Always the skeptic.....

I don't mean to have this untrusting side of me. I do want to believe in that everyone is good and that there aren't jerks out there but the truth is I've met too many of those jerks and been screwed over one too many times to trust blindly. And yet, there is still that one small part of me that wants to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

Last month I got a bag order  - for 3 Christmas bags. I was so super excited because it was my first official bonafide stranger - not even a friend of a friend order. So I promptly mailed the bags out and let the buyer know they'd be there in roughly 2 weeks (shipping to the US)

Last night I got an email from the buyer that she hadn't received the bags yet.

Now here's my problem. I didn't send it via parcel post which provides me with a postal tracking number. Partly because it costs roughly $10 more per package to send and the point is to keep costs low to raise more money...
and partly because in the last two years, between my Papa's Pride bags and my Pumpkin Patch friends I've sent more mail to the US than I can count and I've NEVER had a package not arrive. Between the Canadian and US Postal Services, I figure they've got their shit together.

So this brings me to conclusion #2....the one that makes me feel like shit for thinking it. Perhaps she's lying, she just wants another set for nothing. She's pulling a fast one. She's scamming me.

But then I want to believe in honesty and integrity and think - nah, why would she do that? I mean it's not like they're great, expensive products - they're homemade gift bags. They cost her $10.

Then I think - what is she thinking of me?!?! She's thinking  "That bitch - here she's selling these things, trying to guilt us into buying them by saying the proceeds are all going to cancer research and then I pay her and she stiffs me and doesn't send me a damned thing. SHE'S SCAMMING ME!!!"

And holy crap, I can't fathom anyone thinking anything like that about me because seriously my conscience wouldn't allow me to be that dishonest. Sure, I once stole some red fabric napkins from a Keg but I was young and stupid. Just two weeks ago I realized that the cashier at WalMart didn't charge me for a $1.00 holly branch and because I felt so guilty about it I put $5 in the Salvation Army kettle on the way out (normally I just throw in whatever small change is in my pocket...this time it was full on Paper Money!)  Money can clear your conscience when used appropriately.

So, I wrapped up three more bags and mailed them out to this woman first thing this morning....via parcel post...with a tracking number....it cost me $15 to send the bags. Yeah, the bags she paid $10 for. (insert eye roll here)  I'll swallow the loss. Shit happens. But it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Live and Learn.