Why Does it Always Have to Get Worse Before It Gets Better?

It is going to get better, isn't it?  I am certainly having my doubts these days.  Every thing seems to be going steadily downhill ever since we all got the flu.  It appears that winter is never going to end--it has been two weeks of temperatures 20 degrees below normal, all with lots of high wind and gloom to make it even more miserable.  I thought rolling up my sleeves and working on my upstairs disaster area would be a positive move, but the two weeks it took to strip one floor just has me defeated (I still have a long hallway and four more rooms that need to have the floors refinished).  Sales have come to a truly screeching halt, and I don't know why that is always coupled with getting the most annoying messages from non-customers and infuriating complaints about the one thing I did sell.  All month, I have had people sending me messages asking me to measure something crazy like "what is the exact thickness of that wire handle?"--and never, not even once, have I sold the item they want the weird measurement for.  Why do they ask?  They obviously do not want to purchase--why, why, why?  The other thing that has come up is about my free shipping listings.   I have had to just add the shipping cost into breakable items after the post office broke 4 crocks in a row and told me the insurance only covered what I charged for the item, not the cost of the shipping (as though that wasn't part of the cost of the item).  So, first question I get is "If you are including the cost of shipping in the price, then it is not free shipping is it?"  Talk about nitpicking!  Well, no, until the postal service doesn't charge me, then it is not free.  Even if they didn't charge, well someone would have to pay, taxpayers, for instance.  In the meantime, I am not charging you extra for shipping, it is all one price, what is the problem?  So, next, someone buys a pitcher.  They are overseas.  They pay for the pitcher, which is free shipping domestically.  The global shipping program charges them the cost of getting it to their country--they know this, they pay it and say nothing until I ship the pitcher, then demand I refund the shipping money they paid to the global program (which is more than the cost of the pitcher).  They are going to open a case against me as soon as they get the item.  That one had me shaking, I was so mad.  So, there, I am just a bundle of sunshine, aren't I?  Let's hope this is the catharsis to turn the corner to sunny days ahead.

Here is a Pinterest photo to take my mind off my petty troubles.