Hmmmmm....

Two days ago a law book arrived in the mail. With a "payment due" invoice. Today I received a bill in the mail for the book.

I never ordered the book. The "account" was in the name of my old wildlife control business.

Today I called the distributor and politely asked why I had received a book when I had not ordered one, and how I could have an account with them when I had never opened one. The (poor) woman on the phone asked me for my account number, which I read off the invoice. She asked me my name, which I gave. She then told me "not to worry about it."

"Don't worry about it?

"No, we purchased the mailing list of another publisher, and there were some...errors...on it."

Call me a skeptic, but what do you bet they purchased the mailing list of another publisher and thought they'd pull a little experiment and mail out surplus book copies to anyone on there who looked, by name, like they would have an administrative assistant who might receive a book like that and go "Oh, someone here must have ordered that; I'll just pay that invoice for $17.95." If you have too many books, and they won't be any good by the end of the year (dated material) what's a few lost books if some people don't pay?

Perhaps I just see something sneaky around every corner. Is there a pill for that?

I asked how I should return the book. She said exactly what I expected:

"Um, don't worry about it. I'll take you off of here and we won't bother you again."

So now I have a very nice copy of the state penal law. Thanks much!