Cranky Shelley, More Than EVER

It's been a long time since I've done a Cranky Shelley post, and I don't know why, but lately there have been some things happen that I am just not willing to let pass.  Maybe it's because I'm in that "I'm 50 (ok, 55), no-holds-barred" mode, maybe it's because there are so many national issues that I hate but are out of my control, but whatever the case, I'm not letting things go without getting my point across to the powers that be.

First up, forced charity.  That whole "would you like to round up your purchase to donate to XXX cause" question that seems to come everywhere - the pet store, the office supply store, clothing stores, the grocery store - I mean, come ON.  Just let me make my purchase without having to say no to giving extra money to whatever cause your corporation has deemed worthy.  Jeff and I do donate to causes that are meaningful to us, but we don't like being hit up for extra money after we've already given a store our business.

With that said, you can imagine my ire when I was shopping last weekend and the clerk asked if I would like to round up.  I said no, and he said REALLY?  I said yes, really - I don't want to round up.  He proceeded to tell me how the money goes to a certain program; the premise behind that store is that for every ten dollars spent, a meal is donated to Feeding America.  Great - I like that they are civic-minded, and they will donate many meals with what I was spending.  But to have that clerk push and push for an additional 74 cents was irritating.  And the topper was when he printed my receipt, he had indeed rounded it up.  I saw that and told him I was not happy about it, but the entire transaction took so long that I just signed and left the store.  But wait, there's more:  When I got home, I emailed the company about what had happened, and I included the clerk's name, which was conveniently printed on the receipt, and store number.  To their credit, customer serviced emailed me back within 12 hours (and this was on Labor Day), aghast at the behavior of the clerk.  They said they will speak with him and his manager to correct this behavior, and I'm happy with this outcome.  But really, stores - just let me shop in peace!

Next is my Ninja smoothie blender.  You know, the one I bought after I returned home from North Carolina?  Even though it was incredibly ear-splitting loud, I love how nicely it made my smoothies - my blender wasn't handling frozen fruit without a ton of water, which at that point made a very thin drink, not the thicker smoothie that I wanted.  I used my Ninja several times a week for smoothies, and then on Wednesday, I put all my ingredients in the blender cup, popped on the machine, and...nothing.  It was dead.  D-E-A-D, dead.  I'd had it for only six weeks.  If you think I was extremely irritated by this, you would be correct.

I bought it through Amazon, which I'm realizing now, was a mistake.  Had I bought it at Bed Bath and Beyond, I could have just returned it, with the receipt, for up to a year.  But with Amazon, the return window had closed.  Still, I contacted their customer service because this was obviously a defective appliance.  In turn, they connected me with the Ninja customer service, who, after quite a while of going through every way they could think of to get the machine working again, agreed that it was dead (no kidding) and said they could authorize sending me a new blender.  Great, right?  Not so fast.  First I had to box up and send the old system back, using a prepaid return shipping label that they would email to me.  But then they insisted that I pay for shipping for the new blender, at a cost of $20 plus tax.  WHAT THE WHAT??  It's freaking defective!  Why should I have to pay anything after six weeks?  I was so mad.  I didn't pay the return money and at this point, I'm still in contact with Amazon's customer service about this not being resolved.

I have no idea what will end up happening, but in the month after I purchased the blender, there have been multiple one-star reviews on Amazon with people experiencing the exact same issue as me - a dead blender after just a short time of use.  So I'm irritated that my awesomely healthy smoothies are not happening - it was such a great way to get a lot of nutrients thanks to the kale and fruit and yogurt - and I've started looking at other smoothie blenders only to read in reviews that so many of them seem to croak out after just a few months of use.  I do not want to spend a fortune on something like a Vitamix - and I won't - but dang it, I really want to have my smoothies!

Another irritant is with Ikea - I bought new bath towels when we did our house renovation, which replaced the same kind that I'd had for about five years...they had just faded with all the washing, so I wanted to replace them.  Well, two of the eight that I bought have already shredded along the edges.  So along with other items that we were returning, I put those two towels into the stack because Ikea has a 365 day satisfaction guarantee with their products.  Would you believe the clerk wouldn't take them back because they were damaged?  No matter how much Jeff kept saying that they were damaged because they were defective, neither the clerk nor the manager would budge.  As you might imagine, Jeff has sent a strongly-worded email to Ikea.  So does Ikea stand by their guarantee or not?  I will let you know, but right now it's not looking good.  Very disappointed in you, Ikea.

Last, and I won't bore you with all the details, but we still have not received one retirement payment yet.  To recap, Jeff retired on June 30.  His retirement coordinator at TRS (Teacher's Retirement System) said that the first payment is delayed about six weeks while they get all the paperwork in their system.  Fine, we were aware of that because it's a known thing, and we were prepared, money-wise.  We should have seen a payment in mid-August, for July, and then another payment on August 31, for the month of August.  NOTHING.  Again, we are still fine thanks to planning and also because Jeff has another job, but holy crap, how do people who retire with no other job make this work?  Along with not receiving any payments yet, we have been paying our share of the monthly insurance premiums...so we're doing our part, but they sure as heck are taking their sweet time to do their part.  Jeff has been in contact with TRS about this, but so far, we're still waiting.  It's irritating, as you might imagine.

OK.  That's enough crank for today.  Thank you for listening - and if you have any crankiness you need to vent about, comment away!