Saturday, January 26, 2008

So I'm Going To The Maryland-Duke Game After All

It was iffy at times today. Believe me when I say I came close to missing this game.

Here's the story. A pair of tickets and parking pass were sent from Florida via USPS Next Day mail Friday. They were to arrive at noon today. So I stayed at home all day anticipating delivery. Noon came and went, nothing. 3:00 PM came and went, nothing. At 5:00 I logged in to the USPS site. The site said there was a delivery attempt at 11:15 AM, which was #^&@*$#% because I was sitting in the living room with Benjamin and I would have heard the doorbell. Plus Weena and her Mom and Dad were in the kitchen preparing for lunch. In other words, I had Casa Benjamin fully staffed.

At 5:00 I called the 1-800-ASK-USPS line. They said that indeed there was an attempt to deliver and a notice was left. More #^&@*$#% as there was no notice and I must have opened the door dozens of times today looking outside. I would have seen a notice. The person on the line told me where the package was and said a second attempt will be made the next business day (Monday, lotsa good since tip off is Sunday evening at 6:30). Perhaps the driver went to the wrong house, I don't know. At that point I didn't have a lot going my way so I decided to chance it at 5:45 PM and see if anyone was still at the local Post Office where the package was sitting.

Cue the Speed Racer theme music and I roar down the street with a little hope. I get there finally and this is one of those places where you can drop off mail and buy stamps 24/7 so I'm able to get inside the building. Then I see the lobby wasn't completely shut down so I went to a door and pounded on it for five minutes. I could see light so I knew someone had to be there still.

While pounding on the door I hear someone yell "we're closed!" I yell back, "No, it's an emergency. I've got a Next Day package I need to get TODAY, PLEASE!"

So the attendant opens the door, asks for what I was looking for. I had printed out the delivery number and showed that to her with my driver's license and she said for me to give her a couple minutes.

Heart pounding, I almost danced when I see she had my package. I got her name and thanked her as I signed for it. She said if I showed up two minutes later, she was out the door gone until Monday. I plan to find out who her supervisor is and will drop a note of appreciation.

So the adventure ends with me in the nosebleeds at Comcast Center tomorrow. I'll have a full report after the game. Go Terps!

Post Preview here

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmm, should have used Fed Ex? Good luck tonight.

Anonymous said...

:) I'll mention that to him.