#You In Your Small Corner, And I In Mine# (A Lesson Learnt)

#You In Your Small Corner, And I in Mine#

I had put two chairs on eBay one was metal the other wooden.  The metal one was on for £15 the wooden one was on for £5. I was hoping to get £30 for the metal one and at least £15 for the wooden chair. They both sold but had only one bidder each. They were both for pick up only from our house. The Buyer of the wooden chair made arrangements with me, for her to come and pick up her chair the following morning. I knew I was going to the vets first thing the same morning she was coming, for we had to take our cat to the vets for his tail had been pulled and it had been separated from his body! We were taking him in for it was the day of his operation, his appointment was for 09.30am and as the vets was only 8-10 minutes away, I knew 10.30am would be more than plenty of time for me to get back in time to give the eBayer her wooden chair. As it was my day off, I told the eBayer to come and collect her chair between 10.30am to 3.00pm so this meant I didn’t have the waste the day waiting for her, as I had stuff to do at home. The metal chair bidding had finished late the night before, the eBayer who had bought the wooden chair eight ten hours earlier.

I got up early as usual and as we have pets I got the broom out to sweep the wooden floor in the TV room, before I mopped it. As I went to squeeze the mop into the bucket it snapped at the bottom half of the handle! “Oh no!” I quickly thought, after I’ve been to the vets I would go to the supermarket to get another one, and while I’m in the Town I might as well treat myself to a MacDonald’s, after all it is my well deserved day off, a bit of ‘Me’ time without the kids and Husband, I could almost taste the Big Mac, fries and hot chocolate. So my day was sorted, I like it when things fall into place, and my day was started to look great right now, I was hungry, and as I’d not had breakfast, I usually eat after the children go to school.

Bob our cat was taken into the vets, we had to wait a while in reception, I had just assumed we were dropping him off, that’s OK. I’d said to my Husband Paul that on the way back from the vets, I’d drop him off at home while I just pop into the shop in the Town to buy the mop (as MacDonald’s was just a few minutes away I’d just grab my breakfast from there and instead of eating it in MacDonald’s I’d eat it at home) but Paul said he’d come to the town with me and wait for me in the car park. That was not the answer I wanted to hear, mind you, now instead of eating in because he would be waiting in the car park I defiantly had to have a take away Big Mac, hot chocolate, fries with a sachet of salt (very important that, it makes all the difference).

I had planned to go to Wilkerson, that was my first thought as I didn’t want to waste time, I knew they sold mops and I would have lots of choice for the right one. Today I hadn’t planned to spend lots on one, I just wanted the basics, as we didn’t have much money, but it would do. Then cause I’d parked in the car park of the superstore I thought I would quickly have a look if they sold mops! Maybe I could get it even cheaper there, after all it is a superstore, I asked the Sales Assistance where the mops were and was informed “Upstairs”, so upstairs I went sure enough they had a good choice and price range. I bought the cheapest one they did, I was pleased with my purchase, but while I was there in the same place I also bought some cleaning item to go with the mop, I could feel a cleaning spree coming on so it was for me, job done!  Then for the high-light of my morning I went over to MacDonald’s and with my hands now full with two shopping bags in each and a mop under my right arm I was determined to at least eat my fries as I went back to the car park. It was difficult, in fact I had to stop several times, just so I could eat the fries, they are fantastic hot and not nice lukewarm. But on my way back to the car park my phone rang! I knew in an instant who it was! He has no patience at all! Oh why didn’t I just insist that he went home instead of, “I’ll wait for you in the car park,” so I ignored it, after all I was only 2-3 minutes from the car park. The phone stopped ringing ..... and then started to ring again! I ignored it and just kept walking. As I was walking towards the large car park where Paul was, my phone rang for the third time. I decided to answer it; for I was more than annoyed with him now! When I looked at the number it wasn’t Paul but Daniel our Son. I arrived at the car now, opened the door and sat next to Paul. Daniel said, “I tried to phone you earlier but you didn’t answer your phone,” I asked him if he was “OK”, he told me, “A woman came to the house and wanted to collect a chair” Oh no! I’d forgotten about her, coming at 10.30! The time was now 10.35! Before I could say anymore he told me, “She had an honest face, so I let her into the house and  I asked her if she could see her chair in the room. She told me, ‘all I can see is the metal chair, and that was sold to someone else late last night on eBay,” he then said, “She gave me the £5 and took the metal chair.” I was stunned!!!! For I had momentarily forgotten she was coming! So many things rushed through my mind; it seemed like a thousand “Whys?” She knew the chair was not hers, so why did she take it!” How could I have forgotten?! Why hadn’t I made the pick up time later? Why didn’t I just answer my phone, if I had done so I would have been able to tell my Son her chair was in the shed! Why did she take the chair when she knew it was sold to someone else!

I rushed home, what good I thought that would do, I don’t know, for she was long gone! I knew all was not lost for she had taken the wrong item; all I had to do was to have it returned. I emailed her and asked her to kindly give me her address, so that I could come and  collect the chair. I got no reply! Then my mind went into overdrive, suppose she had bought it for her child who was going to university and it was for their hall of residence! And what if that hall of residence was a million miles away in Scotland! I sent her another email and explained I had taken my cat to the vets for his operation that morning; it was for his tail to be amputated, it had been pulled! She replied, a few days later, “It’s OK my Husband said it will do” I told her, “The chair belonged to another eBayer” and I gave her my mobile number and asked her to phone me, so we could save time and not wait for emails backwards and forwards, eventually she replied and said she was “Happy with the chair and would leave me a good feedback.”

Four days after they won the bid, the eBay Member who had bought the metal chair emailed me and asked for my address so that they could come and collect their chair. I felt like burying my head in the sand, and was hoping they had changed their minds! But why would they changed their minds as it had only been one bid, they had bagged a bargain! I emailed him back and said, “I had to take my cat to the vets for he had to have an operation and while I was there another eBay member came to my house and took the wrong chair, so I am in the process of getting it back for you.” He replied casually, “That’s OK, when you get it back email me and I’ll come and get it.”  

I felt in so much despair! What was I going to do? The woman didn’t seem to be attempting to return his chair, nor did I know where she lived. I was in a quandary, what was I going? My feedback on eBay was 100% and I wanted to keep it that way, it now seems certain I would get two or at least one negative! Then I thought, in the scope of things happening in the World and with Syria in our news daily, what did I have to worry about? Then a song I used to sing when I was in the Infant school age four, came into my mind “You in your small corner, and I in mine” it didn’t take away my fear, worry and panic, but I was reminded, we are all living our lives at different levels, it’s called been alive. That’s what life is; ups and downs happy time’s sad, war and peace. My life in comparison to the people in Syria, I have no worries, really ...... even thou I felt as sick as a parrot! I still remembered them in my prayers, yet I didn’t know how this situation was going to work out in my life here, right now.

The song quietly sang on in my mind, #You In Your Small Corner, And I In Mine.#

So I gave him my personal mobile number and said, “This is quicker than email, I will keep you posted.” I tried to sound as if I was in complete control of the situation, yet it was totally out of my hands. I didn’t blame my Son for he had done the right thing in phoning me, it was my fault for not answering I had no one to blame but myself. This was a lifelong lesson for me, always answer you phone, or at least look to see who it is! My Husband summed her up, “she came into our home and stole the chair, for she knew it belong to someone else!” Time passed and I never heard from her again. So I said to the man who still had no metal chair, “I have the wooden chair that the woman should have had, I will bring it to your home, I will give this to you free of charge, if you don’t like it, it will keep it, for my feedback is 100% as you can see and I would like to keep it that way, I made a mistake and I am sorry, let me know what you want to do next.” He said he would have the wooden chair, so he gave me his address and I took it to his house. It was quite far, but we got there no problems we were stuck in very bad traffic and took ages to get back, but it was worth it, or was it? I hadn’t got his feedback yet, I would wait to see if he left me a good one or not or maybe he wouldn’t bother.

I came home from work and noticed I’d had a feedback, it was from him; it was the perfect feedback, so, yes it was worth it, to the extra mile, to put right the wrong I’d caused; a simple thing yet the knock-on effect was awful!

For me, it was another lesson learnt.