Ramblings of a 20-Something
Archive for May, 2010
Monica Thought This Was Funny
May 26th
I happen to agree with her.
She spotted this at work a few weeks ago and asked me to post it here. I kept forgetting but here it is now in all its glory. It’s an ad for W.B. Mason, a large office supply retailer in the northeast U.S.. Their logo has an old timey looking guy with a mustache. They’ve updated that look for the ad. Look at how this pale fellow sparkles. He’s so clean! How did he get so clean? By using products purchased from W.B. Mason of course!
James and the Big City: Part 2 – Electric Boogaloo
May 23rd
So it’s a bit later than I thought I’d be writing this but at least I’m not taking months to write about a vacation I took 8 months ago. The day after I drove into the city for the A&E upfront presentation, I found myself driving down there once again. This time it was for a panel discussion hosted by Collective, which is an online ad network that we’ve used on a few campaigns. I looped Rob into this as well because it seemed like something he’d be interested in.
I left work a little early and got down there at least a half hour before the event was supposed to start. I got to the building and walked around. It was in Columbus Circle so I considered taking a quick stroll through Central Park but Rob was on his way to meet me so I didn’t have the chance. We walked by the shops for a little bit and killed enough time to arrive at the event around the start time.
This was held at 10 on the Park which is this swanky little place near or in the Time Warner building. The whole floor was decked out with the Collective logo, but in a classy way, not like with a bunch of stickers or something. I enjoyed a handful of appetizers and did not enjoy a few others while talking with Rob, our reps at Collective and a few other people. My one complaint was that the panel didn’t start up right away. We got there at 6:30 but the panel didn’t start until 8. What am I supposed to do for an hour and a half? Network? I can only eat so many appetizers!
The panel started just after I tried to eat this appetizer that consisted of spiced beef in a little tortilla shell and broke the tortilla, sending the beef everywhere including into my soda. Mmmm…beef soda. It was actually a really interesting panel discussion about the future of display advertising. I don’t talk much about it here, but the Internet ad space is an ever changing, Wild West-like area where success metrics are constantly evolving but still not completely where everyone wants them. There’s really no “ratings” in the online world like there are for radio and TV. The discussion talked about how the space is changing and where the panelists thought it would go.
After the discussion wrapped up around 9, Rob and I chatted with some reps for a little while. The waiters were walking around with these tiny muffin-like baked goods in a variety of flavors like mint chocolate chip and confetti. I must have eaten at least 10 of them. There were also cookies that could have doubled as coasters due to how hard they were.
After about an hour, I said my goodbyes and head home. I got back to the apartment around 11. On the way back I realized that even though I had seen Monica before and after I got home the day before and during the day, I actually missed her a lot. Yeah, that sounds totally cheesy and stuff, but hey, I’m marrying her for a reason, yo
James and the Big City (Part 1 of 2)
May 12th
I work in advertising and since I’m in this business and I work so close to New York City, I get invited to various events that the sites, networks, and stations put together down there. Normally I don’t even consider going to these things. I feign interest and act like I want to go but deep down I don’t care enough to do anything about it. I just don’t want to deal with the hassle of driving down to the city, finding parking, and then dealing with the commute back. I also don’t feel like taking the train in just for some event that might not be entirely relevant to me. Plus, I usually just want to go home after work and rest and watch DVDs or play video games. I’m a simple guy. That being said, I went to the city (by car, no less!) two nights in a row last week.
Co-worker Rena was invited to the A&E / Lifetime upfront presentation at the IAC Building on Tuesday but she couldn’t go. She offered me the invite. At first glance, I figured I’d do my usual “Oh yeah, I should check that out…” and then not do anything about it. Something caught my attention on the invite though. There would be a performance by John Legend and the Roots. Now, I had no idea who John Legend was, but I’m a big fan of the Roots. I thought about it for a little while before finally deciding to RSVP. Like I said, I get invited to stuff like this and it’s not always relevant to me, but here is something that I’d actually be interesting in attending. Good deal. I responded and I was good to go.
Tuesday came and I drove down to the city for the event. The place was decked out and a ton of people ended up squeezing into the lobby of the building. If you’ve never been to the IAC Building, you’ve probably at least driven past it on the West Side Highway and thought “That’s a really weird looking building.” It is, but it’s a beautiful space. I hobknobed with some of the reps we work with and talked to some co-workers all the while snagging some of the appetizers that were making their way around the room. Thanks to the fact that everyone was wearing nametags I spotted a rep at an agency that we’ve been working with and made an introduction. That worked out really well. Great networking.
The presentation began and I started spotting some celebrities near by. I saw the twins from the show Sister, Sister from like 15 years ago. They apparently have some show on A&E or something now. I also saw the winner of Project Runway which Rob pointed out to me after I saw him and thought “That guy looks really weird.” William Shatner and David Hasselhoff were also in attendance. After the promo reels were show displaying the upcoming shows on A&E, Lifetime, and History it was time for some entertainment. Bob Saget (who also has a show on A&E now) did a few minutes of stand-up. Despite claiming that it was his clean act, it was still pretty dirty and very funny. After that John Legend and the Roots took the stage. As I mentioned before, I had never heard of John Legend. He put on a great show. I would have liked to have seen more from the Roots though. It was basically John Legend with his backup band, The Roots. I head out after the music stopped and got home in about 40 minutes which surprised me.
My one regret from the evening was not taking my camera with me. I left it in my messenger bag which I checked to avoid having to lug it around with me all night. There were plenty of times that I wished I had it with me as there were many photo opportunities that would have accompanied this blog post.
That was my first of two nights in the city. Part two will come (hopefully) tomorrow. Will our hero eat more appetizers? Will he perform small talk with various people he may or may not know? What if he gets lost? Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion!
James: 1, Canada: 0
May 8th
When we last left our hero, he had come to a settlement with eBay and the nation of Canada. We pick up the story one week later.
The instructions I received from eBay were pretty clear. The buyer was going to send the comics back to me within the week. He would also get a tracking confirmation on the package and upload that number to the eBay case file. The reason for this was so that eBay could track the package and verify when it was delivered to me. Then and only then would eBay (not me) process a refund to the buyer. Then they’d bill me and all would be said and done. Seems simple, right? I go on with my life and re-list the comics. This guy does whatever he does being a comic book nerd and all is right in the world.
Apparently not. On Wednesday (4 days into the week the buyer had to send me the comics), I get a message from said buyer. He says that eBay has told him to send the comics back with a tracking number but he’s not sending anything until he gets his full refund plus the amount for the return shipping. While I can understand where he’s coming from, that’s not what eBay (the governing body here) has instructed. I thought about not responding to this message at all, thinking that if I don’t respond, I’ll just wait out the clock and be done with this. I’m not that kind of guy though and I wanted to show that I was still being responsive and supportive throughout the process.
I responded to the buyer explaining that according to everything I received from eBay, the refund won’t be processed until the items are received. That’s why they asked for the tracking confirmation. I also pointed out that I’m not actually going to be processing the refund. eBay will be doing that. Then they bill me for it.
That was on Wednesday. I have yet to hear another peep from the buyer. I woke up this morning to find an email from eBay.
This case was automatically closed on May 07, 2010. The buyer was required to submit information regarding this case, but we didn’t hear back. The item won’t be returned to you, and the buyer won’t be issued a refund.
It seems the buyer didn’t do what was asked of him from eBay. He dropped the ball and now the whole thing is over. Although I’m sure it’s not over in the buyer’s eyes. I’m waiting to see if he’ll either send the comics anyway, expecting the refund or send me another nasty message making demands. He can do whatever he likes, but according to both me and eBay, this transaction is closed. I did everything by the book. Take that, Canada.
I Fought the eBay and…It Was a Draw?
May 2nd
As some of you may know, I’ve been in the process of selling off my single issue comics for the past few months. It’s been a slow process, but I put up about 2-3 auctions each week on eBay consisting of groups of comics that go together. Basically I put storylines in one bunch so that a buyer can come in and pick up an entire run of a series without missing something. Throughout this whole time I haven’t had a single problem with any of the auctions. The transactions were smooth and occasionally some books would sell for less than I’d like them to, but I was getting rid of them. At this time I’ve already cleaned out 2 or 3 long boxes worth of comics. I’m also taking my winnings and buying the comics I’d like to read again in trades so I’ll actually read them instead of letting them sit in a box.
So with all this going well, it was only a matter of time before I had some sort of problem. I sold a batch of comics to a guy in Canada. I don’t normally ship to Canada but he asked and I figured I’d do it. I packaged the comics like I do every other batch that I put through and sent them out. A week or so goes by and I totally forget about them until I get a message from the guy out of the blue. He received the comics and claims that they’re all bent and he wants, no DEMANDS, a refund. Buh? I’m shocked by this. I don’t understand how this could have happened at all. I respond as polite as I can asking for more information and explaining that this has never happened to me before.
Eventually he sends me pictures of the comics and the “damage.” I put that word in quotes because if you didn’t know where the “damage” was you wouldn’t notice it.
If you look real hard, the right hand corner of the book is slightly dented, as if someone dropped the box on it’s corner. The buyer said himself that the box was “slightly torn” when he received it. I’m totally taken aback by this. Are you serious? This is what’s wrong with the books? He even went so far as to say he was really irritated because he was looking forward to reading these. I ask him what is stopping him from reading the books as clearly there is no pages missing or anything like that. His response confirms my suspicions about him. He said that it didn’t matter anymore because he had just bought the hardcover collections of the books and that these would just be added to the collection anyway (which amassed 40+ boxes of all near mint books as that is the standard of his collection). I really wish I was making this up.
I asked eBay what I should do and they said that the buyer should open up a case regarding this if the items were damaged. I asked the guy to do that and then escalated the case for a decision from eBay. My auction stated that I do not accept returns and this guy didn’t offer to buy insurance for the package even though he said this has happened to him before. Within a few hours, eBay had made its decision. They sided with the buyer. What will happen now is as follows: The buyer returns the comics to me but does so with a shipping confirmation. Once eBay confirms that the comics have been received (by using the shipping confirmation), they’ll refund the amount paid for the auction and take the balance out of my PayPal account. Then I can re-list the comics on eBay and hopefully sell them to a less picky buyer.
This whole experience has left me rather disgruntled. I was on a good run with getting these comics out and now there’s a small part of me that doesn’t want to bother. That part will disappear once I remember that the next time I move I’ll have to lug these comic boxes down all those stairs. I’m sure I’ll be back on the eBay wagon again. Also, I’m a little disappointed that this guy got all rude and stuff. I could have probably sold him more comics.
