The Wife Was Right
People who know me in real life, and there are several who read this blog, know for a fact that I don't like being wrong, in large part because I don't like to admit to being wrong. Well, this story is a complete and total confession: The Wife was right, and I was wrong.
Many of you will have noticed regular comments from someone who, despite the protestations of Poosh, is lovely and talented: Michelle. She and I have known each other for several years, and we have a tendency to exchange gifts with each other; I will tell you right now that Michelle raises the bar as far as gift giving goes, so when I sent her something, it has to be precise, perfect, and outstanding.
Several weeks ago (precisely three weeks ago today, if I'm not mistaken), I was chatting with The Wife and mentioned that I needed to figure out something to send Michelle, as I hadn't sent her anything in quite a while. The Wife and I began perusing various things, and after searching fruitlessly for a poster of one of Michelle's favorite bands, the topic eventually came to Overstock.com. For those of you who aren't me or Longhorn Mike, Overstock.com is the company that has the gorgeous German model, Sabine Ehrenfeld, on their commercials. She talks about "The Big O", and about half of the guys in the broadcast radius stop and think about what guys tend to stop and think about on a regular basis. At any rate, when we were looking, I mentioned a couple of criteria to The Wife, and she adeptly found two options. After looking at both, The Wife and I agreed that one was superior to the other, and I ordered it.
Now, as regular readers will remember, I'm accustomed to the "too much information" system used by Amazon.com, where I can track precisely where my shipment is at any given time, when it's expected to ship, where it's expected to ship from, et cetera. Well, Overstock.com is attempting to be a competitor with Amazon; as far as I'm concerned, their prices are great, but their shipping system leaves something to be desired. From the day I ordered, up until this past Wednesday, there was no information about shipping it just said "in process".
Now, I should segway at this point. When I conversed with The Wife originally, she recommended that I have the item sent to my home, then wrap it up myself and send it to Michelle. As Michelle has, on occasion, had things shipped directly to me, I elected to do the same in this case. I checked the "this is a gift" box, and continued with the order. A day or two after that, I talked to Michelle, and asked her if she'd ever done any shopping on Overstock.com. She initially responded with disdain; later, though, she had a look, and seemed more impressed with the site. I figured, "Okay, bullet dodged, good to go." We'll come back to this later.
So I waited, patiently, and then on Wednesday while I was at work, I tried the "Live Chat" option. Now, I'm convinced that the "person" I was talking to was actually a computer, because everything was perfectly spelled and there was at least one line that was flawlessly recreated. The "individual" on the other end of the chat told me that I was still within the window during which the item should have been processed and then shipped, so if it didn't arrive by a certain day, I should check again. That was Wednesday night. On Thursday night, I got an E-Mail while I was at Father Time's place saying that the item had shipped. I figured that it would hopefully arrive either Saturday or Monday.
Well, last night, while I was driving home from work, I got a call from Michelle, asking me if I ever shopped on Overstock.com. I had, of course, mentioned a few weeks ago to her that I had indeed made a purchase, but I had avoided telling her what I'd bought; I merely wanted to put the thought in her mind so that when it arrived, she'd instantly know it was from me. Well, it didn't quite work like that. The package arrived with no mention whatsoever of me, in a gift pouch, with a copy of the Overstock.com returns policy. Michelle's dad figured it was some gimmick to get people to shop there; Michelle responded that they didn't have her name or address or anything. So, figuring that it was me, she called, and I played coy initially, but eventually relented, and that's when she filled me in on the situation.
And the truth is that if I had followed The Wife's guidance, it wouldn't have happened. It's an interesting story now, and Michelle and I will probably laugh about it for years to come, but it would have been avoided if I'd just had it sent to me, and then mailed it to Michelle myself.
Wife, you were right, I was wrong. I bow down to your superior wisdom, and I vow to pretty much always follow your advice from now on. I am Obi-Wan Kenobi to your Qui-Gon Jinn.
Hey, wait a second, Qui-Gon Jinn? Sweet merciful glaven, that cheeky bearded bastard...
Many of you will have noticed regular comments from someone who, despite the protestations of Poosh, is lovely and talented: Michelle. She and I have known each other for several years, and we have a tendency to exchange gifts with each other; I will tell you right now that Michelle raises the bar as far as gift giving goes, so when I sent her something, it has to be precise, perfect, and outstanding.
Several weeks ago (precisely three weeks ago today, if I'm not mistaken), I was chatting with The Wife and mentioned that I needed to figure out something to send Michelle, as I hadn't sent her anything in quite a while. The Wife and I began perusing various things, and after searching fruitlessly for a poster of one of Michelle's favorite bands, the topic eventually came to Overstock.com. For those of you who aren't me or Longhorn Mike, Overstock.com is the company that has the gorgeous German model, Sabine Ehrenfeld, on their commercials. She talks about "The Big O", and about half of the guys in the broadcast radius stop and think about what guys tend to stop and think about on a regular basis. At any rate, when we were looking, I mentioned a couple of criteria to The Wife, and she adeptly found two options. After looking at both, The Wife and I agreed that one was superior to the other, and I ordered it.
Now, as regular readers will remember, I'm accustomed to the "too much information" system used by Amazon.com, where I can track precisely where my shipment is at any given time, when it's expected to ship, where it's expected to ship from, et cetera. Well, Overstock.com is attempting to be a competitor with Amazon; as far as I'm concerned, their prices are great, but their shipping system leaves something to be desired. From the day I ordered, up until this past Wednesday, there was no information about shipping it just said "in process".
Now, I should segway at this point. When I conversed with The Wife originally, she recommended that I have the item sent to my home, then wrap it up myself and send it to Michelle. As Michelle has, on occasion, had things shipped directly to me, I elected to do the same in this case. I checked the "this is a gift" box, and continued with the order. A day or two after that, I talked to Michelle, and asked her if she'd ever done any shopping on Overstock.com. She initially responded with disdain; later, though, she had a look, and seemed more impressed with the site. I figured, "Okay, bullet dodged, good to go." We'll come back to this later.
So I waited, patiently, and then on Wednesday while I was at work, I tried the "Live Chat" option. Now, I'm convinced that the "person" I was talking to was actually a computer, because everything was perfectly spelled and there was at least one line that was flawlessly recreated. The "individual" on the other end of the chat told me that I was still within the window during which the item should have been processed and then shipped, so if it didn't arrive by a certain day, I should check again. That was Wednesday night. On Thursday night, I got an E-Mail while I was at Father Time's place saying that the item had shipped. I figured that it would hopefully arrive either Saturday or Monday.
Well, last night, while I was driving home from work, I got a call from Michelle, asking me if I ever shopped on Overstock.com. I had, of course, mentioned a few weeks ago to her that I had indeed made a purchase, but I had avoided telling her what I'd bought; I merely wanted to put the thought in her mind so that when it arrived, she'd instantly know it was from me. Well, it didn't quite work like that. The package arrived with no mention whatsoever of me, in a gift pouch, with a copy of the Overstock.com returns policy. Michelle's dad figured it was some gimmick to get people to shop there; Michelle responded that they didn't have her name or address or anything. So, figuring that it was me, she called, and I played coy initially, but eventually relented, and that's when she filled me in on the situation.
And the truth is that if I had followed The Wife's guidance, it wouldn't have happened. It's an interesting story now, and Michelle and I will probably laugh about it for years to come, but it would have been avoided if I'd just had it sent to me, and then mailed it to Michelle myself.
Wife, you were right, I was wrong. I bow down to your superior wisdom, and I vow to pretty much always follow your advice from now on. I am Obi-Wan Kenobi to your Qui-Gon Jinn.
Hey, wait a second, Qui-Gon Jinn? Sweet merciful glaven, that cheeky bearded bastard...
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