12 December 2009 Don’t spindle, fold, or Staples

In the ever present search for a comfortable work chair, we wandered in Staples on the 9th of this month. We had found two chairs in their catalogue we wished to try for comfort. Both seemed to be what we were looking for. One was in stock, and of course, the other was not. Just before asking them to order the out of stock item for us we noticed that if we ordered both on line one would be $30 cheaper than in the store. We’d also receive a $20 discount and free shipping if we ordered them on-line. We ordered them that afternoon. In the resultant paperwork we noticed that one would be shipped by local courier and be delivered the next day, the 10th. The other would come by UPS and arrive the 11th. We figured this was a bit odd but of little concern.


At 1800 on the 10th, with no chair in sight and knowing that we would have to sign for the delivery, we called Staples. We were told the truck had broken down and we’d see the local delivery chair on the 11th.

At 0830 on the 11th we received a robo-call asking if we’d take delivery of the late chair. We, of course, agreed. At 1730 the 2nd chair arrived by UPS but we had yet to see the 1st chair. Back to the phones, only to be promised that the chair would still be delivered and that we would receive some coupons for our lost hours waiting to sign for the chair. At 1930 we called again and were told it that they were trying to track the chair. At 2300 I looked at the on-line documentation and discovered that the chair was reported as having been delivered to our front door at 1100 on the 11th. Back to the phones. The chair was still in transit but we would be compensated by refunding $50 and the chair would arrive NLT 1400 but they’d try for 1000.

At 1030 this morning I called yet again and was told the chair would have to be resent. At that point I told them to cancel the order for that item and to refund our money. I also discovered that the chair was to go on sale on the 13th so the $50 compensation was not so much compensation as we had thought.

We wound up going to Greeneville this morning and buying the chair at the local store, where the saga began on the 9th. We paid full price, the store could not honor the sale price slated for tomorrow. But the store manager was kind enough to tell us that if we bring the receipt in within the next week we can have the difference in price refunded to our credit card. Two extra trips, lots of phone time, and we will likely never know who, if anyone, got the chair we paid for that was supposedly left at our front door on the 11th.

I’d hoped to sleep in today. The dog had other thoughts. She began trying to wake Gloria about 0700. I dragged out of a perfectly warm bed to take the dog out, get the paper, start the coffee, and build up the fire.

At 0830 +/- we lost electricity for about an hour. The fire kept the main part of the house tolerable. There was enough light to read the paper and the coffee was brewed before we lost power.

We have a generator that will power the well pump and most likely the refrigerator and freezer. In order to use it, we have to disconnect the house from the power grid. I’ve got a printout of how to do this handy but for short outages it can be problematic. When we are disconnected from the grid we have no handy, available markers to let us know when power is restored. If we stay connected we can hear the switches and motors kick in. We can see light return and other markers. If disconnected we can look for down valley lights at night. But in daylight we have no markers at all and won’t as long as we remain disconnected. We also place anyone working to restore power locally risk if we run the generator for power while connected to the grid.

So for short outages, it may be better to sit and enjoy the quiet.

Post Script:

Gloria just came inside after walking the dog. Someone in a van drove up and said they’d been called this morning to deliver the missing chair. Gloria refused it.

Dinner tonight is expected to be waffles and eggs.

Ice over water again today.