If I were to paint a portrait of my inbox, it would portray piles and piles and piles of papers stacked haphazardly from the floor all the way to the ceiling. That is to say, I'm way behind. I have big dreams of catching up over the Thanksgiving break, but for now, I'm just treading water.
Somehow as I was doggy paddling through email today, I happened to notice a new message purporting to be from PayPal. I gave it a quick once over and thought it to be a phishing scam, but a few words from the email tugged at my soul. I figured it wouldn't hurt to log into the PayPal account in question, just in case.
What I found was that the email was real. I won't bother to copy and paste the whole thing here, but if you read between the lines, basically it says, "Somebody reported that Christmas Crazy is a scam, so now you are going to have to jump through 23523 flaming hoops. If you don't, we're going to shut down your account in six days."
I've had a few hours to stop being angry that someone would be so ridiculous as to potentially keep kids from having the Christmas we've worked to put together. Perhaps it was someone who desperately needs attention. Perhaps it is someone who hates the sparkle and joy of the holidays. Perhaps it's someone who has something against me. Perhaps it's somebody who just has too much time on their hands.
Whatever.
Regardless, there isn't anything I can do to fix whatever it is that person needs. I've posted plenty of photos showing piles of gift cards that were sent to Alle-Kiski HOPE Center and The Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, as well as photos of the mountains of toys which made their way to Toys for Tots. Literally millions of people have heard mention of me showing up for Stuff-a-Bus with enough toys to fill half a bus. Plenty of people were generous enough to help with the shopping and delivery and saw it all with their own eyes.
Whatever.
To keep PayPal from cancelling the account, I'll be photocopying receipts and getting letters and filling out forms and generally wasting valuable time. I have absolutely everything--I kept every receipt for every toy and gift card last year. I have receipts for everything that has been accomplished so far this year. I'll provide the copies. I'll fill out the forms. I will waste the time of everyone involved at the various agencies. I'll jump through whatever flaming hoops are thrown in front of me because it's for the kids.
But I will absolutely be grumpy while I do it.