The sound of one hand clapping me upside the head

It probably happens to everyone, and I guess it was only a matter of time before it happened to me.

I sent the wrong disc back to Netflix.

The wife and I finished up season 2 of Lost the other night. I opened the tray of the DVD changer and grabbed the disc while she and I were discussing the show. I slid the disc in the sleeve, put that in the mailing envelope, and sealed it. Next morning I dropped it in the mail box, just like they show on TV.

And then that evening, I found the Lost DVD in my changer. A quick comparison of the other discs in the changer and the empty jewel cases on the shelf revealed a missing Johnny Cash disc: my recently acquired Legend of Johnny Cash, vol II, which is an incredible mix of old and new material. I wasn't sure which was worse...that it was Johnny Cash, or that it could've been Steve Earle's Guitar Town. On the other hand, it's a good thing it wasn't my son's Garfield DVD, or truly, there'd be hell to pay.

I ran to my internet and spent the next half-hour looking for a way to contact Netflix. Have you ever tried this? It's impossible. There's no way to send them an email, and the only way of contacting them at all is via a few checklist-driven reports. I did find how to return the disc I still had (just slip it into a mailer with another return). I took it a step further to make sure that the second return was going to the same distribution point that the Lost disc came from.

Sure enough, I received a prefab email from Netflix pointing out my stupidity and reiterating the solution. Today I returned another movie, included the extra disc, and also included a note asking to have my CD returned. I'll let you know how it shakes out.

Playing on CD: Chingon's "Mexican Spaghetti Western" - that amazing collaboration of Del Castillo and Robert Rodriguez.