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100 Posts in 100 Days: Day 14
Jan. 14th, 2012 09:21 pmStuff! Like, in the mail!
This year, I participated in a Secret Santa at the somethingawful.com Book Barn forum. One of the would-be Santas could send a gift but it would be late. Since I knew I also couldn't get a gift sent out by Christmas, I said "Great! I'll write the organizer and offer to be Santa for this dude, then nobody is unhappy."
The organizer duly responded and we were all set.
The quest to get my Santee the book that I had decided to send him (A Final Fantasy art book) was epic, worthy of the game. Amazon ran out of copies about three days before I had the money to order. The next place I ordered it from cancelled my order on January 6th. I ordered it from yet another place, and this time, I called to make sure they physically had it in stock (which they did!).
Fast-forward to the following week. I check on my order and it has been shipped! YAY! And I have a tracking number! YAY! And the next day... it's out for delivery! YAY!
Shortly after discovering this, I got an email telling me that there was a new private message awaiting me. I was very excited, thinking it was my Santee. I'd had a lot of fun picking the book out because I had looked at where the guy was posting and he was clearly a big Final Fantasy fan.
It was, but he wasn't writing to tell me he'd gotten his gift. He was writing to tell me that he was my Santa and due some really bad circumstances, would be unable to send his gift.
He felt terrible about it, even offered to send me any of his own books that I might like.
I of course didn't say anything to him, but I was horribly, horribly disappointed. It wasn't getting the books that was such a big deal, it was the fun of getting a surprise in the mail, even if I opened the package and discovered it was the 1999 US Federal tax code. Fun has been in short supply these last few years because we've been concentrating on just surviving, so I felt especially bad about it.
I wrote the guy back and told him not to worry about it, he had enough on his plate already, and I spoke to the organizer, in a nice way. I made sure he understood that the dude was dealing with a really bad situation. The organizer said, "I'll just post and ask for another Santa for you, and don't worry, I am SURE we'll get one."
Before I went off to bed that night, a new Santa had been assigned. I didn't really expect to get anything until next week or so, and today I got my package!
My Santa sent me two of the books I had on my Amazon wish list-- By the Great Horn Spoon, which you may recognize by it's movie name, The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin, and the Serpent's Shadow by Mercedes Lackey, which looks like it's going to be Regency-ish, which is a lot of fun.
My Santee did get the book, and oddly, he had always hated Amano's character designs, but the book made him realize that Amano was in fact a really fantastic artist, so I think he was pleased.
I think next year I'll put a little bit of extra money aside to help if someone else gets grinched!
This year, I participated in a Secret Santa at the somethingawful.com Book Barn forum. One of the would-be Santas could send a gift but it would be late. Since I knew I also couldn't get a gift sent out by Christmas, I said "Great! I'll write the organizer and offer to be Santa for this dude, then nobody is unhappy."
The organizer duly responded and we were all set.
The quest to get my Santee the book that I had decided to send him (A Final Fantasy art book) was epic, worthy of the game. Amazon ran out of copies about three days before I had the money to order. The next place I ordered it from cancelled my order on January 6th. I ordered it from yet another place, and this time, I called to make sure they physically had it in stock (which they did!).
Fast-forward to the following week. I check on my order and it has been shipped! YAY! And I have a tracking number! YAY! And the next day... it's out for delivery! YAY!
Shortly after discovering this, I got an email telling me that there was a new private message awaiting me. I was very excited, thinking it was my Santee. I'd had a lot of fun picking the book out because I had looked at where the guy was posting and he was clearly a big Final Fantasy fan.
It was, but he wasn't writing to tell me he'd gotten his gift. He was writing to tell me that he was my Santa and due some really bad circumstances, would be unable to send his gift.
He felt terrible about it, even offered to send me any of his own books that I might like.
I of course didn't say anything to him, but I was horribly, horribly disappointed. It wasn't getting the books that was such a big deal, it was the fun of getting a surprise in the mail, even if I opened the package and discovered it was the 1999 US Federal tax code. Fun has been in short supply these last few years because we've been concentrating on just surviving, so I felt especially bad about it.
I wrote the guy back and told him not to worry about it, he had enough on his plate already, and I spoke to the organizer, in a nice way. I made sure he understood that the dude was dealing with a really bad situation. The organizer said, "I'll just post and ask for another Santa for you, and don't worry, I am SURE we'll get one."
Before I went off to bed that night, a new Santa had been assigned. I didn't really expect to get anything until next week or so, and today I got my package!
My Santa sent me two of the books I had on my Amazon wish list-- By the Great Horn Spoon, which you may recognize by it's movie name, The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin, and the Serpent's Shadow by Mercedes Lackey, which looks like it's going to be Regency-ish, which is a lot of fun.
My Santee did get the book, and oddly, he had always hated Amano's character designs, but the book made him realize that Amano was in fact a really fantastic artist, so I think he was pleased.
I think next year I'll put a little bit of extra money aside to help if someone else gets grinched!
