Time to Vent – Beer Trading
I was going to put up a beer review for today, Three Floyds Dreadnaught, but that is going to have to wait a day. Why, because some people just piss me off and I feel like venting , so now you get to enjoy my simple tirade over what my wife would call meaningless shit. To her credit, she’s right in the grand scheme of things beer trading is pretty meaningless.
I trade beer, I usually get 2 or 3 boxes a beer a week and send out about the same. Some of you may have actually been on the receiving end of one of these trades. So why do I trade beer? I trade to get a bottle (or a few bottles) that I can’t get with in driving distance of where I live. Since I live in New Jersey, there are a whole lot of Midwest and left coast beers I don’t have access too, I don’t want to have my wallet raped on eBay, and I can also share some east coast/local beers with others. So for instance the last box I got in the mail, Lost Abbey Red Poppy, Cigar City Guava Grove, Three Floyds Dreadnaught, Jolley Pumpkin Maracaibo Especial, Tyrenana Scurvy and Rocky’s Revenge. A great box, right? I thought so and this is the start of my story….
So I drop this person a note, thanking him for the great box with a couple of appreciated extras. Since I had not heard anything from him about the package I sent him, I asked if it came intact and he was okay with with what he received. I’m not in the habit of just trading once with someone, I’d like to form some sort of trading relationship so if I’m looking for something or they are looking for something we can help each other out. Did I violate some unwritten trading rule by asking if he got was satisfactory? Because, the response I got from him was “Oh that was last week, I have so may trades going on I lose track, but I’m sure it was fine”. What do mean “sure it was fine”? You get a box that has 5 22oz /750ml bottles and you don’t take notice or was the selection not up to your standards? And you were the one who initiated the trade, come on man!
Like my wife says, who cares. I guess I did. Was I just being overly sensitive? I don’t think so. Did I want some acknowledgment that he liked or was excited about the beer? Probably. But what got me to this point was the lack of care I got from his message. I just got under my skin, I feel better now. Thanks for reading my vent, if you made it this far…
Anytime you need a Midwest trade, drop a line. I’ll be glad to hook you up for some East Coast beers.
@jeff, I appreciate the offer and just might have to take you up on it!
Peter, its cool to blow of steam. You have to make sure your personal airlock is working from time to time!
Big deal, probably not – rude yes. An acknowledgment is easy enough to send. Its not like people need to hand write letters and go to the post office anymore. Next time send him some Rolling Rock. (its from Jersey!)
Well at least you now know he’s not too focused on the details. Maybe next time send him 5 bombers of Colt 45 and see if he notices. Or maybe a box of rocks.
I despise people who are rude without provocation. They always make you feel like a total ass when they light you up for no good reason. Must be lots of fun to be them.
See it’s people that that really bug me about the craft beer community. It just seems like they just want all this beer for themselves and don’t care about anyone else. Yeah I know that sounds odd because he’s trading but if he can’t even remember who he got what from then he really doesn’t care about community.
He probably also spends way more time on BA and RB than is probably healthy to do during the day just so he can try to get what he needs and curl up in his cave by himself and be like, “Excellent, and it’s all mine!” Ending with a semi evil laugh.
Sorry I went on a slight rant on your rants page but it too pisses me off when people are more individual than community based with craft beer.
Whatever, Jim. Ha!
I’ll have to say, I really think it was no big deal and you may have been over-sensitive a tad. But hey, that’s right – there’s nothing wrong with that. I also understand your point, and when I trade beer, I enjoy when people get psyched about the extras I sent him/her.
However, maybe he had a bunch of stuff going on and was just being honest to you and meant no harm. I mean, what if he had like 7-10 trades going on (which some BA users often do), and had some sort of family emergency to deal with that he didn’t want to share? If I was in that situation I would at least send an acknowledging beermail to some extent – which is what he did.
just my 0.2
Cheers!
J
@scott – Sometimes it just helps to vent a bit. I really do value trading as it help me to get beer I want and also show others how great our local beer is as well. But a rolling rock, that would just be down right rude, not worthy of my irritation. Lets keep the Rolling rock and Corona in the labs.
@Jim – HA! that’s worse then Scott’s rolling rock. then again people really do like their malt liquor. I recently sent a guy a forty of Balentine XXX, Steel Reserve, and something else for a 750 of 07 Barrel Aged Gonzo.
@Mike – thanks for justifying my insanity, evil laugh and all!
@Jason – I appreciate your .02 cents. You’re probably right, there was a lot going on in his house hold which I can totally understand, mine is always crazy with two jobs, two blogs, and a family. I’m not convinced I was over sensitive, but well let history judge. BTW, I sent him the note, I doubt I would have heard anything from him had I not sent him a thank you.
Whatev. 😉
Just kidding. I think if someone is a part of something, anything, they ought to mind the rules of etiquette and decorum of the thing they are a part of. Craft people are polite, they are generous, and they communicate. This guy dropped the ball on two out of three. I could see where you might be a little irked by it.
Scott,
Dude I see where you are coming from. What kills me even more is when I send someone some homebrew with pre-discussed lines of honest feedback, and I get nothing but that was really good.
Seriously?!? Thats it? Glad you enjoyed it but what can I take from that to make it better?!? If I wanted that reply I would have given it to my dog.
Also I have setup trades with people before that have coped attitudes with me when I shot them request for stuff….isnt that what a trade is?!? Like “Hey, I heard this bottle is available in your local area…think you can snag one for me and we can set something up?!?” Whats wrong with that?!? Esp after a “relationship” has been formed.
My wife too thinks I get bent out of shape too easily over everything…ohh well.
BTW I am almost done with my 4th homebrew for our trade…I’ll shoot you an email.
Courtesy is becoming less a thing of the past. I too get irritated by stuff like this, and spout off, usually to my obliging wife. I teach my boy, ALWAYS hold the door open for folks, ladies first, please, thank you etc., – reciprocation is a common courtesy.
I would be willing to guess that your trader has gotten sucked into the whirlpool of beer as a quest, rather than experience.
@Don, look out for that Rolling Rock and a 40 of OLD E headed your way, MUHAHAHA! More often then not, craft beer people are how you described, or at least that is the ideal we’d like to set for ourselves. You’ll notice I’ve not outed the trader because I’m not trying to vilify him, but merely vent my frustration without making an issue with him or other traders. Really no one got hurt, move on right? 🙂
@Phil, wow you mush have a wonder dog! Wish I could get feed back from my mutts, but they just look at me with their head cocked to one side with a “Huh?” look on their face. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve asked for feed back and got either Nothing or nice job. Great, tell me what you like and didn’t like. If it is a perfect beer, what made it perfect. I totally get it. On a side not, with the huge demand for my peanut butter porter, I’m only sending it to people who will give me constructive feed back.
@nate – Thank You Nate! It pisses me off to no end kids with bad manors. Wow, I sure get pissed at a lot of stuff, LOL! Still it is something that they will carry through life, thinking of how others feel and acting towards people you have to interact with. A simply note or thank you can go a long way.
I’m with Nate on this one. They are apparently just filling out a checklist of beer and don’t really seem to care about it that much. I’d be pissed, too. I’m personally meticulous about the trades and would definitely keep in mind what I got and from whom. Also, I don’t trade much because it’s a lot of extra money on shipping, etc. Why spend that money if you aren’t even excited about what you are getting. DoucheVille!
Just happened across your blog through Twitter. That sucks when someone has to act like an ass, especially when it’s supposed to be a friendly exchange. If you ever want to do a trade for some West Coast brews, just let me know!