Read It Or Not

From the “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished” Department

sfkeydel — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:45:31 +0000

About a month ago, I placed an order for some records through a British merchant, Greedbag, that maintains storefronts for artists– in this case, two of the five original Throbbing Gristle albums that had been remastered and reissued on vinyl. Directly after placing the order, I noticed on TG’s website that there was an American distributor, Forced Exposure. I realized immediately that the shipping costs would be dramatically lower, so I sent an email to Greedbag requesting to cancel the order. They replied the next morning saying that the order had not gone through, and that I would not be charged. At that point, I placed the order through Forced Exposure.

Several weeks later, on the morning that we left for California for Thanksgiving, I received an email from Greedbag indicating that my order had shipped! I immediately emailed them back to remind them that the order had been cancelled, and forwarded the earlier email thread to them. They emailed me back saying ‘not to worry’– the email had been a mistake, and nothing had been shipped. Great.

Upon arriving back in Austin, I was surprised to discover that I had a package from Greedbag with the record order I thought had been cancelled. I checked online to see if I had been charged for the order, and I discovered that I had been charged AND refunded, so I was faced with a dilemma (and not the one you’re thinking of…): there was no question that I was going to let Greedbag know about the error, and my first thought was that I would contact them and request a shipping label to send it back.

However, in the meantime, I had learned that a local record store, End of An Ear, was also carrying the reissues, and so I thought that, provided End of An Ear were willing, I would save Greedbag the shipping costs by exchanging the duplicates for two of the other reissues. They were, and I did. I then set out to contact Greedbag with this information, and here is the conversation that ensued:

—————————-

From: Stefan Keydel

Subject: Re: Your Throbbing Gristle Store order (ref #4897250170147)

Date: December 3, 2011 2:40:18 PM CST

To: Throbbing Gristle Store

Hello,

I appreciate that you refunded my money; however, you DID send the merchandise

I was able to exchange the two records at a local record store (End of An Ear) for the other two Gristle LPs, so if you would like to charge me for them (perhaps less postage), that would be fine.

Please let me know how you’d like to proceed.

Thanks,
Stefan

—————————————-

From: Throbbing Gristle Store

Subject: Your Throbbing Gristle Store order (ref #4897250170147)

Date: December 4, 2011 1:26:15 PM CST

To: Stefan Keydel

Hi Stefan

Why did you not contact us prior to exchanging them with an unknown record store? As we had refunded you these records they technically remained our property

We would therefore be very grateful if you could place an order for the 2 vinyl you received immediately.

Please send us an email when you have placed the order.

Thanks! Greedbag on behalf of the:
Throbbing Gristle Store

—————————————-

Okay… So, I volunteer that I’ve received merchandise in error at no charge, and then I get scolded for having tried to do the right thing? Indeed, my intent in exchanging the records was to save Greedbag the cost of shipping them back to the UK.

And I replied as such:

———————————-

From: Stefan Keydel

Subject: Re: Your Throbbing Gristle Store order (ref #4897250170147)

Date: December 5, 2011 8:01:29 AM CST

To: Throbbing Gristle Store

Wow! I confess that, when I imagined your response upon learning that the records had been sent to me in error, it never occurred to me that I would be scolded for having done the honorable thing in letting you know. Indeed, I thought that, by exchanging them with a local record store and having you charge me for them, I was doing you a favor by saving you the expense of paying for the postage to return them to you.

Well, as Oscar Wilde put it, ‘no good deed goes unpunished.’

Be that as it may, I’m happy to place the order; however, I would prefer not to be charged for postage, as it was in order to save those costs that I cancelled the order in the first place. Just let me know how I can do this, and I will place the order.

Thank you,

Stefan

———————————-

And the reply?

———————————–

From: Throbbing Gristle Store

Subject: Your Throbbing Gristle Store order (ref #4897250170147)

Date: December 5, 2011 10:03:37 AM CST

To: Stefan Keydel

Hi Stefan

Please re-order the 2 records on the store again.
We will then process your payment.
Throbbing Gristle Store

————————————–

Are they total dicks? Or am I being too sensitive? What would you do in my position?

Barefoot running

sfkeydel — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:32:42 +0000

Had my first go at “barefoot” running today in Boulder (which is to say that I ran in a pair of Vibram Five-Fingers running shoes). Only ran a half mile, as per their Getting Started instructions, so my feet and legs felt fine, but my lungs? Let’s just say that the altitude was a factor…

Borders to liquidate

sfkeydel — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 01:17:55 +0000

I lived in Ann Arbor when the original (and only) Borders was the best bookstore in the Midwest. Sad. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303661904576454353768550280.html

Posterous post with link

sfkeydel — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 15:43:39 +0000

Testing posting to **Posterous** from **Writing Kit**

I’ll now add a [link](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/world/europe/18hacking.html?_r=2 “Flushing them out”)

Untitled 1310882344

sfkeydel — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 06:01:31 +0000

Attached: Untitled 1310882344

Sent from Writing Kit

Testing posting to Posterous from Writing Kit

Sent from my iPad

Every now and then, an innocent one slips the noose in Huntsville

sfkeydel — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 03:54:47 +0000

How many Randall Adamses have been murdered in Huntsville at the pleasure of George W Bush and Rick Perry?

Randall Adams, 61, Dies; Freed With Help of Film

[At least one that we know of.]

The view from the pinnacle of Casa Neverlandia

sfkeydel — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 15:41:33 +0000

Taken at Casa Neverlandia

The Purple Fiddle in Thomas, WV

sfkeydel — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 22:39:29 +0000

The Victor Mourning will be playing the first gig of our tour here tonight.

2011: Walter Benjamin’s works enter the public domain

sfkeydel — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 16:28:20 +0000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Benjamin

What’s capitalism got to do, got to do with it?

sfkeydel — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 04:12:07 +0000

In “The Best Laid Plans,” Yankee apologist John Gruber laments the loss of Cliff Lee to the Phillies, and at the same time, doubles down on his opinion that teams buying championships via swollen payrolls is exactly how it outta be in a capitalist system.

I say (with apologies to Tina Turner), “What’s capitalism got to do, got to do with it?” Call me quaint, but I feel that there is something pure about sport, whether physical or intellectual, that is lost when one player or team stacks the deck via cash infusions that are far beyond what is available to other players or teams.

Does Gruber also believe that people playing chess ought to be able to purchase extra queens at the beginning (or midway through) a match? Hey, if it helps them win, their prize money will enable them to buy more queens in subsequent matches.

Should the rich kids be able to start with more money at the beginning of a Monopoly game?

I mean, of course one is entitled to believe that everything should come down to cash money, but what a one-dimensional world…