Those Were Different Times

I remember in about 1992 a young woman I knew at college used a name that was very close to her own to get a ton of free music from one of those exploitive record clubs. She really turned the tables on them.

Our school had small post office boxes in the same building as the cafeteria. The people who sorted the mail just put the CDs with the fake (but close) name she used into her box. Maybe they figured the sender had gotten it slightly wrong by accident.

She got all the "free" stuff, of course, just like everyone those record clubs scammed back then. But then she just kept ordering whatever she wanted but never paid. Someone (I?) asked her what she thought would happen when she got caught. She said what could they do? It wasn't her. It was someone whose name was admittedly really close, but it wasn't her. Her plan was to claim total ignorance.

I admired her bravery but worried about her getting caught. I wish I knew what happened but I don't because we lost touch after what a therapist might call "ruptures" in that friendship group. I hope she got away completely clean. I hope she still enjoys her 2 CD set of Sand in the Vaseline by Talking Heads and dozens of others. I think about her every time I see that album on the shelf.

I didn't quite nail the ending there. Sorry. What a bore.