what happened to a fellow berserker is just really sad on many levels. some of my best friends are those that i drink wine with, and it is really terrible that he will be deprived of the opportunity to share good bottles and good memories with his friends.
george- if you have a paypal, can you post it? i would like to make a $20 gift to it. i know it is a drop in the bucket compared to what you are out right now, but never underestimate the power of people coming together. i know i would get a lot more satisfaction out of you being recompensed partially, than i would receive by spending it. should you be made whole by the seller, i only hope that you will pay it forward in good kind. good luck in everything.
$20 is not going to kill me either way… that is why i said that if he is made whole by the seller, to pay it forward in kind. to be honest, it will take him additional funds just to get the wines at this point. i would rather he receive my money upfront. people can do as they see fit- donate or not… it is truly up to you.
I agree with the sentiment and I would probably contribute to George’s cause.
It reminds me though of another internet good deed I was involved with and I share this story not because George would do this type of thing, but because it is the darker side of helping someone in need from the internet.
I post on a bike forum. The members all banded together and decided to build a bike for a member who had financial troubles and was without a bicycle. We contributed money, parts and labor. Another member actually did the assembly. We were very excited to ship our gift to the member so he could soon be back riding.
Shortly after we shipped the bike, a member noticed the exact bike for sale on eBay. Needless to say the air went out of the balloon pretty quickly.
As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.
Without knowing anything about the situation, if this guy was on a bike forum but was so hard up that he had to sell his bike, then perhaps he needed the money so much that he had to sell the new bike he got from all of you? Yes, it seems like poor form to sell a gift that was put together and donated so caringly, but he might have had to make a difficult choice and may not have wanted to tell all of you that he had to do that.
Oh, and to the original point of the post, I would be happy to share a bottle with George or to pick up his tab for dinner so that he can take his mind off his recent troubles and enjoy some wine with our wine group. Come out and join us!
I mentioned this in the main thread, but if there are any Bay Area WBers who have Truchot, maybe you could invite George to attend a tasting dinner where you open some of them. That doesn’t right the wrongs by any means, but it would really cool.
Easy for me to say, since I don’t live in the Bay Area or have Truchot, but anyway . . .
Any interest in sharing a “Stock” bottle? That wine is of special interest to me, but I doubt I will have a chance to taste it. I’ll bet we could share the cost between a few of us.