Best friends EVER.
Feb. 11th, 2012 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captainsblogJust when one part of your day starts going crash bang THUMP, another comes out of nowhere to cancel that out and then some.
Tomorrow's a big day in the Keep Asheville Weird section of that golden triangle of NC and almost SC/TN. One of our best beloved writers, Joss, is doing one of her Grown-Up Kind of Pretty signings, and we have a mole in the audience:)
Or possibly a porch kitty. Depending.
Our friend Kimmy, bluesilverkdg in LJparts, lives near there, is a fellow fan, and graciously agreed to go to the signing and get a Jossograph on the book. Since I've already read it, I decided to get her to sign that copy; plus, in an odd moment of inspiration, I also decided I'd send Kim an extra book to give to Joss at the event. This one-
- my first-ever effort as a lead editor on a Published Type Book, which I just happened to have an extra of as its publisher and Amazon raced to get it here within a week of its release.
The signing is Sunday. Kim confirmed the gig on Thursday. Therefore, the Post Office would be involved in the transaction, since Dem Other Guys either don't deliver overnights on Saturdays or do so at a prohibitively high cost. I wrote Joss a nice note for the gift book, packed them up, got my quasi-assistant in the office to run postage on the new meter without setting off nuclear weapons, and took them to the local postal counter to send them on their way for Saturday delivery.
Within the hour, I chanced to check the tracking site, just as Kimmy was messaging that Porch Kitty had seen nothing delivered:
<td class="status"></td>
Sounds good, non?
<td class="status"></td>
Ya, gud. But hmmmm.... no time on that entry.
And then, the sucker punch line:
<td class="status"></td>
Ummmmm, that would be Monday. Day late, 17-plus dollars short.
Nothing on that site to suggest there's a way to contact, complain or anything. Suckstobeyou.com. Ah, but the receipt has an 800 number- and one of those voice-prompt response systems that I literally told to go deliver itself F CLASS before I confused it enough to get a human being.
Who promised that they would "research" it, and possibly get it to where it needs to be by tomorrow. Meanwhile, Kimmy, God bless her, has agreed to buy another of the books, have Joss sign it, and return it to us, just because she's Kimmy. She does that.
And we love her for it.
----
Just as this Going Postal experience was hitting Ralph Nadir, though? A second Facebook message came in. I hardly ever get or send such things, and don't think I've ever gotten two at once. This was Jenn, baseballchica03 at times in LJLand, and also, as karma would have it, a friend of Kimmy's.
She's sick, boo. But she and husband had plans to see the Philharmonic tonight, and can't go, and would we like to?
Can you say yay?!? Eleanor did (I waited a few moments to check; she has wipeout Saturdays at work, but she thinks she's up to it after getting some rest now), and we'll be picking them up in a few hours. We'd also planned an early Valentines dinner for tonight anyway, which I, being I, had not thought a wink about when or where to go. Now, though, we have a bunch of possibilities on Hertel near Jenn's place, which is on the way to the BPO, which is making even postal incompetence seem minor in comparison to an afternoon full of majorly awesome friends.
::hugs all around::
Tomorrow's a big day in the Keep Asheville Weird section of that golden triangle of NC and almost SC/TN. One of our best beloved writers, Joss, is doing one of her Grown-Up Kind of Pretty signings, and we have a mole in the audience:)
Or possibly a porch kitty. Depending.
Our friend Kimmy, bluesilverkdg in LJparts, lives near there, is a fellow fan, and graciously agreed to go to the signing and get a Jossograph on the book. Since I've already read it, I decided to get her to sign that copy; plus, in an odd moment of inspiration, I also decided I'd send Kim an extra book to give to Joss at the event. This one-
- my first-ever effort as a lead editor on a Published Type Book, which I just happened to have an extra of as its publisher and Amazon raced to get it here within a week of its release.
The signing is Sunday. Kim confirmed the gig on Thursday. Therefore, the Post Office would be involved in the transaction, since Dem Other Guys either don't deliver overnights on Saturdays or do so at a prohibitively high cost. I wrote Joss a nice note for the gift book, packed them up, got my quasi-assistant in the office to run postage on the new meter without setting off nuclear weapons, and took them to the local postal counter to send them on their way for Saturday delivery.
Within the hour, I chanced to check the tracking site, just as Kimmy was messaging that Porch Kitty had seen nothing delivered:
<td class="status">
Processed through USPS Sort Facility February 11, 2012, 7:59 am CHARLOTTE, NC 28228
Sounds good, non?
<td class="status">
Depart USPS Sort Facility February 11, 2012 CHARLOTTE, NC 28228
Ya, gud. But hmmmm.... no time on that entry.
And then, the sucker punch line:
<td class="status">
Missent February 11, 2012, 10:20 am Guaranteed By: February 13, 2012, 3:00 PM
Ummmmm, that would be Monday. Day late, 17-plus dollars short.
Nothing on that site to suggest there's a way to contact, complain or anything. Suckstobeyou.com. Ah, but the receipt has an 800 number- and one of those voice-prompt response systems that I literally told to go deliver itself F CLASS before I confused it enough to get a human being.
Who promised that they would "research" it, and possibly get it to where it needs to be by tomorrow. Meanwhile, Kimmy, God bless her, has agreed to buy another of the books, have Joss sign it, and return it to us, just because she's Kimmy. She does that.
And we love her for it.
----
Just as this Going Postal experience was hitting Ralph Nadir, though? A second Facebook message came in. I hardly ever get or send such things, and don't think I've ever gotten two at once. This was Jenn, baseballchica03 at times in LJLand, and also, as karma would have it, a friend of Kimmy's.
She's sick, boo. But she and husband had plans to see the Philharmonic tonight, and can't go, and would we like to?
Can you say yay?!? Eleanor did (I waited a few moments to check; she has wipeout Saturdays at work, but she thinks she's up to it after getting some rest now), and we'll be picking them up in a few hours. We'd also planned an early Valentines dinner for tonight anyway, which I, being I, had not thought a wink about when or where to go. Now, though, we have a bunch of possibilities on Hertel near Jenn's place, which is on the way to the BPO, which is making even postal incompetence seem minor in comparison to an afternoon full of majorly awesome friends.
::hugs all around::
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-11 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-11 09:17 pm (UTC)