The Balance
12/5/2

What comes around goes around. Karma. Call it what you will, yadda yadda. In any case, listen to this:

Aisai calls me at around noon and tells me that a lady is coming by which buys the jewelry from companies that are about to go out of business and sells the things for really low prices. I say something to the effect of �Don�t spend over $30� and that�s that. I don�t think about it again.

When I get off work, I head down to Advance Auto Parts. I had to get gas before, and it was very windy and cold with sideways rain. Everyone is trying to make themselves as small as possible, and I think this adds to the welcomingness when people actually do get inside. The cold is unusual. We feel we�re under attack of some sort.

When I get to Advance, a nice old man calls from behind the counter �How ya doin�? Can I help you find anything?� I reply that I�m getting a Purolator PureOne filter for a Mazda Miata. He asks what year as I�m halfway to them. I tell him 1994, but that I�ve already written the number down. I pull the yellow post it note out of my pocket and find the right filter, something like PL14622, if memory serves.

He calls out �PL14622!� to me. I waggle the filter at him and he smiles. I ask him if he has any synthetic motor oil in the five quart bottles. He doesn�t. I prefer that since I have to top the car off during the 3k miles between oil changes. It�s not that it leaks a lot. Never had a drop on the floor of the garage, but the valves click on startup.

One of the reasons I was getting the PL14622 and not the L14622 is that that extra P adds a backflow prevention valve, and doubles the price of the filter.

I choose to get Havoline synthetic since it�s on sale. He rings it all up and it�s $20.54 or so. I look puzzled and look at the screen. �Oh, no. I got the PL14622.� He tells me that he didn�t bother to scan it and just clicked on the screen once he pulled up the filters that would fit my car. �Enjoy your upgrade,� he said. And let me have the nice filter for the cheap filter price.

Karma Balance = $3

Then on the way home, I decide I�ll buy Aisai�s mom�s gift at best buy. I�ll not mention what it is just in case she does come in here (not likely) before Christmas. Well, It was $59.99 and I headed up to the register. The gal flirted with me, as did the one on Monday when I bought Aisai�s gift there, but it was a different gal. This one said she liked my black flame ring. �I�m sure you do, baby.�

No, I didn�t say that.

In any case, there was a freakish sale thing going on. When you bought this item, they�d give you a free $20 gift card. So it was really costing $39.99 and then you were charged $20 for the card. That�s what the receipt showed. But flirty gal couldn�t get it to work right.

And if you have been a long time reader, you�ll realize that, on the rare occasion that clerky gals flirt with me, they are generally incompetent at their jobs. Look at some of the first entries of this Stuffo thing, the rental car after my first SC2 wreck, the gal who was �just in town for a few days�, her, she couldn�t do her job and so the manager had to step in.

She couldn�t do her job so the manager had to step in. I mean the gal at Best Buy. However, all this weird card stuff was confusing to me, and the manager, I think, just wanted to get me out of there so he could have a productive employee again. I�m not sure what kind of math he was doing, but he punched it so the phone was $19.99 and then there was the $20 card.

I made a small comment to the gal concerning the amount, and she said that it was $42.whatever. I paid it and called Aisai telling her the freakish news.

Karma Balance = $3 + $40 = $43

Later, Aisai got home and took out the �jewelry� she�d bought. I looked into the packages of the for necklace and earring combos and said �It�s plastic.�

�What? It doesn�t look plastic.� Actually, it did. And was. It was nasty cheap crap. She did get two medium nice bracelets which are about like the ones that sell for $5 at Target. But the four necklace and earring combos were total crap.

Aisai was so ashamed that she�d been scammed. I told her not to worry about it. Though we both couldn�t get it off our mind. She spent $32 on them thinking they were nice. Lots of people at the Underground Lair where she works did. I haven�t asked her about the reaction yet.

As a general rule, folks, don�t buy anything from a traveling salesperson. Not cleaners, not vacuums, not cologne, not jewelry. They are scam artists. And this person worked the Underground Lair for hundreds of dollars.

Karma Balance = $43 - $32 = $10 and some cheap bracelets.

You can�t blame Aisai for buying worthless beads and trinkets. She�s part American Indian.

[Everyone boos.]