August 24, 2016

Yep

So. Over at the land of Tumblr, which is currently owned by Yahoo, but soon to be owned by someone else (Yahoo that is), we have a fresh post at I Are Writer!

Over at Amazon, as promised we have our poison pen, or rather, poison computer book review of The Butler's Child. Strangely enough, if you scroll down a bit, you'll see a hilarious comment that someone left calling me a "racist" for equating a well known murder case with another well known murder case. Because I have a basic understanding on how things work on the Amazon commenting forums, there is no way in Sulfur City that I will dignify that comment with a response.

Even though it was a lovely addition to this post, the state of being offered by the post title (pop culture reference King Of The Hill) isn't about that, but about the annoying little things that go wrong when you're trying to take one step forward but find yourself doing the cha-cha.

Annoying little thing numero uno: I decided to participate in a giveaway that a fellow author was doing. She was asking for leftover schwag that people had to use to create giveaway boxes, so I decide to participate. I shipped some stuff out last week (postcards & business cards). Yesterday, got an e-mail from her friend asking if I had mailed something to her. I said "yes, why?". She said, "it came postage due". I said, "seriously?". She said, "yes. because it was shipped media mail, the postmaster opened it, examined it, and determined it was advertisements."

I was actually warned about this on my end 'cause the post office was cracking down on people who used media mail to ship more expensive non-media items. So what I said was this to her, "you can either pay it for me and I'll reimburse you, or return to sender and I'll reship priority mail."

If she chooses #1, I'll send her check for the amount, plus free copies of my books from Smashwords for her aggravation. #2 I'll reship it and will still give her coupons for my books.


Annoying little thing numero dos: Previously, I said my lovely daughter wanted to read my book. Well, the other night she found a typo on my blurb that wasn't picked up by Word, 'cause the typo created another valid word. You can pretty much guess where this is going. I was able to fix it on Amazon, and when the time comes for print I'll have the graphic designer fix the cover. And I was able to fix it, belatedly, on Vistaprint for my postcards, so when I order them again, it will be correct.

The typo? The original word was star. The typo created start.

Annoying little thing numero tres: I have an extremely low tolerance of businesses who treat others like peons/serfs. In my particular case, we have an agency who marches to the beat of a thrash metal drummer while everyone marches to the beat of a jazz drummer, and has an ego bigger than either The Donald or Hillary combined. Anyways, the other day, I had the audacity (or temerity) to acutally question their word on something. They promptly threw a hissy fit and complained to my supervisor, who decided to ban me from going to that agency while on the clock.

I said, "Works for me."

I bring this up because the other day (Thursday), long story short, I had to do a petty cash check for someone. It was ready the next day, but because I wasn't allowed to play fetch, and since only men are apparently capable of going there, the check wasn't picked up until yesterday (Tuesday) by another supervisor who was a bit peeved that they had to pick it up in the first place.

Hey, when decisions are made on a whim, this is what happens.

Life may be full of redundancies, but it's up to you to channel your inner Bill Murray to make them acceptable.

 (c) 2016 BOOKS BY G.B. MILLER. All Rights Reserved.

18 comments:

  1. Spell check can NEVER replace a careful proofreading by an actual person. Thank gawd humans aren't totally expendable yet!

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    1. This is so very true. I missed that typo almost a month ago when I was rewriting my blurb.

      Delete
  2. Typos drive me insane. Well they did when I was a graphic designer. I'll never forget the one I had on my own business card. Irreplaceable spelt irreplacable. Because they cost so much to produce I just had to leave it as it was. Still bugs me to this day. :D

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    1. Someone pointed out a typo on a bookmark that I had made for my book, which kind of sucked since it was used directly from a review that someone left and they had misspelled one word, and it stayed like that through multiple sets of eyes. Also would've cost way too much to fix, so I had to leave it as is.

      Delete
  3. Looks as if you're getting a lion's share of annoying things right now - hope things get better soon.

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    1. Well it definitely can't get no worse, simply because I refuse to let it get worse.

      Delete
  4. Hey, you were just following orders.
    Bummer about the typo, but glad your daughter caught it.
    And scary to think they can open our mail like that...

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    1. To a degree I was, but at that other agency, they don't liked to be question about anything they say. Anything.

      Very scary, but sometimes the USPS has to take drastic measures in order keep the bleeding of money as low as humanly possible.

      Delete
  5. The post office must be desperate for funds more than we thought.

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    1. Apparently so. This will teach me to pay closer attention to what my local postal clerk has to say.

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  6. Replies
    1. Exceptionally so, because I feel really bad for the person I sent the stuff to. I'm making it right, but I should've sent it the proper way in the fist place.

      Delete
  7. Why do the annoying as fuck things happen in spurts? Usually when it's also hot as hell? Sorry, my friend!

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    1. Got that right. Especially when it's hot, and muggy, and steamy. The shorter the fuse the better.

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  8. I cannot understand why certain work functions are divided by gender. Honestly. Why? Like, I'm automatically supposed to know how to make coffee for someone (which I don't really because I don't drink or make coffee at home, ever) but I'm also expected to be unable to change a lightbulb or oil a hinge, which I actually find easy. People actually comment "Aren't there any men who can do that?" Well yes, there are, but I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself!

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    1. For all the years that I've been at my current place (11 and counting) it has always been the domain of the men to fetch/retrieve stuff from the Comptrollers. Prior to going paperless two years ago, we were required to retrieve trays check stubs and W-2's. When I'd asked about why women couldn't do those things, my supervisor (a woman) said that the last one got into multiple fender benders with the state van prior to my arrival in '06, which is why men predominately do it.

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  9. What is with everyone calling everyone else "racist"? It seems like the trendy thing to do these days.

    Can't believe the Post Office actually tampered with your mail. That's so messed up. Maybe if their rates weren't so damn high we'd all use the service we're supposed to. I've done the same w/media mail before - ever try shipping a monster box of 5000 baseball cards? It is heavy!

    I agree with Debra about typos. good on your daughter for catching it!

    The Pedestrian Writer

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    1. The word "racist" doesn't really bother me. The person who uses it shows that they really don't have a valid point in their argument, thus resort to name calling (I've been called much, much worse).

      I've used media mail before, mostly to mail my books to people, so I didn't think it was a big deal. But apparently the post office has been having issues with people not using the proper mailing rate.

      It's good that it was caught now, as opposed when the print edition comes out, so it was a lot easier/cheaper to fix.

      Delete

These days, the written word is to die for, so please leave a comment that shows me and everyone else the real you. All kinds of verbiage will be cheerfully accepted in the spirit it was written.