Thank y9ou,
PotentialBuyer"
OK, I admit I read it quickly because I was a bit frazzled (you'll read why later) and then got really confused. Why is she asking me why the interior is a certain size? How does she know the interior widget size since I don't mention it in the listing? I really didn't know what she was asking, so I responded that I didn't understand her question and asked her if she was wondering what the size was. Upon reflection, I realize she wasn't asking WHY the interior was a certain size, but WHAT the diameter is (WHAY?). Damnit people, can't you fix your damn typos that obscure the meaning of your questions? There's this new line of thought that says "if people understand it, it doesn't matter if it's spelled right." Yeah, but if it's not spelled right, how do you know if people are going to understand it? Damn.
But here's the really annoying thing that I got in the mail: A notice of an unpaid parking ticket. In Beloit. Yes, Beloit. Seems that someone with our license plate was parked on the 1700 block of Summit Avenue in Beloit on January 18, 2007 at 1:57 AM. WE WERE IN BED. ASLEEP. AT HOME. IN MADISON. 50 some miles away from Beloit. Hell, we haven't even BEEN through Beloit since sometime in 2003 or early 2004, and then it was just a drive around town to see if they had any decent greenhouses, which they didn't. I don't think we EVER parked in Beloit in our life. Seems like we're being assessed a penalty because the first ticket wasn't paid. Well, it wasn't paid, because we didn't GET a ticket, and we didn't GET a ticket because we weren't parked on 1700 Summit in Beloit in the middle of the fucking night!
So I called the number on the letter. I told the woman I spoke to my story (sans emotion and cusswords). She fiddled through some papers and told me she would get back with me and mentioned something about having problems with that ticket. WTF?!? Trouble with that ticket? Yea, there's trouble with that ticket allright, like it's NOT OURS!?
Ya think that just maybe because it was in the middle of the night that the ticket cop could've *possibly* misread the license plate, mistaken a 2 for a Z or a 6 for an 8? Ya think?
They haven't called back yet. I don't want to wait too long since it's a Friday afternoon, and on Friday afternoons employees like that scatter like roaches in a floodlight.
I just called again. I got a pre-recorded message. Aaaarrgh.
Edited to add:
Premise for creepy movie:
Someone gets a parking ticket for their car being parked overnight in some city where they didn't live, plus, it was at night when they were at home asleep, and so was their car. But they decide to do a little research to find out just what they were doing that day or the following day, so they go to their diary and find out they had recorded a dream from that night, and in that dream, they had a dream where they were driving and walking around a strange city. Then they have to go fight the ticket in the city where they got it (I hope this doesn't happen to us...what a waste of resources and time!), and when they get there, they realize they have been there before, even though they haven't! Then they realize, they've been there in their dream. Don't know what happens next...it's just a premise.
Edited to add:
Yay! She called back and said I could disregard it and that they were going to void the ticket because they had initially entered it for a Mercury (which we don't have) but that didn't give the correct license or match anything, so then they re-entered the information and then it...oh hell, I don't know what it was exactly she said, mumbojumbo, but something like that. Anyway, she said if we receive it again, then they'll have to look into it deeper. WTF. I hope it's settled.
Labels: WTF
6 Comments:
The ticket thing is a real anger maker, and it makes me wonder who's trying to get under our skin. As it works out it is a really random thing and probably a mistake made by a clerk, and hopefully it is taken care of now.
I like the dream - story concept, and I imagine you could write it out if you wanted to be a writer. It seems like there is no time for writing in life and I always wonder how people who do write actually find time to write.
I wish I could spell better, because I'm worried that I'm like the 'widget' person sometimes. I've probably messed up communications with bad grammer and spelling at least a few times in my life.
I think our Brazil discussion last night somehow manifest the letter...it's right out of the weird file. I mean getting a ticket for someplace you never were is weird in and of itself, but the fact that it's so Brazil, I mean the slipped digit and all (which is what this ticket HAS to be) right after we were talking about it after not having talked about it for so long, I mean *THAT* is REALLY Weird.
Actually, what made me think of Brazil (the other night) was watching one of those House Hunter shows. Woman was searching for an apartment in Chicago, and all of them were pretty new construction (as opposed to an old converted warehouse loft) *MADE* to look industrial with exposed ductwork. I mean, there wasn't anything authentic about it. New construction, and they purposely *chose* to make it look like an old loft, although it wasn't. It was so cold and soulless...it was like going to one of those TGIMcFunsters (one of Anthony Bourdain's terms for corporate restaurants) and ordering an "ethnic" item on the menu and expecting it to be real. There's no reason to expose the ductwork, so why do it? It's one thing to have a loft in an old converted industrial warehouse...it's another to have a pretend one. Anyway, that reminded me of Brazil--the exposed ductwork. Who knows, maybe the architect did it as a nod to the movie, but I highly doubt it.
That movie was so ahead of it's time - as if it is the 'real' 1984 - but showing the world we live in now.
The following is some diaologue to the best of my memory...
"...you think I'm a terrorist?"
"Are you a terrorist?"
"Have you ever actually known someone who is a terrorist?"
The context we are living in today is one where person 'a' can suggest to person 'b' that person 'c' is a terrorist. When this movie was made is would have been the case that person 'b' most likely would have thought person 'a' is either on drugs or has a mental problem. In todays cultural paradigm it would be very difficult for person 'b' to dismiss the thought that person 'c' is a terrorist and would most likely believe that 'c' must be a terrorist. Somehow the discrediting person 'a' is more difficult now and any false accusation that a person like 'c' is a terrorist is very likely to stick in the imagination of 'b' even in the face of evidence that 'c' is in no way a terrorist.
Now we live in a culture where insane drug infested republicans can throw around false accusations and very well get many people to believe them.
I think Brazil (the movie) sort of foretold this future we now live in with out of control government stomping on our private lives with lies.
Or what's apt to happen today is that person 'a' can tell person 'b' that person 'c' is on drugs, and person 'b' will think person 'a' is a terrorist.
lol... there is this guy who got a ticket for running a red light in a row boat... yes a row boat, with a pic of his plate and everything... but it was bogus... how crazy is that??
i like your story premise, too.
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