Act XI - Scene Two

Although JesseJames corrected his math, he still insisted that he had been cheated ...

JesseJames Birdfish, If you placed a prepaid order for a 75 lb. box of rock from Tonga and picked it up at the airport in your area after the man weighed it in front of you at the airport on scales that they use for the very lifeblood of their business, and it weighed 55 lbs., would you call your supplier and ask what gives? If the supplier then states that it weighed 68 pounds when he shipped it and he'll refund 7 pounds, you would just let the remaining 13 pounds go and just continue doing business with this person?  I doubt it.

As Birdfish puts it ... he has spent so much time at the airport with incoming and outgoing shipments, that he "likes the smell of jet fuel" ... so Birdfish has an intimate understanding of how freight is weighed and charged. Most airbills do not exactly match the import documents. So, Birdfish most likely would not call the supplier to ask "what gives?"

It took me awhile, but I think I understand your point of view now Birdfish. The airbill means nothing to your company concerning how you charge potential purchasers of live rock. The actual weight of the box they receive in their hands has nothing to do with the amount they are charged. What your supplier in Tonga has written on the box is the amount you consider valid ... end of discussion. This is the root of our disagreement.

Finally, JesseJames may have come to terms with this situation, although he obviously felt that it was not fair that his live rock was weighed in Tonga.

Suddenly, a warm wind kicks up and before you could wipe the dust from your eyes, JesseJames had riden off into the sunset, leaving a trail of legends behind. What you witnessed was fast and furious with misleading comments wound tight throughout. So, let's stop a moment to water the horses and take a closer look at the legends and claims of JesseJames.

Here again are some things Jesse claimed, along with a bit of unraveling so we can understand a bit more clearly ... JesseJames posted ... I purchased what was suppose to be 75 pounds ... they sent me 50 pounds ... ... and then tried to convince me that 25 pounds of water had either drained or evaporated from the rock in transit from Tonga ... There is no customer service with this place imo.   "Too bad" is exactly the attitude I received as well.    Jesse claimed ... I purchased what was suppose to be 75 pounds ... they sent me 50 pounds ... And, then later reconfirmed this statement ... The box weighed right at 50 lbs.. (I told you this). But, what he really said was ... I weighed the box myself when I got home ... It's right at  55 lbs. In a later post, he admitted it was ... ... 50+ (55 I believe was the number) ... and in another later post ... I paid for 75.   I did indeed receive a refund for 7 pounds of rock.   I paid for 75, got 55. There is a discrepency of 13 pounds. Here is what he posted to Damselblue ... They tried to convince me that 25 lbs. of water had either drained or evaporated from the rock in transit ...    In a post to Birdfish, Jesse claimed ... You then tried to convince me that the weight difference was water evaporation.  I said ridiculous. Actually, what Jesse really said "ridiculous" to was his own assumption based on an incorrect mathematical calculation ... In this assumption, he answered with "ridiculous" ... Those three pieces of rock drained 20 pounds of water from Tonga to me? That's say ... conservatively over 10 gallons of saltwater??  Ridiculous.    Jesse persisted ... You're implying a 20 lb. difference in weight can be explained by water leaving the rock, in whatever way you wish to label how the water leaves.  ... The rock was weighed in Tonga, and over 10 gallons of water evaporated out (?) As Birdfish explained to Jesse ... Your figures equal 2 pounds per gallon. A U.S. Gallon of water weighs 8.6 pounds. I did not say the rock evaported 20 pounds, ever. If you read my sentence below carefully, you will not find the word evaporation in it. The 20 lbs. estimate was NOT about evaporation, nor is it a figure of any difference we are talking about.    Birdfish never tried to convince Jesse that 25 pounds of water evaporated out of his live rock. He did say, "...you are weighing rock that has been dried 48 hours and complaining that it doesn't weigh what it did two days ago ...", but this did not have anything to do with 25 pounds, this figure was purely only in Jesse's head. Jesse eventually figured out that 13 pounds was what he was debating after receiving his credit, although it had nothing to do with the recorded weight ... YET nearly one year later, he made a post to Damselblue that he had been shorted 25 pounds, that Birdfish tried to convince him that it evaporated, that he received no customer service, was unhappy with his experience and was told too bad. He made no mention about the quality of his live rock or the "small piece of what looks like montipora" he told the company came with his live rock, or that initially ... before his misunderstanding and miscalculations, that he felt he had "a pleasant online experience" with the company. "Too bad is exactly the attitude I received ..."     - JesseJames We darn sure didn't say "too bad!"     - Birdfish The legends of JesseJames are still alive and well ... and there are still some unanswered questions, but we'll never know the answers ... Before we continue, let's take a look at a notice Birdfish has posted for JesseJames ...

To the Outlaw Jesse James: Let's go back to when you first brought your box of live rock home ... when you called me on the telephone to tell me your box was light and that you were weighing it on your bathroom scale. ... When you had your wife hold the phone to your head so you could hear and speak to me while you held the box and stepped on your scale. You said something like, "OK, my wife is holding the phone to my ear and I am stepping on the scale with the box." And, I asked, "What does the scale read?" But, you didn't answer me. Silence.   Nothing. You were there on the scale with the box, complaining about the weight and again I asked you, "What does the scale read, Jesse James?" Twice I asked a simple question and I did not receive an answer. If your complaint was honest, true and valid, you would not have thought twice about telling me the number you were looking at on the scale dial, would you?   However, I did hear you say to your wife, "Remember that number," careful to not disclose it to me. I never did know what that number was. Then, you stepped off the scale and set the box down and stepped back on the scale without the box.   Your wife handed you the phone then and then I asked "what does the scale say now?" Again you refused to answer me. Dead silence.   So, I again repeated my question and asked how much you weighed while you were on the scale, but you wouldn't reveal your weight. You would not share the crucial information I had a right to know ... what the scale read and how much YOU weighed. I was forced to ask myself, "Why would he not tell me what the weight was on the scale? Why would he not share what he is seeing?" Twice for each weight I asked what the dial on the scale read, and you would not answer. I remember this like it was yesterday, because I have never had a complaint or conversation of this nature. Didn't I have a right to know the numbers you were looking at if there was really, honestly something wrong? Then you said, "OK let's see thisamuch minus thatamuch = 55 lbs., just what the airbill said." I know why you wouldn't tell me the numbers you were looking at ... it was because you could not do the math quickly enough in your head to come up with the number that matched the airbill number. That is the ONLY POSSIBLE reason you refused to share with me the weights on the scale with you and the box, and without the box while you were looking at them and on the phone with me. You were challenging a weight that was shipped to you, yet wouldn't tell me what the scale said. An honest person would have answered my question ... there was nothing for me to gain, but some truth, and you refused to give it. JesseJames is a man who cannot answer a straight question and that is not honest. Before posting to Damselblue, you knew you did NOT pay for 75 pounds and receive 50 pounds. And, yet, you posted this to a public message board. You knew even by the airbill it was at least 55 pounds (which means it was probably 65 lbs.), and that you only paid for 68 pounds after receiving your refund, not for 75 pounds.   It wasn't the truth and yet you led Damselblue to believe that you were stolen from and told "too bad." Knowingly, you exaggerated the figures on BOTH ends of your story.   You saw an opportunity to try to do some damage ... just the way you said you would when you sent this message ... "I am a respected member of what is probably the largest reef club in the state ... I assure you, they will know my experience with your company, as well as every other reef site I frequent on the Web, and any other I can find.   Believe me when I say my $86.25 that you have stolen will be accounted for in time." Unfortunately, your math was again incorrect ... I have yet to understand where you got the figure of $86.25 when 13 pounds was at issue, which was never a valid issue to begin with. You spotted Damselblue's post and saw it as a way to try to "get back" for what you perceived as being stolen from.   (There was no mention of the live coral you received with your live rock.) You were out to do some damage, just like you said you would.   Not because you wanted the people to know the truth, as you didn't tell the truth. There was no truth in anything you said, except that the rock you received was of the highest quality. You made up a story to try to support something you believed ... THAT was dishonest. JesseJames ... I am sure you have told this story to anyone and everyone who would listen, with all of its falsehoods, from the weight that you got, to the weight that you paid for, to how much money you thought you lost ... every bit of it WRONG. If we should ever run into each other along the trail, you'd better head the other way! birdfish

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