hate to say it, but it\’s pretty much true: in today\’s business climate, the buyer has to assume that everyone is trying to cheat them and they all lie, so the buyer has to be doubly cautious and cynical.

Another lesson learned the hard way.

Right. I don\’t think this lady was actually *trying* to cheat us, she just sort of cheated us by accident because of her disorganization. When Jenny called her to get the quote for insurance, she asked if our new place has a securty system. Jenny said yes, but we aren\’t planning on activating it.

When she finally called back with the quote, it was the cheapest by a small amount, so we said OK, we want to go with you. Then just yesterday she called Jenny and said she\’ll need a copy of the certificate from the security system company saying we\’ve activated it. Jenny said \”WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT\” and the woman said \”oh right… I sort of remember… you said you weren\’t going to activate it… well, this changes the price you know.\” Jenny at this point actually was successful in transmitting her \”black look\” through the phone but ultimately decided to take the insurance anyway since we don\’t want to delay the closing.

The new price is only like $20/year more, but it\’s still really annoying when something like that changes at the last minute.

If Jenny were Effie, there would already be a sea of slashed tires. That\’s what we call \”direct action\”, it comes highly recommended.

Hopefully this is the only surprise we\’ll get when this whole deal is finished (cross your fingers, too).

Obviously the left-hand character is horse, but what does the right-hand side mean: “thief” or something?

I think it’s 扁 which means flat. A really good site for breaking down the characters that way is Zhongwen.com.