Replies to my faithful blog follower comments

Friends, I have been truly blessed by your comments.  To see that my blog posts about my dear, dead Uncle Williams have touched so many of your lives has warmed my heart.

Update: I have yet to receive the inheritance that was promised me, but I have faith that it's coming soon!  I did, after all, send my Western Union form!

Back to the comments:  If only I was able to reply to each of the hundreds of wonderful, very related-to-my-blog comments I receive each day!!  But I would love to take the time to reply to these few, very relevant, very thoughtful, very thought provoking comments regarding my post.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "More e-spam...OR...I'm about to get RICH":

Every person who love their garage and doing work in a long period of
time your garage looks better but the cleaning of
stains, and harsh solvents, you can apply garage floor paint.
Preparing Your Concrete Garage FloorBefore the garage floor paint is preparation of the floor more
difficult. 

Dear Anonymous,

Words cannot express the gratitude I feel for you taking the time to reply to my blog.  I can tell that you truly understand my plight from your thoughtful, eloquent commentary.  Without even me saying it, you know that I am a girl who LOVES her garage.  For me, it's more in theory, because I don't have a garage, but sometimes, late at night, when I'm alone, I'll be lying in bed, thinking about a garage I may have one day, and just loving it.
 
In those fantasies of mine, I'm constantly doing work in a long period of time, and my garage is looking better, because of the cleaning of stains, and harsh solvents, and I can apply garage floor paint.  It's just so...I don't know...fulfilling...to be so involved in the upkeep of my fantasy garage!

But here's something I am never able to come to terms with--HOW do I even PREPARE my concrete garage FLOORBEFORE the garage floor paint is preparation of the floor more difficult??!!

If you could just explain that, I'd be so grateful.

Thank you!
Shannon

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "More e-spam...OR...I'm about to get RICH":

It always only means that, if it is not started gradually.

Patients with eczema have skin that is exposed to light, the less
chance you will get a tan or darken. There are basically three ways that folks use this is a pretty heavy substance,
you'll want to perhaps use the oil at least for the first time you try it.

The Mayo Clinic reports that as we age, the fatty substances,
as well as other snack foods.

Here is my homepage; coconut oil face moisturizer

Dearest Anonymous,

Thank you for this information!  I really resonate with your opening sentiment--I am always starting things gradually to ensure that it doesn't always only mean that.

I am a little confused, though, as to what in my post made you think I have eczema.  I...do not have that.  I am not really sure what it is, even.  But it doesn't make a lot of sense to me that anyone's skin has LESS chance of getting tanned by being in the light--from what little I understand about science, this seems like not science.

I'm also a little confused as to the "substance" you're referring to--am I eating something, or using it on my body?  This has really seemed to take a strange turn.

I do really respect the Mayo Clinic though, so I'll work on the snack thing.  But wait--am I pro or con snacks?  It's just kind of hard to tell.  Please clarify.

Thanks,
Shannon




Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "More e-spam...OR...I'm about to get RICH":

So, you see, that I would get a loofah and vigorously massage my skin, cutting out large pieces, and stitching the remaining bits back together.
Stretch marks on the buttocks, hips, breasts, thighs, hands, breasts, upper coconut oil for stretch marks arms, under arms and forearms.

At the same time, you will realize that there's stretchmarks as well as aloe vera coconut oil for stretch marks and vitamin E.

Also visit my weblog ... coconut oil for stretch marks during pregnancy


Dear Anonymous,

I AM VERY CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR COMMENTS.

Anonymous...friend...stretchmarks are a part of life.  No matter where they appear (thank you for the list though--you're clearly very familiar with parts of the body--excellent work), even if they're a concern, they're a part of life.  Cutting out large pieces of your skin is a HORRIBLE way to address this concern!

First of all, missing large pieces of skin is going to be MUCH more noticeable than having stretchmarks, because at least when you have stretchmarks, it means that you have skin.  I guarantee that people will be much less disturbed by stretchmarks than they would be by the lack of them, if the lack of them also entails a lack of skin.

Second, and more practically: using a loofah to cut out any amount of your skin is a really, really inefficient strategy.  I can only imagine how much time and energy it would require to "cut" something with a soft, dull, edge-less item. If you really feel like you have a cut pieces of skin out, using something sharper would save you a lot of time, and probably lessen the pain. 

Third, if you're putting aloe and coconut oil in the gaping skin holes you've created..........just don't do that.  That's a big mistake.

Anonymous, I feel like this may be a sign of something bigger than you or I could handle.  You should really consider a visit to the Mayo Clinic.  If you're the same Anonymous as the last Anonymous who posted (it's hard to tell--apparently it's a much more common name than I realized.  Are you guys Greek?), you already know its reputation.

All my love,
Shannon

Re: the check I had to send to a pre-paid gift-card company.

So I had to mail a check to a pre-paid gift-card company, and I included this letter.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Card Services

Fiserv

455 South Gulph Road, Suite 405

King of Prussia, PA 19406

2 January 2014

Dear Card Services-

In response to the recent bill for $14.90 I received from you regarding my pre-paid gift-card, I wanted to reach out. 

When I received your bill, I polled the people I know.  While the overwhelming suggestion as to how to respond was to simply ignore the bill, some of the suggestions were pretty creative—my favorite being to send you a check for $20.00, and include an invoice to you for $5.10.

The sheer ridiculousness of that suggestion sheds light on the sheer ridiculousness of the bill I received from you. 

I test drove a car in October, and was told that for my time, I would be sent a pre-paid $50 gift-card.  When I received the card, I took the necessary steps to activate it, and used it for an initial purchase of around $25.  Then I took it to a local bookstore, accrued a $40 tab, handed the clerk my card and let her know to run the card for $25—the remaining balance on the card.  She attempted to, but said that the card was processed for the full $40.  We were both confused, and I told her that I must have been mistaken about the amount initially on the gift-card.  Early Merry Christmas to me—my $50 card must have been for $75!

Just kidding.  The following week, I received the attached letter, letting me know that I owed your organization for the excess charge, and a reminder that it was most definitely for sure my fault that I owed it—the “Cardholder Agreement” was referenced several times.

I’m paying my tab—I would forever regret by stubbornness if this ended up on my credit report and ruined my shot at qualifying for the best iPhone 6 deal ever in the future—but I felt that I owed it to you, to the bookstore clerk, to myself, and to society to let you know this:

Sending people gift-cards for $50, but allowing them to spend more than $50 on it is a really, really bad call.

Here’s why:

1—It makes you all look really shady. 

I’m not saying you ARE really shady, but yeah, it doesn’t look great for any legitimate business to operate by tricking their customers.  You may as well update your “Cardholder Agreement” to say “Congrats—you have $50 from us, OR more than that, depending on if the store where you run your card is able to split payments on more than one card, or if they have a system that runs the card for the amount left on the card.  In that case, liiiike…in the case that you shop at Barnes and Noble, you have an unknown amount of money from us…you’ll just have to wing it, then mail us a check at some point.  Probably.  But might be completely on the honor system…you’ll never know for sure if we would have taken this to a debt collector.  Merry Christmas!!!”

2—No one else does this. 

I like to consider myself a gift-card connoisseur.  I change my favorites every ten minutes, which means that no one is ever sure what to get me, so they get me gift-cards.   I’ve had all the pre-paids—Visa, MasterCard, mystery bank XX, the department store cards, the restaurant cards, the fast food cards, the boutique cards, the individually written cards from shops that give out gift-cards so rarely that they don’t have them mass-produced…and literally zero of them have ever, ever, ever allowed me to “overdraft” my card total.  Do they decline if the clerk tries to run them for more than is left on them?  Sure.  Do they run for only the balance of the card?  All the time.  Because that means that I only spend what’s actually on the card.  Smart.  Imitation-worthy.

3—This just seems like a REALLY bad business call.

What if I’d been car shopping instead of book shopping?!  Your only recourse would have been to sit down, write me a letter saying “Listen, you better send us a check, because YOU OWE US THAT MUCH AT LEAST SHANNON,” and were I not an honest (or credit-monitoring) person, I would have been like “Nope,” recycled that thing and driven off to Mexico in my new (free) VW.   Be honest…could I overdrafted my gift-card for $20,000?!  If yes, please let me know, because at that point, I’m no longer worried about my credit score.

4—Isn’t this also a waste of time and money for you??

I think we can all agree that it’s a waste of time for me—and a check, and a stamp, etc.  But it seems like you guys would have to be getting tired of sending these notices out.  And I cannot imagine that most people receive this and think “Oh, sure, let me go ahead and just send this gift-card company my money for their mistake,” right?  So you are either wasting MORE time and money on the follow-up, or wasting time and money on NOT following up, and having people completely blow you off (like I will always wonder if I should have), leaving you with an unpaid bill for however long, because there’s no due date.

 

Long story short, my check is attached, so hopefully my credit score will remain untarnished, and I imagine that the feedback of one girl with a pretty small gift-card isn’t even a blip on your radar.  However, it’s my New Year’s wish for you all that this policy is changed to save what I’m sure are countless others from the wasted time, check and stamp as a result of this extremely annoying policy, so I felt like I had to say it.

Best,

 

Shannon