This or That

First off, a short disclaimer; I am at home with COVID.  So, no telling what I will come up with, I already suffer from brain fog.

Last week I had my first ever eye exam.  Yep, I am aware that at age 51, which I still was at the time, is not the ideal time to start seeing an eye doctor.  I was not a fan, don’t get me wrong, everyone there is awesome, but I honestly felt a little bullied.  I like being in control and my eyes were failing me.  No matter, I was pleased with the service and outcome and I am looking forward to my new glasses.  I did suggest that they change the name of the clinic to “This or That.”  If you have experienced an eye exam and finding frames, you get it.

The day after, John tested positive. It was my birthday weekend, we are obviously not counting it, so until I get to go kayaking, I am still 51. 

On to more, this or that, in reference to 2 vendors I have been dealing with. 

Our lending library kiosk has been a disappointment.  We rushed the whole thing and have suffered the consequences.  We didn’t get to put it where it was first desired. They updated the model months after we purchased ours to a painfully better option.  And here is the real kicker, a few months back I received a bill for $3200 from the company we purchased it from.  What?!  We paid $35,000 for this item, how in the world is there an ongoing fee? Not only that, we were never told of this fee, if we had been we would have never agreed to purchasing the kiosk.  Why, well because our online card catalog system doesn’t cost $3200 a year and in the last year we only had a little over 200 checkouts from the lending library.  It took a while for me to get a reply from the company after I told them they had never disclosed this fee (they have done this before, I found another library with the same experience).  When they realized their fault, the amount dropped to $1900, then finally to $1000.  Hold on, I am going to leave you hanging for a moment, on to my other vendor.

We recently decided to change out some of our endcaps so that we can display books on them.  People often pick up books that we display, so why not do it out in the stacks more?  They arrived to install them the first day I tested positive, not a big deal, I had put post-its on the ones to change out.  First call to home, handled.  Second call was different.  The panels did not have the slats in them, ugghh.  I called the salesman immediately, his voice was sad and full of disappointment.  Later he calls to ask about the sizes and I look back through emails and find some errors.  I call him. We both realize that we have messed up.  His reply, “Fingers can be pointed in multiple directions, but let’s just get you the right panels and get this taken care of.”  He then followed up with a text, “Hope you feel better soon!” 

Now back to my other vendor.  After our last board meeting we decided to not pay the fee for the lending library.  They will shut the power down, but I emailed and asked what else we could do.  Maybe gut the machine and make it a free library, no card needed, or would they like to pick it up and resale it?  I received this reply back, “Trump country…all stupid…”  Wow.  And, yes, wow was my reply.  This or that?  Bruce, (my panel guy) you are a professional, Fred, you are not. 

I know there are a lot of questions unanswered about the lending library, but rest assured we have a plan.  If you know any experts on vending machines send them my way, pretty sure Fred is not going to help me. 

This week when you have the option of this or that, side with my pal, Bruce.  Be kind, folks.