shows. So I re-posted. This time, two of the printers that were left were successfully picked up. I ignored the rest of the e-mails requesting already gone printers, and didn’t bother with a ‘taken’ message, as there was still a printer left and, frankly, it never seemed to do any good.

Then I get an e-mail from one of the moderators:

Dear Member,
I am inquiring as to whether you still have the printers available? We have had a member contact us who inquired about them the first time you listed them and again this time and has never received a reply. If the items are no longer available you should post a TAKEN message so that everyone who is interested will know. Sometimes when persons use the reply button on the post messages don’t always make it to the recipient and that is Yahoo’s fault. If you still have them let me know and I will put the two of you in contact with each other.

PK Clary
Overland Park Moderation Team

So I write back:

I still have the 710 and the box of misc. stuff.

I contacted everyone who contacted me the first time that was interested in one of the three printers that was still available. Several were no-shows after making plans to pick up, still others simply never e-mailed me back.

TAKEN messages seem to do no good - I still get hordes of e-mails after I post them, plus, not everything was taken. Still, usually I will do it but not until everything is gone, which, due to the DOZENS of no-shows I've had on the very few items I've listed, can take some time to wade through.

THEN, I notice an e-mail message, posted to the whole group, titled ‘TO THE MODERATORS’:

I didn't know how else to get a message to you. Sorry. There is one member, ahoym8y, who has posted twice (October 13 and Nov. 4) offering computer printers. I have responded to him both times and get no acknowedgement [sic] from him (either the items are still available or not). He has also not posted a TAKEN regarding these items. Is this proper board etiquette? I have even tried leaving my email address in the body of the response. I'm getting rather frustrated with him, but I could have ignored it once, but twice is just rude.

Thanks,
beckic1970

Of course, I wrote her back. I did not say ‘F-you, bitch,’ which is what I wanted to say, but was pretty pissed:

I never received your first message, and by the time I got your second (for the second posting, which was necessary because 4 people were either no-shows OR did not respond to my e-mails) the one you wanted was already claimed.

I have not posted a TAKEN because not everything has been, and, besides, it never does any good - I get plenty of e-mails after I post a TAKEN message, which is almost certainly not 'proper board etiquette'.

I understand your frustration, but this is just beyond rude. It's free stuff, no one is 'entitled' to it. It's very frustrating wading through e-mails an no-shows as well, but I'm still trying to be nice and GIVE things away. I don't have the time or energy to respond to all e-mails trying to be nice and saying, 'sorry, it's gone' NOR do I always get that response when I respond to an OFFER, so I figured it was not common practice.

And you can be assured that should I participate further in this board, YOUR e-mails will be deleted on the spot, and I would certainly encourage others to do the same.

OOOOH! But it’s not over! There must, in all good wank, be the obligatory flounce post. I went back and re-replied to the moderator, doing just that:

I have also personally responded to the very, very rude member who felt she was special and entitled to free stuff, and if these are the self-righteous, rude, and inconsiderate people who frequent this board I am simply going to remove myself. Here I am attempting to be nice and GIVE things away, and people are just incredibly discourteous in not responding after long dialogues (so I know my e-mails are getting through) or just plain not showing up.

I have in the past recommended this group to others, you can be assured that in the future I will steer them away from it

So, long story short, if you ever need to put down an e-mail for something stupid and are afraid you’ll get a bunch of spam, use this one: beckic1970@yahoo.com

Comments

[gelsey.livejournal.com]

Bummer on the wank.

Are you posting your NaNo stuff somewhere? Because I'm lost if you are. Blame it on school being the devil.

*hand automatically goes in the air for xmas stuffs*

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Eh, it's okay. I wish I had said more, like, "Look, bitch, I could decide not to respond to your e-mail because you spell your name with an i instead of a y, it's my crap and my choice. STFU." But live and learn to wank better another day.

No, because of the nature of the story I can't post it until it's done. I'll make a giant, sparkly post when it's ready!

[leaper.livejournal.com]

That's okay, I forgot to go to my Time Management meeting.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Ha!

And I'm going to stop procrastinating... tomorrow. ;)

[clare-dragonfly.livejournal.com]

I bet your word count's not as crap as mine!

I started over completely at 11:30 last night (that is, Wednesday).

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

It is now several days later and my wordcount is hoveing around 6,000. Oh, joy!