Bobbled

Several weeks ago, I attended the HOW Design Conference in Boston. At the convention center, there was a huge room named the "Resource Center." This sounds like a center of educational room, but, really, it was where all of the vendors hand out their paper samples (which I'm a sucker for), spiffy pens (which you can never really have enough of), and...bobble heads?

A certain stock photography company was handing out bobble heads of some guy. Why?! The beauty of stock photography is that it is virtual. It takes up no space on my desk. No catalogue - nothin'. For space reasons, because of its total lack of usefulness, because I strive to minimize the "stuff" in my life, and because I (ironically) find it to be a waste of resources, I did not take a bobble head from this booth in the "Resource Room."

And then I got an email this week (with the following image) that said:

If you already have a bobble head, you might get another one. If you're lucky enough to get a second bobble head, share the wealth and give one to a friend. Don't forget, the back of the bobble head has a 20% off discount code that you can use as many times as you want for the next 2 years! Use it whenever you checkout.

Are you kidding me?!

I was mad. So, I emailed back.

Erin: Oh, God, please don't send me a bobble head.

And they replied.

Eddie: Hi Erin, Unfortunately we already sent out the bobble head to you. I apologize for that; we didn’t realize that you didn’t want us to send you one. If you want to, you can refuse delivery/return to sender it or you can give it to a friend or co-worker. Once again, sorry for the inconvenience. If there’s anything we can do for you, please let us know.

I won't be replying to the email, and I will likely not be home to refuse the delivery. It's too big to fit in my shredder with the other junk mail. What to do...?

A similar thing happened to me earlier this week, as well. I got sucked into the crazy-low prices (and free shipping) at e.l.f. Cosmetics. I don't even wear makeup! I received my shipment earlier this week...along with a surprise subscription to Lucky Magazine. I just discontinued my subscription to Saveur and National Geographic, which I love, because I want less stuff in my mailbox and I was having difficulty making time to read them (sad). I had to call Lucky to learn why I was receiving the magazine, and they refused to cancel the subscription, giving me another 800-number to call. All very frustrating.