Well I seem to be particularly crabby this week.

My current gripe… Smokers.

Admittedly my usual feelings about this group of people are that they should be locked in a small, airtight room and allowed to smoke themselves into an early grave without wasting valuable oxygen that could be better used on the rest of society.

But currently I’m of the mind that this is too kind. They should be taken out and stabbed repeatedly in the reproductive organs, stuck on a spit and slow roasted…

At the very least, they should be banned from eBay until they quit the vile and filthy habit!

I guess I should mention at this point, that apart from thinking it’s a nasty, smelly and toxic habit, I’m also in the “allergic to cigarette smoke” category, so I have a vested interest in the matter.

I spotted a nice portfolio binder the other day on eBay, brand new, good price, good seller feedback, so it seemed ideal.

It arrived in double quick time, well packaged and looked ideal.

Then the smell hit me after I unwrapped it.

Either it was made in a factory of chain-smoking pigmies, or it was soaked in neat nicotine for at least a month prior to shipping.

A little smell I can handle, it’s never been a problem with anything else I’ve had from eBay. Usually it’s either soaked out of the item and into the packaging by the time it arrives, or you stick it outside for ten minutes, or at worst put it next to an aromatherapy burner with some pine and tea-tree oils in it and it’s fumigated in about 10 minutes.

This thing just won’t give up though.

It’s been airing for about 4 days, I’ve had the ioniser stood on top of it for hours, and it’s currently wrapped around said aromatherapy heater, where it has been for the past 4 hours (and I should mention you can smell pine and tea-tree at almost unhealthy levels in every single corner of the house) yet still it stinks the place out with the smell of nicotine.

So I figured I’d have to just cut my losses, stick it in an air-tight bag and give it to the next charity collection and look elsewhere, since you can’t really ask to return something just because of a smoke smell (although it does make me question the fact that it’s supposed to be brand new and unused!)

Well given that, I left positive feedback, as it was well packaged and sent out very quickly, but I did mention the excessive smoking issue in my feedback.

I’ve now just received a rather snippy email saying that I shouldn’t buy anything from anyone who doesn’t say they’re a smoke-free household, and that feedback is no place for such comments.

Can we say red rag to a bull?

For one thing, very few people mention that they’re a smoke free zone, I don’t and nobody in the house has ever smoked. And for another thing, I’m pretty sure that feedback is exactly the place for such comments, rather than they usual fawning, sycophantic comments of “A wonderful eBayer A+++++” etc.

They got positive for the delivery, and feedback on their smoking habit affecting the goods they are selling.

If they don’t like it I’ll happily request eBay alter it and make it negative feedback based on their bad habits, contaminated goods and poor attitude.

Which brings me back to my initial thought… They should be put in an airtight room, etc….