Guilt Marketing

Wow, what a tedious weekend! First, I had to replace my cell phone and get the number ported to the new unit. The process seemed to go smoothly, except that my minutes did not transfer. Then what passes for Web access did not work. Lots of time and calls to get it straightened out with people who barely speak English over a bad connection.

Then my doctor's office kept screwing with me on my prescription. I've told you that I have Type 2 diabetes. It is pretty well controlled, but I need Metformin twice a day. Between this doctor's office and Medco, I was not getting it refilled or renewed. Incompetent dolts! They think that the patients are there for the doctor's convenience. I had to drive over there and menacingly demand a new prescription in person. Pinheads. When I get a new doctor, I'm naming names here and telling you all about their irritating behavior.

At least I got to have some good listening to Blackmore's Night. Ritchie, you landed a great one there with Candice Night. She sings like an angel, she's totally gorgeous — looks like you've stopped being so difficult to work with, huh? Celtic-medieval-influenced rock, you people really should check it out!

"Yeah, Cowboy Bob, I know you think she's hot and think he's a great guitaritst, but what does this have to do with — "

Oh, right. Thought it was "Feel Sorry for Me" day. Moving on.

I'm still working on getting my life less cluttered, and wanting to share some of the things I've learned with anyone else who wants to strip things down. One of the biggest clutterers you can have is your mail. If you don't deal with it right away, it has a tendency to cover flat surfaces. Especially if you're going to "deal with it later" or something. Right. Here's the pile for bills, followed by the pile for correspondence to answer, and then the "uncertain" pile.

"Uncertain" mail is, in my mind, stuff that you really do not want to discard but you either do not know what to do with it, really, or you feel bad when you get rid of it. That is where what I call "Guilt Marketing" comes in. I received return address labels and stickers from the Veterans of Foreign Wars. And you know that I hold our troops in the highest esteem! I'm the patriotic sort, and when I got labels from the VFW with my name and flags on them, I did not want to throw them out.

And the labels are wrong. The VFW got my address by buying a mailing list, printing their version of my name on it and then sending the lot to me with a request for a donation. Nicky thinks I should just send them back, Tommy the Knocker thinks I should just toss them, Billy the Baptist (I still do not know why he's called that) said that I should pick out the "United We Stand" stickers and get rid of the other ones. Hal the Hacker was sleeping in from a long night of doing work I gave him and did not come to work yet.

My tendency was similar to what Billy said, to use some and not all. The problem with that is that it gives me more clutter because I have to sort through it. Also, I am irritated at this direct play at my emotions; I have something nice, so I should give money or feel guilty any time I used some of them. This is something I did not ask for that was sent by someone who bought a mailing list.

But even if I did not get in touch with my resentment at being played like this, there is one simple and very practical thing to consider: Yesterday. You see, I did not have labels yesterday, and I did not think, "Gosh, I sure could use some stickers to put on my envelopes". Do I put stickers on my mail? Sometimes. Do I have some now? Yes. Do I have enough? Yes, plenty.

So, those little bits of Guilt Marketing are gone. Wow, that clears up some clutter right there, and it gets me in the mood to clear more.

'Scuse me while I rip that up. Now I have to deal with some other piles. I'm getting better at being less cluttered, but I'm not there yet.