Just when I thought I was the only one getting the infuriating run-around from eBay, I found I was indeed not alone.

I usually have no trouble putting my thoughts into words. But eBay “support” has bested me. I cannot even begin to sufficiently explain my level of utter disgust, anger and unmitigated exasperation. I have never in my life been treated this way.

After the most recent absolutely idiotic and unbelievably lame response, I could stand no more…

This is the most asinine, ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I cannot convey to you my complete disgust at the treatment I have received after 8 years of buying and selling on eBay. I’m not talking about the [auction listing in question]; I’m talking about being summarily ignored, then spoken to with stupid canned responses, as if I know nothing.

You have all positioned yourselves to be consummately unreachable; you no longer function as a community, but rather as a corporate steamroller. Your faithful customers are the last of your concerns.

I know you are a simple CS droid and have no power. If I could get the email or phone number of someone higher up, I would. But I was told by someone in your miserable excuse for “Live Help” that her supervisor’s contact information was “confidential.” Terrific. Customer Service that you can’t reach. Am I the only one who sees anything wrong with this picture?

My God. No wonder you’re worried about Amazon. You should be. People are jumping the eBay/PayPal pirate ship in droves. A simple Google search on “unfair ebay practices” reveals that.

You (that is, your company, not you personally, as your place on the power grid is only slightly above mine) may enjoy the monopoly now, but your time is waning. I hope you all get what’s coming to you.

And now I feel better.

Nothing will change, though. Good, honest, faithful eBay sellers will still be openly and willingly sacrificed (doing the aforementioned web search will reveal plenty about that). In the big scheme of life, I guess it’s not a big deal. But it sure was this afternoon for awhile…heh.

Fink out.

Yeah, I know. I’m all about the age thing. Maybe it’s because my own coming to terms with it is *so* right around the corner.

I went Hollywood Hag again and checked out some people and how they’ve aged. This post features men; I’ll do the women’s side another day. Many of these guys have approached (and passed) middle age in a graceful and smooth manner. Some, well, haven’t.

I read once that when we are old, the face we have is the face we’ve earned. As you will see, some guys made out better in the earnings department than others…

Pierce Brosnan, as Remington Steele in the early 80s, then in a photo take a few months ago. Well done.

He'll always be James Bond to me. Nice.

Um....yeah.

Jimmy Buffett, looking awesome then and now, rocking the Harry Potter specs.

He is only 44, fuh cripesake. He looks like something out of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Aggressive facelifts, weird hair color...doesn't matter. Still adore him.

And then there are those who become more exquisite with age.

Now I’m not poking fun at people for getting older. I don’t look nearly as youthful as I did 25-30 years ago, Buddha knows. I also know that the paps can catch one at a bad time (I’m sure Mick Jagger doesn’t *always* look like that). Rather, this is more a point about most people actually looking cooler when they’re older. I believe that even women *gasp* can get more lovely with age. You know the old adage: Men get more distinguished-looking, and women just get old. I don’t believe that.

Then again, some Hollyweird folks have done some strange things to their faces in their fight to run away from age. How about this little trip down Memory Lane?

Fink out.

DANG I’m in a mood today.

Got up late (6:25 is late for me, friend), then came downstairs to do my discussion assignment for class. I won’t go into it in detail, but check out this screen shot of what my “Preview Message” window looked like. (It’s supposed to contain the formatted text from the window behind it. As you can see, it displays a blank space.)

Well, that made me mad. Had to back out of Firefox, fire up IE (which I hate), log in again, and repost. That made me mad all over again. So I ranted to tech support.

J’ever email tech support and they respond as if you’re a 9-year-old (or a 90-year-old) playing with this new “Internet” thing? Do you ever get the condescension treatment? Not that BU tech support is that way (although I’m withholding judgment until I see their response to this morning’s message), but I’ve been treated that way before by geekslingers — as if we’re all a bunch of fluffy heads going, “Hey, what’s this button do?”

Lawd.

Ok, on to this morning’s menu:

More Things I Hate (in addition to these)

1. I hate that the price of gasoline is…ah, nevermind. You get the point.
2. I hate it when people are in denial.
3. I hate receiving pats on the head from tech support droids who were in elementary school when I was haunting Usenet via Deja News 3 years *before* the “dot com” era.
4. I hate that people suffer from migraine headaches and there’s nothing anyone can do for them.
5. I hate that I am spending $40,000 on a degree that may get me a job for which I will take a drastic pay cut. [Ok, I know that's a choice, but I still hate it.]
6. I hate it when people think you’re naïve and can’t see what’s *really* going on.
7. I hate reading line after line after line of mangled, horrible, fragmented, retarded English — by a native speaker. (Hit MySpace sometime and read the “About Me” sections. It will blow your mind.)
8. I hate hating things.
9. I hate going on eBay and looking at a great item that sells for 99 cents — but they charge you $16.99 to ship it. It’s called Listing Fee Avoidance, and it goes on all the time, despite eBay’s big-and-bad law against it. eBay. They’re the next Microsoft.
10. I hate it that summer is half over and I have yet to go anywhere. (Alas, refer to #1.)

Fink (the Hater) out.

Am I in a mood this morning? Um, yeah.

Mavis and I were never allowed to shout “Shut up!” when we were kids. I can hear Mother: “Don’t say ’shut up.’ It’s not nice.”

Well, I’m not feeling very nice today, so I’ma tell somebody to shut up. To Mother, up in heaven: pay no attention to the following.

Al Sharpton - Shut up.

This guy is the adult version of the kid you remember back in school, who tattled on everyone for everything. He’s also got to be the busiest man on the planet. Sharpton must do nothing all day but listen to multiple talk shows on radio and television, and read political pundits by the thousands — just to see if anyone made a comment that might be construed as racist.

Mr. Sharpton apparently thinks that his fellow African Americans lack the mental fortitude to see that Don Imus is an idiot, and they need Al to intercede for them. If I were African American, I would be completely insulted. I’d wanna backhand Sharpton and tell him to go get a real job. [Yes, we know your ancestors were owned as slaves by the ancestors of Strom Thurmond. Get. Over. It.]

After the thing last year, and then adding on the comments from yesterday, yes, Imus can’t keep his mouth shut. But that’s why God gave us fingers: to change channels on the radio.

Quoth the Sharpton:

I find the inference of his remark disturbing because it plays into stereotypes. We will determine in the next day or so whether or not his remark warrants direct action on our part.”

Direct action? Direct action? Who is this guy? Fuh cripesake, stop worrying about some loudmouth moron on a radio show and focus on some real issues. You want to consider taking direct action because Imus said something you didn’t like? You call yourself an “activist” for African American issues, and you have time for this?

And don’t even get me started on the double standard issue. (”We can say the ‘N’ word and call women ‘hos’ and other filthy names, and openly degrade and exploit black women in music and videos…but only us.”) Where’s the direct action being taken on that score? I mean, honestly. Who says “boo” when black comedians openly ridicule “white people?” I’ve seen it on television a hundred times over the years, from Richard Pryor to Damon Wayans to Chris Rock. They say things like, “White folks do this…” or mimic some uncool, uncoordinated, uninformed and generally irrelevant nerd in reference to white people in general. That’s not a stereotype?

Can you see a white comedian pulling this in the reverse — and still walk away with a career? Feh.

See? You got me started. Look what you did.

Anyway.

Al - shut up. Focus on real problems, as opposed to getting all frothed up over the blatherings of an old man who fried his brain one too many times back in the 70s. He’s not worth your time.

Fink out (of coffee…can ya tell?).

Those of you who know me probably figured you’d see a post like this, somewhere along the way. If you are offended by frank discussion about what women wear to the office and to school, click here. I won’t be mad.

I’ll get right to the point. There are a few conclusions I’ve drawn over the years:

1. Too many women do not own full-length mirrors. I say this because there is no way on God’s earth they could look at themselves in a full-length mirror and still leave the house wearing what they’re wearing.
2. Too many girls think that wearing shirts and jeans that are two sizes too small will actually make them look two sizes smaller.
3. Too many girls think that stomach, back and butt fat being squeezed over the edges of fabrics and out every imaginable clothing opening turns guys on.
4. Too many girls think that the more cleavage they show (even if it’s on an 11-year-old 6th grader in a 30AA push-up…trust me, I’ve seen it), the more everyone will think they’re shecksy.
5. Too many women think that if their blouse pulls at the buttons to the point of ripping the fabric, people will think….well, I don’t know what. I got nothin’. But they wear them all the time. Even on job interviews.

Item: The Muffin Top Look

Is this what I see every day? Um, yeah. Now is it just me, or is this completely unattractive? Guys, please comment. [Don't worry -- it's the internet, fuh cripesake. You can be anonymous.] Is this sexy? Should I change my outlook?

But honest to God — what was she thinking? Did she look in the mirror that morning and say, “I like how my fat looks when it flops over my polka dot belt when I walk”?? Who likes this? I mean…am I just uninformed, and it’s actually cool?

Maybe it’s just that these girls are comfortable with who they are and what their bodies look like. I say that’s great, and I wish I could say the same with confidence. But there are ways to wear nice clothes if you’re not a size zero. Let’s face it: sometimes, it ain’t about self-expression. Sometimes, people don’t care to see everything you’re made of. Those times are at work and at school. And I don’t consider myself a prude or prim and proper…I just think women — especially younger women — don’t use their heads. I am fine with girls dressing sexy, but Mary, Joseph & Buddha…use some discretion. Don’t go to school (especially if you’re a teacher, fuh cryin’ out loud) or to the office with your bodacious ta-tas hanging out.

I read some research about this. A psychologist who did a study on teenage clothing styles said:

Some of these girls don’t want to admit that they need bigger clothes. The little skinny girls are still shopping in juniors, and the big girls don’t want to admit that their bodies aren’t little.”

That could explain the following:

Item: The Sausage Casing Look

So let’s say that the girl does cover herself up and doesn’t have muffin bake exposed. Trouble is, many girls cover up with wafer thin fabrics that are skin tight: the Two Sizes Too Small Syndrome.

I want to help these girls. What shall I do? I know. An assembly on the first day of school. Bring in Clinton and Stacy!

Another disclaimer: Much of this is done in jest (ok, some of it is done in jest). I’m no snappy dresser — not by a long shot — but I do make sure all my imperfect parts are not on display for the general public. I know that doesn’t solve the issue of my face…but I’m afraid there’s not much I can do about that, other than the Unknown Comic thing.

Fink out.