Blindsided

No matter how hard you try to organize your life so that mistakes are kept at a minimum you will always run into unexpected problems.

Case in point...when I leave Canada for Florida, I meticulously change all the information on Ebay and PayPal. For instance, my delivery address for purchases or incoming payments made by cheque or money order is changed to my Florida address. This is a simple procedure and one I've never had to recheck each time I made a purchase. Until this time!

Apparently I made a few purchases from someone I'd bought from before and, belatedly, I discovered that either PayPal or the seller changed my delivery address back to my Canadian one. Never thought that could happen!

Luckily I have good neighbors back home who pick up my mail but I'm a little worried that at least one of the items coming won't be left without a signature so they'll have to go to the trouble of picking the darned thing up at the post office...if they're allowed!! Who could have anticipated a stupid problem like this?

Silly and easily preventable things like this pop up all through our lives. We're at the mercy of ineptitude and people who like to reinterpret the information they have been given. We like to think that computers will keep our records straight but it's the human error we should worry about.

The only recourse we have is to constantly double check the details of all business dealings. Double check your receipts because you just find enough errors in a year to fill your gas tank. Double check your invoices because you might find you've been charged twice for the same item. Double check your restaurant bill to see that they haven't already charged you a tip.

There isn't any way to guarantee you're as organized as you think you are.