1.8 First grump of the new year

I was looking through the Twist Collective and thought that K might look good in Vivian (ravelry). On consulting K, I determined that she thinks she might look good in Vivian (not always a given), and we started discussing yarn possibilities. She likes the green of the original, so I started looking about for possible yarns. The original yarn was a bulky, 120 yds/100 gram put up from a British company. Looking for something a little closer to home, I found Jo Sharp Silkroad Ultra in the Verdi shade is 60 yds/50 gram put up and currently discontinued.

K likes the Verdi green, and I figured that the discount for discontinued would bring it into (relatively) affordable range. I started googling for who had it and for how much, flipping back and forth between google pages, catalog pages, the pattern... how much do I need, how much does it cost, what're the exact specs on the yarn. Fine! Company A has it on discount, they have 19 balls available (I want 12 - 11 that are called for and 1 for extra just because), reasonably priced, not too far to ship. Order that puppy! A-a-a-and just as I hit the confirm button, I start kicking myself because I have just confirmed an order for 12 balls that are half the size of the 11 called for by the pattern. Moreover, I can't order another 12, because they only had 19 to start with which isn't enough. And it's a sale item, which they won't take a return on.

That part was my mistake.

Groaning softly, I started looking for another 12 balls of Verdi. I'll mix dyelots alternating rows if I have to - I'll figure out something.

Company B: not quite so close, but, hey! no discontinued discount, but a half price sale on everything! I can live with that. They have 17 balls available - I ordered what I needed. Very nice note from the automatic teller, and then a followup nice note on Monday morning - the stuff is In the Mail. And on Wednesday, Company B's package arrives. I hadn't heard anything from Company A, so I dropped a note to the Customer Service dept - Well?

And this morning I got a note from Company A - in response to my note, not in response to my order. Oh. Well - we don't have any of that left, sorry, have a nice day.

So - sometime between Sunday, when I ordered this and their online system assured me that they had 19 balls and 12 of them were earmarked for me, and this morning, when someone opened my email and bothered to check stock, either:
1. Someone updated inventory to reflect reality.
2. Someone called or walked in and spoke to a live person who snabbled all the inventory without checking to see if an order had been placed already.
And - no one has yet responded to the actual order I placed 4 days ago, which is, by the way, still sitting in their system marked "open".

So - I have 12 balls in hand and I need at least 22.

Grump.