Hounding After Hours

How would you like to play with a mailman? Or rather, the postal system at large?



I've shipped stuff all over the country (birthdays, Cmas, etc) for almost twenty years and this year, this year when I send my sister the afghan that took me eight months to crochet and, when spread out, covered my king-size bed, corner to corner, they lose it.

And of course, being the naive skwirrel who ignored the nervous feeling in her gut when she handed it over to the postal worker, I did not put a tracking number on it.

"Why?" I asked myself on the morning of 11/9. "You've never had a problem sending anything before. Everything has always, always, always gotten where it was supposed to be on time and in one piece. Stop being silly. You're just nervous because you've spent so much time and effort and yarn on the thing. Let it go."

So I did.

And it's gone.

Laurie...that's one of the worst stories of the postal system I've heard in a long time. If it's any consolation, they lost my dad's ashes after he died, and the burial had to be postponed for 3 days while they searched for him.

LaurieD said:

this year when I send my sister the afghan that took me eight months to crochet and, when spread out, covered my king-size bed, corner to corner, they lose it.

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Anything the Postal Service says they can do, or is this a case of "no tracking number, no help"?

I was told they're conducting an investigation, following the route it was supposed to take from the post office I mailed it from here in Oklahoma, to Chicago, then upstate New York, before arriving at the post office in Vermont.

Of course, this guy also told me that area was still experiencing delays from Sandy. He didn't realize there was a difference between upstate New York and the city.



On a more hopeful note, I sent pics of it to my sister (she hadn't known what was in the box and had been rather lacadasical about the unknown whereabouts of her box). She's been on the phone with her post office off and on all afternoon trying to find it.

Dollars to donuts, she finds it before my postal guy figures out what I meant when I said the hurricane hadn't caused any damage in upstate New York.

I'm all but convinced it's gone.

My hubs is optimistic, citing the occasion an order of spices arrived via USPS two weeks after its replacement order arrived.

TedTheewen said:

Laurie...that's one of the worst stories of the postal system I've heard in a long time. If it's any consolation, they lost my dad's ashes after he died, and the burial had to be postponed for 3 days while they searched for him.

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Oh wow...

Now that's something you'd think they'd have to sign for and things.

LaurieD said:

He didn't realize there was a difference between upstate New York and the city.

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That's a little disconcerting, considering it's the USPS's job to know where things are.

He was from the post office around the corner. When I first moved here and people asked where I was from, I can't tell you how many people thought Vermont was part of Canada. Since I travel the same circles now, no one asks me that any more, so I can't say if it still holds true. Considering this guy's comment though...

LaurieD said:

How would you like to play with a mailman? Or rather, the postal system at large?



I've shipped stuff all over the country (birthdays, Cmas, etc) for almost twenty years and this year, this year when I send my sister the afghan that took me eight months to crochet and, when spread out, covered my king-size bed, corner to corner, they lose it.

And of course, being the naive skwirrel who ignored the nervous feeling in her gut when she handed it over to the postal worker, I did not put a tracking number on it.

"Why?" I asked myself on the morning of 11/9. "You've never had a problem sending anything before. Everything has always, always, always gotten where it was supposed to be on time and in one piece. Stop being silly. You're just nervous because you've spent so much time and effort and yarn on the thing. Let it go."

So I did.

And it's gone.

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Aw, so sorry, Laurie! That's horrible. Sheesh, I hope they find it. I mean it has to be in a mail truck or warehouse somewhere, right?

TedTheewen said:

Laurie...that's one of the worst stories of the postal system I've heard in a long time. If it's any consolation, they lost my dad's ashes after he died, and the burial had to be postponed for 3 days while they searched for him.

Click to expand...

yeah, he should've definitely had a tracking number. How do you lose something like that? Wouldn't that have been considered a Priority/Express/Important/Fragile/Keepyoureyeonit
package?

Someone should've gotten into serious trouble over that one. That's horrible, so sorry Ted.

I wish people would ask I'm from another country so I could mess with them. I would tell them, "Oh yeah, we're a province of Transylvania."

Yeah, they sent my dad's ashes to the wrong city. He was supposed to go to Columbus, NE but the sent him to Columbus, OH.

LaurieD said:

He was from the post office around the corner. When I first moved here and people asked where I was from, I can't tell you how many people thought Vermont was part of Canada.

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Well, in their defense, having been to both Vermont and Canada, I can somewhat understand the confusion.

Do Vermonters say, "eh" at the end of their sentences?

Not that I recall, but Laurie could answer that one better than I could.

All I know about Vermont is that it is the home of Ben & Jerry's and some of them think their cheese is better than Wisconsin's.

I say eh.

eh. <----- see?

Just got back from doing laundry and eating dinner at my son's house. I'm reminded everytime I go over there what a house with kids sounds like...very loud.

Night, you gotta say it at the end of sentences, eh. Haven't you ever watched Bob & Doug McKenzie?

Krampus is looking particularly evil this year. Maybe he ran out of coffee.

TedTheewen said:

Night, you gotta say it at the end of sentences, eh. Haven't you ever watched Bob & Doug McKenzie?

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Yeah, but I'm way cooler than they are. I say it at the beginning, in the middle, and sometimes in the beginning and the end of sentences.

TedTheewen said:

All I know about Vermont is that it is the home of Ben & Jerry's and some of them think their cheese is better than Wisconsin's.

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Some of their cheese *is*.


*ducks and runs*

night-flyer said:

I'm reminded everytime I go over there what a house with kids sounds like...very loud.

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Yeah, but done right, it's happy.

slcboston said:

Yeah, but done right, it's horrifying.

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FIFY

slcboston said:

Some of their cheese *is*.

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Back during the heady days of margarine smuggling, we used to hear talk of folks wanting to try some of their cheese, but nobody wanted to run the blockade with that in their vehicles. I mean, margarine would get you in trouble, but you could bribe your way out of that. Get caught with Vermont cheese? You might as well pray for a marked grave.

slcboston said:

Yeah, but done right, it's happy.

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Oh, I adore the little monsters, but I can't imagine trying to write over there.

*listens*

yep, blissfully silent with only the low hum of the computer

night-flyer said:

*listens*

yep, blissfully silent with only the low hum of the computer

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And don't forget the ticking of the clock in the other room. If a floorboard creaks, that's just the house settling, nothing to worry about. And if you hear something like heavy breathing behind you, that's just the wind outside, nothing to be alarmed about.

TedTheewen said:

And don't forget the ticking of the clock in the other room. If a floorboard creaks, that's just the house settling, nothing to worry about. And if you hear something like heavy breathing behind you, that's just the wind outside, nothing to be alarmed about.

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The only thing I fear is humans and it's too cold for even the crack heads to be out and about tonight.

night-flyer said:

The only thing I fear is humans and it's too cold for even the crack heads to be out and about tonight.

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Cold for you. For a person in a northern state, say Wisconsin, it would like a crisp fall or spring evening. I mean, I'm just here to help, you know.

At work, they have a new thing they say to me: Bad, Ted! Bad!

hmm...it's 26 here. And I don't think it's likely that any Wisconsinians, Wisconsinites, or whatever are in my neighborhood. Unless...

*goes to peek out the window in search any vans nearby*