Day 9 is the funniest part, it's like the blender knew the return window was closing soon. That "works great, arrived fast" line is basically the company motto for bought reviews, nobody talks like that in real life. Sorting by lowest rating first is the move, those one and two star folks have zero reason to lie and they tell you how it actually broke. I do the same thing now, and yeah it takes longer, but at least I'm not reading 400 fake happy people while my smoothie sits there burning.

Reggie at that Fort Worth counter gave you solid advice. I ran 80 straight to 320 for years on a DA and thought I was saving time, but I did a black Silverado bed side last spring and those 80 grit pigtails came back through the sealer like tiny little scratches everywhere. Spent two hours extra blocking it back down and still had one spot near the wheel arch that showed in direct sun. Now I do 180 on the DA with a soft pad, 220 by hand on the body lines and edges, then 320 over everything before primer. Yeah it adds about 10 or 15 minutes a panel but I have not had a scratch pop back up in months. The 320 also cuts way flatter so my blocking after primer is half the work it used to be. You are not the last guy, plenty of us got lazy with the grit jumps and paid for it later.