BS: Surprise packages

Subject: BS: Surprise packages
From: frogprince
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 03:32 PM

A few weeks ago, I went to Home Depot for some finishing nails. I found the shelf spot, with a sample just like I wanted taped there. All the pound boxes of nails were clearly labeled as containing the nail I wanted. Every box was filled with an odd specialized nail of some sort, totally distinct from what they were labeled for.

A couple of days ago, my wife opened a new (opaque) plastic bag of "sweet dark cherries" from Meijers. It did contain about half cherries; the rest was frozen peaches.

Today I went to "TSC" (Tractor Supply Company) to buy some small ball bearings sized to fit a 3/8th inch rod. The bearings were in a small bin, in individual factory sealed bags. Each bag in the bin was clearly labeled as the proper bearing for that bin, with a 3/8ths inside diameter. About a third of the bearings had 1/2 inch inside diameter.
Is it just my luck, or is this happening to everyone?

Subject: RE: BS: Surprise packages
From: gnu
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 03:50 PM

Never leave the driv-thru until you check what's in the bag. Even when I buy something in a sealed box (like it was just delivered from the manufacturer), I open it and check that everything is there... I don't buy no pig in no poke... period.

Subject: RE: BS: Surprise packages
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 04:01 PM

These things are known as 'FFFs'... Friday, Five to Four ~ those things done at 3.55pm on a Friday afternoon when people just want to get home.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Surprise packages
From: Wesley S
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 04:37 PM

I think the ONLY problem I ever had with an order from Elderly was just a few weeks ago. I ordered a Blind Blake boxed set and received Flatt & Scruggs instead. Just a little bit of a difference. They corrected their error of course.

Many years ago when I worked for a record store Capricorn records rushed to get out the "Eat A Peach" double record set just after Duane Allman died. We got a whole bunch of them that had two of the same LP packaged together - and several that included an Aretha Franklin LP.

Subject: RE: BS: Surprise packages
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 05:21 PM

I agree--I always check the drive-thru bag. I've stopped ordering some of the things at Wendy's that they consistently get wrong. I don't eat much drive-in food any more, so that lessens the number of problems.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Surprise packages
From: Peace
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 05:24 PM

"Never leave the driv-thru until you check what's in the bag."

Joe Pesci in the Lethal Weapon movies--can't recall which one: "They fu#k you at the drive through. They always fu#k you at thge drive through."

Y'ever try getting more than one little bag of salt outta fast-food places? Keriste.

Subject: RE: BS: Surprise packages
From: JennyO
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 10:27 PM

Nah - never happens to me. All you people have had that chip that Cansouth was talking about, implanted in your brains - haven't you noticed that you have been blinking more lately???

Subject: RE: BS: Surprise packages
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 09:24 AM

We're not blinking, it's just the world stops existing for brief intervals, so we can't see it....

Subject: RE: BS: Surprise packages
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 10:36 AM

It wouldn't have anything to do with the country of origin would it? And its attitude towards human life in general? Its failure to understand a contract or the nature of a deal?

I sew clothes. To frogprince's list I can add snaps that don't snap, buttons with hidden sharp edges that cut through any thread, and Christmas lights with the safety fuse replaced with a hunk of wire.

Oh yes, the electric fan that died after one year, the under-bed shoe drawer that doesn't roll on its rollers, the......

Subject: RE: BS: Surprise packages
From: frogprince
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 01:15 PM

But y' know, leeneia, thats sorta another area; I'm disgusted enough myself with items made with so little regard for workmamship or material that they are flat out worthless. But I was thinking here of perfectly good products (U.S. made, in a couple of my examples) that were apparently packaged by someone who was totally "asleep at the switch".

Subject: RE: BS: Surprise packages
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 01:30 PM

This surprised me: a few weeks back I took $50 out of the ATM at my bank and it coughed over three $20 bills. The first surprise came when I got this compunction to take the extra to the teller (I still can't believe I did that) but then he talks to his supervisor and they tell me thay have no mechanism for putting the extra $10 back into the system, so ... enjoy. I bet they'd have found a way if it had slipped me an extra grand. I bet I'd have thought longer about returning it, too ;o)

Subject: RE: BS: Surprise packages
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 02:30 PM

Shoddy workmanship is accepted more these days because most of the time it is cheaper to replace the product than to try to a) repair it; b) find the part; or c) waste hours of your life on the phone to repair men/guarantee offices/looking for the guarantee that will have run out the day before the thing broke.

Lego are good at giving extra 'bits'.... they make up a set and then weigh the bags. Every following set is made up to that weight and sometimes an extra brick or technik bit creeps in. If the weight is slightly over, they don't check....

I did once get an extra cheeseburger at a drive through, which was just as well because they'd forgotten the fries!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Surprise packages
From: CarolC
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 03:01 PM

On the way home from the Getaway, we booked, online, a non-smoking room at a Microtel in Augusta, Georgia. When we got there, all that were left were smoking rooms (we're allergic to cigarette smoke and residues). And then, I found old food left in the microwave oven and in the little fridge in the room.

As we were leaving the next morning, we encountered a man (possibly one of the owners or a general manager) in the parking lot. He asked us if we were satisfied with our experience there. We said 'not really', and explained about the smoking room. He said he would refund half of our money. And then we told him about the food in the microwave and fridge. He said he would refund all of our money and gave us our night's stay there free. Sometimes these things work out in the end.