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[teamuse]

hey marlene...i did that the first time too!!!

welcome to the club! i just kicked myself when i realized what i had done...not followed instructions.

and yes...i did have a large cup of chamomile while letting it go.

[Marlene]

what? not enough exclamation points?

Seriously though. I felt so dumb. But I didn't get upset over it. I just kicked myself for not reading the instructions first, chalked it up to a learning experience, and figured I'd have plenty of opportunity to make up for it in the future.

Remember when Suzanne trolled the board and made fun of my spelling? Do you think if I'd have told her I was dislexic she'd have left me the hell alone? Or do you think she goes to cancer wards and makes fun of the bald people in her spare time? Do the most recent trolls remind you of her like they do me?

[librarianpirate]

you mean that trolling the cancer ward and teasing the baldies isn't considered fun in most societies?

hmmm ... nevermind then.

I almost did that with the reviews, but then I noticed that I wasn't supposed to. ::shrugs:: not a complaint from me.

[Jing Cha]

Remember when Suzanne trolled the board and made fun of my spelling? Do you think if I'd have told her I was dislexic she'd have left me the hell alone? Or do you think she goes to cancer wards and makes fun of the bald people in her spare time? Do the most recent trolls remind you of her like they do me?

Pity me for not being around in the age of Suzanne. I was too busy being back-stabbed and blitch-slapped in the eccentric clouds of XML QA to have it happen to me here too.

In reading the handy archive of Teachat posts, I think many people were excessively mean and quick-to-judge, though I understand her tone and phrasing were off-putting.

It's not like you go up to the counter at some random Starbucks and ask, "Is there a real coffeshop in the area to which you might direct me? What drink do you recommend for someone who has been so spoiled in life as to have had coffebeans hand-delivered to her by Juan Valdez in the past? I think he was busted for the coca cause he suddenly moved away and I need a new source to advance my finely developed palette. I went to ihatestarbucks.com and they had some bad reviews!"

Yet, Suzanne was honest, direct, well-spoken and quite curious, though perhaps a tad too snooty for general consumption.

She was beset upon as if by vultures. She in turn said some mean and improper things. It wasn't pretty.

Anyone who participated in the stoning or fallout ought to be ashamed, not making jokes about cancer patients.

Did you know that the tea and oranges that come all the way from China line in Leonard Cohen's song, "Suzanne," is actually based on Bigelow's Constant Comment?


Will Gladly,

Jing Cha

A way a lone a last a loved a long the riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.

[teaspoon]

Jing Cha, while I generally agree with your objective insights, in this case I must respectfully disagree. I went back and read the thread that started the whole Suzanne episode (Flavor Help in the Oolong forum for those who don't know or like me can't remember and would have to go searching), because it's been a while and I may have been remembering it wrongly. What I found was somewhat different from your account. Originally, she got appropriate responses from teachatters, and only one that ranged into the realm of being rude. From that first batch of replies, she paid attention only to the rude one and painted the entire board and the company with the same brush, accusing us of being not at all helpful and accusing Adagio of being inferior; all of this she did quite rudely and insultingly. Even after that, some teachatters still tried to be helpful despite those of us who retaliated in kind, but it was too late. The damage was done and the flame war started.

Perhaps we are seeing it differently because we are looking at it from different vantage points, but in summary what I see in that original thread is not an innocent woman being attacked but a group reacting to being universally insulted for the sins of one member. I do agree though that it wasn't pretty.

~tsp

[Guest]

Im a first time ordered, and I am still waiting for my order, but Im glad I read this, because I was expecting a book to come with my order. I never would of thought I had to add it to the shopping cart. I know people are trying to justify it, but that's not right.

Yes, I will also get them to send my book with my next order - if I had one, but I shouldnt of had to specify the book by putting it in my cart.

[chris]

Since we're very flexible and usually able to help (and out of courtesy) please email us first-- we may be able to fix it before it leaves for delivery!

Email me (chris at adagio dot com) and I'll arrange for it to arrive in your next order if it doesn't make the trip this time!

[vbguy772]

Guest, I hope you are happy with your tea from Adagio. I've spent several hundred dollars with this company in the past 6 months and have yet to be anything buy pleased with their tea and service. I can understand why some might have missed putting the free book in their shopping cart and I feel your pain. I had to buy my copy and am glad I did.

I find it rare that a company ever wants to send me anything free with an order. My hats off to Adagio for sometimes offering a little something extra with a first order. In this case, I can only imagine how hard it would be for a small company to set up their shipping department so the packers would know who gets the free book and who doesn't. I guess that is why they needed new customers to add it to their shopping cart. I commend you for being reasonable in this matter and giving Adagio a chance to correct this for you. I'm hopeful they will.

Happy sipping...........

Ron

[nala1128]

I have been reading these boards for a little while, but have not really posted anything before. I am fairly new to loose tea, and recently placed my first order with Adagio. I did add the book to the shopping cart, and received that as well as a free calendar with my order. Overall, I was very pleased with every aspect of my first order (which included a TriniTea). The e-mail shipping notification was great, the package arrived quickly, and was well packaged. Not to mention that the quality of all of the products that I ordered was impressive. I have nothing but praise for this company, as I have had a great experience from start to finish. I have more recently placed and received another order, and again was pleased with every aspect of my transaction. I am definitely hooked!!!!!!

[chris]

Thanks Nala!

Always glad to hear it!

Chris
Adagio Maestro

[Jing Cha]

Jing Cha, while I generally agree with your objective insights, in this case I must respectfully disagree. I went back and read the thread that started the whole Suzanne episode (Flavor Help in the Oolong forum for those who don't know or like me can't remember and would have to go searching), because it's been a while and I may have been remembering it wrongly. What I found was somewhat different from your account. Originally, she got appropriate responses from teachatters, and only one that ranged into the realm of being rude. From that first batch of replies, she paid attention only to the rude one and painted the entire board and the company with the same brush, accusing us of being not at all helpful and accusing Adagio of being inferior; all of this she did quite rudely and insultingly. Even after that, some teachatters still tried to be helpful despite those of us who retaliated in kind, but it was too late. The damage was done and the flame war started.

Perhaps we are seeing it differently because we are looking at it from different vantage points, but in summary what I see in that original thread is not an innocent woman being attacked but a group reacting to being universally insulted for the sins of one member. I do agree though that it wasn't pretty.

~tsp

Thank you for respectfully disagreeing, Teaspoon; I appreciate the kind and gracious expression of your view. Of course you do realize that you now have put me in the position where I must respectfully disagree with your respectful disagreement!

Really, I don't want to make a big deal about who said what to whom or dredge up any past grievances. I will say my piece as kindly as I can (which is hard because I unfortunately inherited the smart-ass gene) and let it rest.

I do not think Suzanne is the right kind of customer for Adagio. She clearly had a preconceived bias against Adagio teas; I do not think they were "exclusive" enough for her. You know, the kind of person who would rather buy a Hermes handbag than be caught "slumming" with Cole Haan. No matter how good Adagio may be, any tea with the label Adagio would not be up to par for her because she read some mysterious "reviews" about them.

There are people like this in the world. In the past, we called them Tsars and Kings and Queens and Emperors. Today we call them high-maintenance customers. Unfortunately, most customers do not have nor are they willing to spend the small fortunes needed to command the necessary court of experts, advisers, trainers, explorers and traders needed to fully satisfy such lofty yet poorly-defined desires. Sometimes all a customer can afford are Chris and Ilya! (just kidding, guys!)

These positional-good seekers are not the people to whom Adagio intends to cater. Not to say that Adagio would not like and appreciate and cherish their business, only that Adagio seeks out a broad and varied customer base from beginner to expert level. They offer a wide range of teas to indulge a great spectrum of tastes. They allow for you to sample any of their teas at an affordable cost to help you find your favorite without second-mortgaging the manor. They do not claim to offer only the finest, highest grades of tea picked by only the most talented monkeys from the world's most well-known secret forbidden gardens. So far as I can tell, their only claim is for fresh, well-packed, carefully chosen quality tea sold with honor and integrity at a fair and affordable price and delivered to your door in an efficient, dependable manner. On that mark, almost every review out there heralds them a success.

I admire Adagio because one of their top priorities is to introduce people, all kinds of people, to better tea, taking on the immense challenge of wrestling the image of tea in America away from the stale dust-packed teabag (which, even at such a compromised level of convenience, is rarely properly prepared!) Cornering the market on boutique sales will neither accomplish this goal nor provide adequate revenue to truly face the real challenge.

Suzanne claims she wanted recommendations that she might select only the "best of the best" of Adagio's offering since, though she knows nothing of tea and cannot describe what she likes about those previous select teas she had which were so spoilingly enjoyable, though she could not articulate what her definition of "best" or "good" was, though she had no indication of hope of being helped but only of being inevitably disappointed, she could only tolerate the supernacular. There was only challenge and difficulty ahead in "helping" her.

Clearly, Adagio markets well and does something right to make such a picky customer even interested in their brand! These are the kind of people who want to know exactly what bedtime story was read to their veal before slaughter. I mean, imagine Suzanne at Wal-Mart flagging down a blue-vested employee to ask, "Excuse me, is this Woolmark Merino Wool? I hear that's the best! It says 30% wool on the label. What kind of animal does Polyester come from? Is that a goat or rabbit?"

Okay, now I'm being too harsh on Suzanne. You know, I like Suzanne. I'd love to talk to her about tea, develop some better idea of what she's looking for, identify the old and recommend some new points of departure for exploration, encourage her to develop a vocabulary to help her communicate what she likes and wants to others. I'd like to teach her what to pay attention to, how to control variables for comparison, how appreciating tea can be a humbling, sublime pursuit that is not about better, best, bestest but experiencing the nuance of what's here and now.

Anyway, Suzanne was attacked by many after her first post. People immediately demanded to know the source of the reviews she read. People sought to discredit these reviews, even when there was no proof that they existed. Abacuses came out. As a former mathematics major with professional experience in epidemiology and cliometrics, I cringed to read the logic employed on both sides concerning the reviews. (As my idol John Tukey said, "The combination of some data and an aching desire for an answer does not ensure that a reasonable answer can be extracted from a given body of data.")

Then the dictionaries came out. Oh my! The only people who truly "behaved" in any sense of the word were you, teaspoon, Lady Arden and klemtor. Well, Ilya behaved too, but Ilya always behaves and I think he's actually some advanced form of artificial intelligence designed to take the ultimate Turing test. No human is that on-point all the time!

I really don't mean to rehash all this again. I guess I'd just like to see the teachatters a little less eager to defend, discredit and destroy and a little more eager to assist, uplift, and encourage.

What upset me were the comments about Suzanne probably making fun of bald people in the cancer ward. These are indirect insults to people who have and live with cancer and need to endure the harsh awfulness of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Sure, these two people were not themselves making fun of bald people in the cancer ward: they were pointing out that Suzanne might do that! Yet, implicit in the notion that Suzanne would make fun of bald people in a cancer ward is an explicit agreement toward defining the terms of the potential mockery and thereby extends availability to and credence to and definition to and power to a subset of social framework which defines the issue and shapes perception.

Would it be okay to say, "I wonder if Marlene pokes fun at those unsightly number tattoos on concentration camp survivors?"

Would it be okay to say, "I wonder if librarianpirate trolls the parks late at night to laugh at the bruises on fresh forceable rape victims?"

NO! If Marlene and librarianpirate had any class, they'd apologize. Yeah, I'm being touchy. Three bouts with cancer and two rounds of hard-core chemo; one of which resulted in complete kidney failure and endless dialysis, the other in two permanently deformed blood vessels in the brain which lead to constant headaches and occasional black-out seizures (and an inclination toward verbose posting on teachat forums), will do that. Nevermind trying to deal with $100,000+ in medical bills because your "insurance" company decided to reverse payment on several claims due to their lawyers discovering an arcane legal technicality which is now illegal but wasn't at the time services were rendered.

For the record, when I was bald in the cancer ward, I sported henna tattoos on my head. When I was sick and could not eat and coughed up blood for days, I dreamed of daisies growing out of teapots. When I wanted nothing more than to die and be done with this world, I looked over my lovely stockpile of tea and would say, "Not yet. Not until I drink every last drop!"

Tea, like life, is too precious to waste on bickering or self-pity. So now I shall stop and go load up Ingenuitea #3 (yes, I own 4!)

Will Gladly,

Jing Cha

Plenty to see and hear and feel yet. Feel live warm beings near you. They aren't going to get me this innings. Warm beds: warm full blooded life.

[kool-aid chris]

Jang: Did you know that green tea cures cancer? Also it doesn't cause hair loss like that nasty chemo does.

[Jing Cha]

Jang: Did you know that green tea cures cancer? Also it doesn't cause hair loss like that nasty chemo does.

Uh yeah, and I've got a lovely bridge to sell you that spans from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

[kool-aid chris]

1,490,000 hits for

http://www.google.com/search?q=green+tea+cures+cancer

You can't argue with science. Such folly is reserved for American Presidents alone.

[Marlene]

I have friends and family who have had cancer. My mother was in fact the person who said that. A mastectomy surviver. I am sorry if I hurt your feelings Jing Cha. I do have a tendancy to speak (and type) before I think. It gets me in hot water often.
I do appologise for being initially snarkey to suzanne, I just hate it when people attack my friends. I would have been more apt to appologise for my outburst had she not then immedietly jumped down my throat for, of all things, my spelling. I've suffered from dyslexia all my life in many areas, including math. Did you know you can be mathmaticaly dyslexic?
If she had countered me on the content of my post, rather than the spelling of my post, I would have been less upset with her. I would have more than likely said I was sorry, because at that point, I would have been.
Making fun of disabilites is never ok. I can't forgive her on that one. Not until she says she's sorry like I have here.