Mail Call

Day before yesterday I picked up the mail and aside from the usual junk I received a letter from a rebate company. I had paid almost $300 when I got my new contact lenses, but that was for a year's supply, assuming I follow directions and change them every two weeks. I won't. I tend to change them when they get itchy or my eyes get red. Healthy? Maybe not. But it's economical, and that year's supply will last at least a year and a half. But the rest of that story was the optometrist sold me on the year's supply by mentioning they came with a slight discount and $60 dollar rebate. How could I resist?

So after getting my lenses I ended up having to practically jump through hoops to register for the promised rebate. You needed to go to the web site, fill out the rebate form, print it, cut out five contact lens box tops (NOT the UPC code) and include a receipt from the optometrist. Which I dutifully did. According to the rebate form, the check was due any day. It would really have come in handy this week.

Instead I got a rejection letter, claiming I had sent in an "ineligible" receipt. I was incensed. I went to bed that night with an angry letter half way composed in my head. I planned to accuse the rebate company of fraud and deceptive business practices. I planned to alert the optical company I purchased the lenses from as well as the eye care company that sells them. I woke up almost as angry as I went to bed, and immediately re-opened the letter, so that I could deconstruct it and see where they "ripped me off".

And then I disovered I had inadvertently included the wrong receipt in the original letter.

My rebate check should be here in approximately 4 weeks. (Sigh) It felt good to not be mad anymore.

Today's mail brought much better news. The tax return check I got and lost all in one day last month has returned. Thank you IRiS! You so speedy! I was hoping the check was lost and destroyed and not cashed so I wouldn't have to prove I wasn't the one that cashed it. Apparently, that was the case. And talk about some most welcome relief! I paid off some bills and I will hopefully finally have some extra spending money for the next few weeks.

On another note, if you want to have a look at where I'm working these days, you only have to check out this week's re-re-re-re broadcast of MTV's Making The Band 35. When the 2nd half hour of the show switches to the club, the host station and computer where Danity Kane first walks by off the elevator is where I spend my Saturday nights trying to shoehorn 500 people into not enough seats, and attempting to talk down half-crazed parents that think little Billy will hate them if they're forced to celebrate his 11th birthday dinner at a table in the balcony. Newsflash people, Billy will hate you anyway.

And inside the street level doors is where I spend every other Tuesday running the door at R&B Live. That's where hundreds of people try and convince me that they are all "artists" or "stylists" or a million other excuses where they attempt to avoid paying a simple $20 cover charge (drink ticket included) to see a 2 hour live R&B show. Eventually, I usually manage to crowbar most of their wallets open and get the cover paid. Here's a hint: If you're in line and you haven't bypassed the line, been escorted in to the guest entrance or made it to a pre-registered table list, chances are you aren't nearly as important as you think you are. And just because you give out flyers for Def Jam on Saturdays outside some club doesn't mean you are "with" Def Jam. It means you're a flyer guy.

And in case you're wondering, no, I have no idea what happened with the mic's. Yes, it really does get as crowded as it looked on TV and no, I didn't see a single second of the show that night. I was far too busy not letting people in for free.