I’ve been fixing up my living room. A couple of years ago I bought a couch, chair and ottoman from someone in Hidden Valley Lake. It was a great deal and they even threw in a slip cover in sage green for all three pieces. So, with help, I took off the old burgundy slip covers, washed them and stored them. The “new” slip covers have changed the look of the living room, brightening it immensely. That spurred me onto buying some sage green curtains from Etsy that were made and shipped from South Korea. I couldn’t wait for them to arrive!
Unfortunately, they never arrived. An email told me the expensive curtains were delivered, but they weren’t.
After many hours of investigating, I found that they had delivered my curtains to a non-existent address. I know because I walked the length of my street. Where in the world could they have delivered my package? Of course they figured out how to collect my money.
When I was on a chat to the Etsy seller, they kept thanking me for my patience. What could I do? Shout at them using all caps?
Still on the quest to finish redoing my living room, I decided to find a chair online to replace my butt-ugly green tufted chair that the kitties had used to sharpen their kitty claws.
Within minutes I found a great BarcaLounger on Craigslist. To get it, I asked the seller if she’d deliver the hefty chair if I sweetened the pot. That worked and within the day two fellows brought the reddish-colored chair into my house and took the pea green chair out to the curb.
I wrote “free” on a paper plate and propped it up on the seat of the chair. I didn’t really expect anyone to take it however a man and woman stopped to check it out. The man asked me if the chair was really free, and I said, “Yes, please take it.” As the man dragged it to his car, his female companion said something to him and he dragged the chair back to my side of the road. He then retrieved the “free” sign he had thrown into my trash bin and placed it back on the chair, held it in place by the rock from my garden. His body language said he was pretty ticked off at his friend.
I wasn’t worried for I simply called the trash company to pick the chair up and also to replace my broken recycle bin top. They said they’d do that the next trash day, a week later. That gave time for some other lucky couple who might love my crappy pea green chair with the stuffing sticking out the chance to whisk it away. Anything’s possible when it’s on the side of the road.
I guess someone really loved the cushion on the chair because that disappeared overnight. So the forlorn chair would sit out at the curb for the next week. I was pretty certain no one would take it home and love it like my cats had.
The next day, the trash company’s pickup truck stopped by and replaced my broken recycle bin. The fellow orchestrating that asked if I wanted him to take the chair. Yes! Within minutes, the chair was gone.
As for the curtains that I loved, paid for and did not receive, I have one option left; call South Korea. I could probable call using WhatsApp. Or I could forget it. Write the loss off.
What’s a girl to do?…I think I’ll wash the old curtains, then sit on my “new” BarcaLounger and maybe take a nap.
Lucy Llewellyn Byard is currently a columnist for the Record-Bee. To contact her, email lucywgtd@gmail.com
