And Then There Are People Like This Guy...

As many of you know, I'm preparing for the Missouri Bar Exam. It's a pain in the butt for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that when I passed the Tennessee Bar Exam a few years back I reveled in the idea that I'd never have to do anything like that again. But however distasteful, unnecessary, and frustrating it all is, it must be done.

In hopes of assisting my preparation, I recently used eBay to order a large set of CDs with lectures on the Bar Exam's topics. Given that the exam is coming up at the end of this month, I was pretty eager to receive them and get to listening. So when I won my auction, on January 27th, I immediately paid the seller through PayPal and began watching the mail for the CDs' arrival. Six days later (February 2nd), nothing had arrived and I hadn't heard the first thing from the seller. I contacted him via email and asked when I might expect the CDs, to which he replied that he had mailed them out on January 30th. I was a little miffed that it took three days to get the stuff in the mail, but otherwise was just itching to have them so they could help me prepare. Yesterday, they arrived. They were postmarked February 2nd.

I wasn't happy that the seller mailed these CDs nearly a week after I paid for them, but that wasn't an especially big deal. I was really angry at the fact that he had lied to me about when they were sent. So when I went to leave feedback for the seller, I gave him "neutral" feedback, explaining concisely why I could not offer a positive recommendation for him. Apparently unhappy with my thoroughly honest evaluation, the wanker gave me "negative" feedback on the transaction, saying "Bad Bidder. Sellers beware."

You know, I am an optimist. I like to believe that almost everyone really wants to be a good person. But then there are people like this guy. And the guy who screwed my parents out of tens of thousands of dollars. And the guys who--for what they admit is no good reason--fired my dad just days before Christmas and refused to give him the money he was due for days he had already worked. And, I must admit, my faith in the basic goodness of humanity is challenged.