Some Local and Personal News

My town was inundated with ten inches of rain in 4 hours on July 17.
Read about my experiences here: http://www.seniorweblogs.com/BlogComment.aspx?id=solitairepoet&EntryId=296&mode=reply

see photos from other parts of my town here: www.jamesburg.net

On the good news front, my poem "Real Estate" was just published in the annual Summer Fiction Issue of the US1 Newspaper of Princeton, New Jersey. It is wonderful and refreshing that a local business newspaper has chosen to do this each summer, giving local writers they chance to be read close to home. To find out where in Mercer County New Jersey the paper is available, see: www.princetoninfo.com
You can also get information there about the special publication party (complete with poets reading their published works) to be held on August 11.

In addition, my poem "Minetta Women" will be published in the upcoming anthology "Streets of New York." More information on that in the future.

I'm Hip and Cool and Down with RSS

In keeping with my goal to be oh-so-with-it with the latest in computer advances, I have RSS-enabled this blog. So, for those of you who are hip and cool and down with it, syndicate me!

(wow does this now mean I'm a syndicated writer)

I Must Be a Glutton for Punishment

I should have learned my lesson with the kitchen cabinet with the wrong size doors. They wanted me to return the entire thing, even though half of it had already been installed. They just couldn't give me the correct size doors. So why did I go back to this big orange home "improvement" retailer for more punishment?

I thought that if I ordered something online, it would come to me directly from the manufacturer. I thought that it would be delivered by a freight handler who knew what it was doing. I expected the big orange retailer to be sensibly responsive if I had a problem.

As usual, I thought wrong.

The delivery of the more than 500 lb. package was done by one person, who really could not get it out of his truck properly. He dropped it down in the driveway, complete with a huge wooden pallet, shrugged at the damaged packaging, and said that it came from the big orange retailer in that condition. Inspection of what could be seen without taking the package apart didn't reveal any obvious damage, however, this changed when I unpacked the parts.

Box #1, a small accessory box, was completely ripped apart. Inside, however, all parts were intact.
Box #2, the first large box, had some holes poled in it, but upon opening it, (a feat accomplished by cutting the box open) there were no damaged parts. I hauled each large piece up my driveway and into my yard.
Box #3- the second large box, seemed to be a bit squashed, but again, after cutting away the box, the parts seemed undamaged. I hauled each large piece from this box up my driveway and into my yard. At the bottom of the box were the last two pieces, damaged beyond repair. The underside of the box (not visible until now) was shredded. Let's just say I uttered a few words that would have gotten my children's mouths washed out.

I searched in vain for the phone number of the carrier. A bill of lading on the first box didn't even match my order - indicating that the boxes attached contained a toilet, a chaise lounge and some misc. accessories. My order was actually for a large backyard shed.

Without a phone number for the carrier, I then called the customer service department for the large orange retailer, explained the problem and asked for replacement parts. Instead, I was told that I had to return the entire item, it would take two weeks for the carrier to return to pick it up, and oh, by the way, it had better be repacked for shipping.

WHAT? First of all, the boxes were damaged to begin with, before I had to cut them open. Now, there is no way those boxes can be repacked. Secondly, I've hauled most of the parts into my yard. The best I can do is haul them back to the driveway, pile them up on the pallet, and let them sit there, exposed to the elements, until the carrier decides to come back. I can't wait for the argument that is going to ensue when they see I haven't packed the stuff up for shipping.

Tell me the truth, wouldn't it be a hell of a lot easier for the big orange retailer to contact the big red manufacturer of this shed and just get me replacement parts? This is strike #2 against Big Orange. I don't think I'll be giving them a chance for strike #3.