Why purchasing something out of your country can be an issue

We had a friend that was coming to visit us from outside of Canada, so I thought it was a good time to take advantage of maybe purchasing some yarn and getting them to pick it up for me and deliver it. I knew that I was going to be incurring the exchange rate, but I figured given it was going to be delivered at no delivery cost I was willing to deal with that.

Here are the steps that I took:

1. Emailed the company to make sure that if I ordered it for a local pickup that someone else could pick it up for me.
2. Received an email from the business to let me know that it was possible and there wouldn’t be an issue.
3. Confirmed with friend that they could pick up the yarn for me and it wasn’t an issue.
4. Placed the order and said it was for local pick up knowing that I had already communicated my name and it was going to be picked up by someone else.
5. Received an email from them asking me if I was going to be visiting that location so that I could pick up the yarn. (This is probably when I should have realized this might not work out as I hoped).
6. Sent our friend the information and said that when it was ready they could pick it up.
7. Let friend know that it was ready for pick up and they picked it up for me and looking the receipt confirmed that they got the four balls of yarn that I ordered.
8. Never received a confirmation from the store that the yarn had been picked up.

Here is where I am going to start to provide words of warning. Yes, the yarn was picked up by our friend, and I understand that they are not crafters, so it isn’t up to them to ensure that the yarn was what I ordered. They confirmed based on the receipt it was the order that I had placed and I figured that was all that was needed to be done. Over this last weekend I did receive my order, and I was excited to see four skeins of fingering weight yarn. I ordered two different colours so that meant that I had two of each colour and I had figured out what I would make with each of them.

Once we were home and I could really look at the yarn that I received I saw that there was an issue, I had received 2 skeins of fingering weight of one of the yarns and then 2 skeins of sports weight yarn for the other yarn. This upset me because the person that filled the order was the business owner so that was frustrating because this wasn’t what I ordered. I also confirmed the receipt and the original order to ensure that I hadn’t made the mistake before I reached out to the shop.

Early the day after receiving the yarn I emailed the shop to let them know that what I received wasn’t what I ordered. I understand that there is time difference between our and the shop so I figured I would get it probably within 24 hours of sending the message. I did receive a reply and that was 29 hours after I sent the original message. Here is the message that I received from business owner:

I'm so sorry! That was my mistake. 

Normally I would ship the correct yarn and swap out this yarn, but since this is international, I will instead offer you a discount code for your next order. Hopefully you will be able to use it. I can do international shipping on orders over $150 USD. The last shipment I sent to Canada was about $40 USD for a small package under one pound, so hopefully your deliverer is willing to bring yarn on another visit. 

Please enter XXXXXXXXXX at checkout for 25% off. 

So, what I was offered when it was clearly the owners mistake was 25% off a future purchase, but I also had to purchase over $150 USD to even qualify to receive shipping and also pay a crazy price for shipping. Well, given the exchange rate and the cost of shipping which was also is US dollars I don’t think I will be making that purchase. What this was doing was telling me the only way I could receive compensation for her mistake was to make another purchase of over $150 USD and then pay the postage. I don’t think this is going to happen. I can find locally dyed yarns for a lot lower price.

If you make a mistake you need to figure out a method of compensating the person that incurred the issue and not make them purchase anything else. Do I think that there could be a possibility of another error, yes, I do because I don’t think this owner really checks what she is doing. Our friends probably won’t be coming back here for quite some time and given this isn’t an easy trip I won’t be purchasing from this store again. Will I recommend this store as an online shop, no I wouldn’t because I wouldn’t want someone to have to deal with what I did.

If you are a business that sells to international customers make sure that you have a method of compensating them for your error. You don’t need to compensate for a customer's error, but you should be able to compensate for your error. A discount code for a future purchase of a high value isn’t compensation; it is just please shop with me again.

When you say you are allergic to foods

I recently was listening to a presentation, and the person was talking about being allergic to all these different foods. She never said the type of reaction that she had and later in her presentation she then said, these symptoms were undiagnosed. Well, if you are saying you are allergic to foods make sure that you can identify the symptoms from these reactions and you have been diagnosed with food allergies. 

• Food allergy - symptoms can include a wide range of reactions, such as skin issues (hives, itching, swelling), gastrointestinal problems (cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), and respiratory issues (wheezing, shortness of breath, a tight throat, or nasal congestion). Other symptoms can include an itchy mouth, dizziness, or a drop in blood pressure. Other symptoms can include an itchy mouth, dizziness, or a drop in blood pressure. These symptoms typically appear within two hours of eating the food

• Food intolerance - symptoms are typically gastrointestinal and include bloating, gas, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Other common symptoms can also include headaches, fatigue, irritability, and rashes. Symptoms may appear within minutes to up to 48 hours after eating, making them hard to pinpoint, and are often dose-dependent

So, quite a few people will say that they are allergic to specific foods when it is an actual food intolerance and that can get very confusing when people are trying to deal with actual food allergies which could impact their life. It can be very difficult to explain to someone the difference between a food allergy and a food intolerance but when you see someone that as a food allergy attack you will understand the difference.

You cannot self-diagnose food allergies yourself especially if you are having issues with your throat closing. If your throat is closing, that is when you need to have allergy tests to figure out what is wrong and what foods you are specifically allergic to.

The presentation that I was watching was talking about stress and burnout and yes, they can impact allergy symptoms. Stress can cause or worsen allergy symptoms by increasing inflammation and triggering the release of chemicals like histamine. This can manifest as skin issues such as hives, which are itchy, raised welts that may appear on the face, chest, or arms and can also worsen existing conditions like eczema and psoriasis. Stress can also intensify respiratory symptoms like nasal congestion, sneezing, and difficulty breathing. 

So, when you say you have food allergies, please understand what that really means and if you haven’t been diagnosed with allergies get diagnosed. If you are just saying you have allergies it can affect others because people will look at you and how you react to specific foods and they could think everyone will react the same and everyone is different.

Stress can impact how you react to specific foods and it can make your symptoms worse, but first make sure you get diagnosed with food allergies, so you first know what you should be avoiding and how to manage those reactions.

Homeless and Fast-Food locations

It is becoming more common when you go into a fast-food location you will find at least one homeless person taking up either a booth or a large table and sleeping there. It must be difficult to manage this because some homeless can be aggressive while others will just move on without saying anything.

The other issue with homeless and fast-food locations is the homeless use the washrooms as a place to wash themselves, so it isn't such a great location to have to visit if you are needing to go to the washroom yourself. I know that in Niagara Falls especially on Clifton Hill it is an issue at least in the Tim Horton's to find one or two homeless individuals sleeping in booths. Security can only do some much and it might be that Tim Horton's has to request the individuals be removed. I know that when we were there for the Friday for breakfast, security came in and removed one individual but when we were there on Saturday there were two booths occupied by homeless and no security was visible.

I understand that people are homeless for one reason or another however it is difficult to accept that they are being allowed to occupy booths in a fast-food location while there are paying customers looking for a seat so that they can enjoy the food that they just purchased. The Tim Horton's on Clifton Hill is always busy and there is also someone looking for a seat no matter what time of day you go so having a booth or two occupied by someone that isn't purchasing anything from the location, doesn't help either. There needs to be a better way to manage how is sitting in the store and for how long because there are lots of people that want to sit down even a few to just eat their food and then head out carrying their beverage.

So, when you are out and in a fast-food location and you see people that are taking a space of a paying customer, maybe mention it to management and they can do something about it. I totally understand that the homeless need a place to rest but when a location is busy and they are sitting taking up a table or two or even four people that can be difficult especially in the locations that are extremely busy all the time.

Update: When I wrote this blog the Tim Horton's on Clifton Hill was open but it has since been closed. I have not edited this post because this happens in a lot of locations.

Why I craft

So many people ask me why I enjoy both cross stitching and knitting and I can very simply say that it helps me stitch my mind back together. That might sound very odd to a lot of people but let me explain what I am trying to say and maybe you will understand it a little better. 

For me finding that time each day to do something that makes me happy and helps me focus on everything that is going on in my life helps a lot. There are times when I can sit and work on a project either cross stitch or knitting and I can figure out the solution that I have trying to figure for quite a while before I sit down and craft. My crafting can help me regain the focus that is needed to resolve an issue that has been something that I have been dealing with for a while.

It has been interesting to see my crafting life through the years and I can say that crafting has helped me through high school, college and every other part of my life because it gives me an escape from the things that are happening in my life. My crafting has been able to bring me join when I wasn’t sure how to be happy especially when going through the exam times of both high school and college. The challenges of those times were difficult but being able to find that little bit of time to sit and craft helped me regain my focus. 

During Covid, so many people turned to crafting as a means of handling being at home all the time but for me crafting was just something that I did because it was a normal part of my life. I might have done more crafting during the time we were required to be at home, but it didn’t seem to be something that I only did when we were in lockdown.

Later in life I have found that crafting has helped me stay grounded when things has seemed to get overwhelming. Being able to focus on my crafting even for a little bit each day has helped me know that I can get through anything that life continues to throw at me. I know there are there are times I am going to need a simpler project, but I normally have one of those ready to go and then there are times that I need a challenging project.

I craft because that is part of my life and that is also what makes me happy and it something that I find helps me relax at the end of a crazy day. Maybe crafting isn’t something that everyone would want to do but we need to understand that crafting may help someone find the peace in their life when life just seems to get out of control.

Am I an Extrovert or Introvert?

So many people see me when I am out in public, they would describe me as an extrovert because of things that I do and show. I can be out there and will being to show a side of me that might not be who I am in real life. 

Now, what I am going to say for a lot of people is, I am an introvert but can show extrovert features when they are needed. Yes, that is something that a lot of people can do because they know what is needed in the world around us. Something that an introvert has a difficult time in is showing is that they can be outgoing when it is needed, they could see this as be a challenge moving forward in their career. This is something that an introvert is going to have to try and manage to just move forward in life.

For me, I can honestly say that I am an introvert in so many ways, but I will be an extrovert when it is needed of me. Sure, I can stand up in public and do talks and show the world who I am and what I can do, but then there is the part of me that takes great pleasure of being able to hide from the world and do things that make me extremely happy.

An extrovert is also going to find some of their characteristics as a challenge moving forward because if they are extremely outgoing that could also been seen as an issue especially with some careers that are more for the introvert type of individual. Compare the imagine of an accountant to a salesperson and you will probably see that one of them is most likely an introvert when the other is probably an extrovert.

I must admit that I have not seen someone that is either a total introvert or extrovert because we all need the time and space to recharge our personal battery before we got back out in public and show the world who we are when that is needed.

Why sharing too much information on social media isn't good

Imagine if you have a child or two and you are out and about and suddenly people can identify your child because of what you have posted on social media. This is a sign that you have shared too much personal information about your child. Never share their name or the activities that they are involved in because you could be putting them in risk. 

Something that you must think about is would your child want to be on social media later in life because the videos or any posts of them as a child are going to be around for years. I have seen parents that will not post anything about their child on social media and then there are parents that will show the child’s entire life which is going to be around for years to come.

If you are going to post imagines of your child on social media, make sure that they are generic and not something that shows a meltdown or even activities that they are involved in because you might just be giving away too much information about your child.

There are so many bad/sick people in the world that might pick you child as a target because of what you have posted. If you are showing a weakness about your child, you are showing the world something that could be used against both you and your child. Showing little things that upset your child can be something that you shouldn’t do because you are once again showing the world a means of influencing your child.

You must also respect your child as an individual not just part of your platform as they may not want to be part of it. Showing a child growing up on social media isn’t something that everyone wants to be part of because you could be risking your child’s career path because of something you posted when they were a lot younger. I have seen children on social media get very upset because of what they have been seen doing or even just being on any social media platform. Children do have the right to say to their parents that they no longer want to be part of the parents' social media platform and the parent's need to respect that.

One thing I would say to parents, is think about when you were younger and would you have been happy with your parents if they had shared your life on social media? Remember that things that are shared on any form of social media isn’t going to go away very quickly and especially if you have posted their name in any form. If social media can tie your child to you through social media, you might just be sharing too much information about your child.

When too many distractions get in the way

For some of us there are times that there are just too many distractions that get in the way of getting what you want completed. I know that I have challenges sometimes when everything around me seems to be a distraction and I cannot regain a focus on what I would like to try and get accomplished. It doesn’t matter if it is work related or not there are times that distractions just seem to make it difficult to focus on anything.

Trying to limit the number of things that are getting in the way of accomplishing what you want or need to accomplish can be difficult. If you have ways of turning off the distractions that would be good because that can help you regain that focus. Here are some distractions you might want to turn off:

• Music
• Email notifications
• Social media

Here are some distractions that you might have to handle differently:

• Phone calls
• People interrupting you
• Other sounds around you

When things just seem to get overwhelming and you lose your focus here are some ideas on how to manage those distractions and help you regain your focus:

• Looking out the window and not really focusing on anything.
• Putting in earplugs to limit the sounds around you.
• Finding something you can look at that isn’t too repetitive or too distractions (I watch the Port of Miami on YouTube as my way to help regain my focus).
• Get into a location that helps you focus (different room or entirely different location).
• Do something different for a few minutes to get away from the immediate task.
• Allow yourself time to just breath and get the focus back.
• Change how you make the notes, maybe change from computer to tablet or to paper as that might help you get away from the distraction.
• Change up your routine so you aren’t doing the same thing at the same time everyday.

Something that I find that helps me regain my focus sometimes is just to allow ideas to just happen and capture them in point form, or whatever way helps. When you are capturing the ideas don’t try and edit the thoughts, just allow them to happen, as you can edit them later. We also must know that there are times that no matter what we try and do it isn’t going to help at all. Another thing we have to realize is that something that works today may not work tomorrow to help you regain your focus so you will have to try different things.

We all deal with distractions and sometimes they don’t seem to be an issue and then there are going to be times when they are an issue, and we must learn how to deal with them in different ways. I know that some of the ideas that I have recorded aren’t going to help everyone, but these are some of the ideas that I have found work for me, so I wanted to get them down.

If you have any other ideas of how you regain your focus after dealing with distractions, please comment what works for you as I would be interested in hearing different ideas.