Tuesday, April 07, 2015

Good Karma Shortage

I think the good karma for the week got used up when the girls went to the mall yesterday.  Yep, that's right.  Daughter found the jeans she wanted...bought two pair and some jean shorts.  Mom got some new tops and a pretty jacket.  I even found a tee shirt that I liked so much that I bought two...two different colors.  All in all it was a very pleasant afternoon.

Then we got home.

My order of piano supplies had arrived and I hauled the box downstairs to the workshop for unpacking.  I ordered the wrong sized parts for a job I'm working on.  Drat.  But no worries, with a bit of added labor I can assemble my own.  Also another box of keys arrived.  I was expecting it but was hoping for a couple days to catch up on other things...like housework.  No such luck?

Oh, mustn't forget to mention the morning phone call.  Before we had headed to the mall.  This was a phone call from another piano parts supplier.  They were checking, thankfully, about an order I had placed with them online.  They were making sure that I truly meant 10 sets rather than 10 parts.  Nononono! Umm, please don't send sets (= to about $2000.00), please send 10 parts, as in $5.00 per part.

So then we went out for the afternoon (the shopping trip) and had so much fun.

When I got home there was an email from the same supplier letting me know that the key tops, of which I had ordered 5 sets (yes, sets) were on back order until July-ish.  OH NO!  That won't do.  I have clients that sometimes like those budget minded replacements rather than the higher priced, albeit nicer, stuff.

So, last night I sat down with the computer to check out ordering from the place that I turned to last time this happened about 3 years ago.  Figured out my account info so that I could 'Login' to find out that there would be a 4 - 6 week delay for any orders to be shipped.  Evidently a couple employees are out finishing up their chemo treatments.

Now what?

Try Alternate Two Supplier.  Again another 'Login' hassle, but they had the parts and I got set to fill out my order.  Then it came to the shipping info and the only choices the site gave were UPS 1-day, 2-day, or 3-day.  Okay, I'm not paying to have 3-day shipping from California to Massachusetts.  That would cost about half the value of the items shipped!

I quit.  After over an hour I had gotten nothing accomplished.

I decided to try calling Alternate Two in the morning.  Or...more like after noon because of the time difference.

A bit of reading and off to bed.  Woke up this morning with one thing on my mind.
I had ruined tonight's dinner.  Double drat.  I had left a roast out to thaw yesterday meaning to put it in the fridge late in the day, or in the evening.  So umpteen hours later, it was very thawed on the counter.  Dumped that in the garbage.

Headed to the workshop, with my morning coffee, to unpack those keys that had arrived yesterday.  It is a key top and a bushing job.  For those of you unfamiliar with the work...for keytops I need only the naturals (white keys), for bushings I need the naturals and the sharps (black keys).  52 naturals and 36 sharps.  Problem...of course!  The tech shipped all 52 naturals but only 1 sharp.  I've sent him an email...I haven't heard back...yet...how can he not notice 35 sharps sitting there all by themselves...lonesome without their other keys...

Amid phone calls and shipping a set of keys, a stop at the bank and a trip to the supermarket (I bought another roast), I finally called the supplier in California and will be getting my 10 sets of el-cheapo keytops.  And they will be sent UPS Ground.  Fingers crossed.

While I was at the supermarket I bought myself flowers.  They are my good karma bouquet.  Hope they work.