Warning: This is a rant. If the words "dickheads" and "chickenshit" offend you, please go back to the news page and accept my apologies... but sometimes those ARE the kindest terms that can be used.

October 23, 2011.

In a nutshell, good people, here it is:

Intent: To do what neighbors do, use what you do or have to raise assistance funds for others in need. With as little red tape or complication on either end; the wildfire in Bastrop county took the homes of over 1600 families. I don't think if they need a week's worth of groceries or some clothes or a teddy bear for their freaked-out child, that they should have to fill out forms in triplicate or applications or provide notarized proof of loss statements. 

Action: I offered up a bass build based on a Bloodwood topped bass body for $20 donations. In other words, you send $20 through the PayPal "Donate" button, your name goes in the hat once. You send $100, it goes in 5 times. Pretty simple. We raised a large amount, I ate the fees, and I'll deal with the tax man over it. The money came in, I pulled it out and it's sitting safely where it will sit until I get in my truck, drive to the now apocalyptic landscape where communities were, and find folks who are down and out, very depressed, and not picture perfect enough to make news or are getting dicked around by insurance scumbags while their family is essentially homeless. To these people, using my moral judgement, I will disperse bits of the money to help with their immediate needs. This will happen next month; enough smoke has settled to see where real needs are obvious. The bass raffle is happening Friday the 28th of October.

How it looks to PayPal: A raffle is a gambling operation; and raising funds without a license, official association with a charitable organization, or non-profit status... these are violations of their "Acceptable Use Policy". Since I cannot provide them with such requested documentation, my commercial account is basically being locked up. You'd think somewhere between "Policy violation" and "donations for fire victims" would be a few solutions a human with a brain and a heart and any kind of moral code could fix, especially considering my 7-year, thousands-of-transactions, trouble free history... and the intent in which I inadvertently ran afoul of their War And Peace like fine print.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. The higher up I went in PayPal, the less humanity I encountered; the ones who can't do anything were cool. The ones who CAN do things are basically (not to generalize, of course) pencil-pushing legal hacks with even less spine than moral code.

Should I really be surprised?  

I'll continue to add to this, but I had a wonderful breakfast and I don't want to throw it up on my keyboard...

Dickheads.

Chickenshit.

(I had to put those there to remember to use them.)

~Scott

PayPal's mother worked street corners for spare change.