Random thoughts at random times » Ordeal

What we see in pictures

Rafael — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 02:39:57 +0000

I came across some old pictures the other day and came to realize something. Photographs, capture a time and place but they also capture something more than that. They capture something that is very subtle, they capture moods and feelings as well.

I came across this one picture, taken at a party. I remember this party fairly well. I’m sitting next to a certain person, talking to them. The particular photo I’m talking about, when I first saw it, I thought that the expression on this person’s face was odd. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what the facial expression was conveying. Looking at the picture now, several years removed from it, it’s obvious that the expression the face was conveying was disdain. It’s anger, hatred and disgust all rolled into one single expression. At the time, I didn’t see, but I can clearly see it now.

Talk about being blind.

I’m glad I’m not at that place anymore. I’m glad that I’ve moved well the heck beyond that time and place. I can’t help but wonder what was wrong with me that I was so willing to ignore all the red flags and continue down the wrong path. I gave up so much for so little. For nothing actually. I hope to never repeat that ordeal.

Ebay

Rafael — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:52:20 +0000

I’ve been trying to sell an old computer on eBay so I can have some christmas money, but it’s proving to be an ordeal. I’ve bought and sold many things on ebay through the years and have been very happy with them until recently. What happened was that my winning bidder claimed that they did not authorize the bids, so ebay deleted my item. No ifs, ands or buts, they just flat out deleted my item to “protect the integrity of the eBay system.” They say they’ll refund my fees and that I can relist the item for free within 7 days if I want to.

So, after I cooled off, I relisted the item. Then, I started getting questions in my eBay inbox like these:

“Hello,
I want to buy this item and pay you $350 for the item and the postage via USPS express mail international .
I will greatly appreciate it if you can sell this item for me cause i am unable to wait till the end of the auction so i can’t place a bid on the item.
There is no need to worry as i am willing to pay all the extra charges (Postal insurance and all) that it may attract. Please add your email address when replying so i can be able to reply, you can also add the email address registered with your paypal account so as to be able to transfer funds from my account asap as the item is urgently needed. My email address/Paypal is jdat11@verizonmail.com
Matthew Tackeff

jdat11″

And this one:

“Hello, I am interested in the purchase of your laptop listed on ebay .It is to be shipped internationally so i am willing to pay the sum of $2800 for it.I Will like it gift wrapped and sent to my daughter in West Africa and I will be making the payment via Money Order ..Kindly get back to me with your name,address(phone number inclusive) and two valid email addresses if you are interested and i will proceed with sending the payment immediately.you can also contact me on susanjenkins@deafconnect.com Regards Mrs Susan Jenkins

- goddessvt”

At least their offers are getting better.

Too bad I’m not getting dumber. In case you don’t know, these offers are in violation of the eBay TOS (Terms of Service).

Way to go, awesome way to “protect the integrity of the system” hoss.

There’s not even a mechanism that I can use to report these people’s emails to eBay.

I should counteroffer the second one and tell them that I want $10,000 for a computer that’s worth about $120 and see what they say.

AAAAARGH

Rafael — Fri, 04 May 2007 17:24:04 +0000

OK, so yesterday the car had a blow out while the owner was driving and since she doesn’t have a spare I couldn’t work. I volunteer to bring the car in to the shop here at the yellow cab base so they can fix it to make sure that I can go out work tonight, the first friday of the month which is always a big day. I won’t get into the ordeal that it took to get the car here with the swapping spare tires with another car, going and getting the replacement tire installed on the rim etc., etc.

While they fix the car, and re-align the wheels I wait in the driver’s lobby. I get the call saying the car is ready, so I mosey on over to the mechanic’s shop only to find that they don’t know where the keys to the car are. The guy that knows where the keys are, is gone for lunch. So now, I get to sit here in the lobby for another hour waiting for that guy to get back from lunch so I can take the car back to the owner, so I can go home and nap and then come back to town later tonight and work.