Dear Post Office....

What did I ever do to you?

Seriously, guys, I think the Post Office hates me. Like for real. I don't know why. I still mail things the old fashioned way. I use them for shipping packages (unless otherwise specified by the return directions of whatever company I'm returning to). And yet, it's like they're trying to make me quit them.

Cases in point:

Last year I had ordered a book and a CD. Yes, I still order CDs of artists I love so I can listen to them in my car when my iPod is dead (which is usually). I tracked and tracked like a good mail stalker, and saw that it was delivered. Somewhere, but not to me. I called them, and had to scream and make weird noises and punch random numbers like some crazy person to confuse their automated system and get a live body on the phone (so much so that my nephew came into the room and asked what was wrong with me and if I was sick, hahahaha). They had no idea what had happend, so they told me to contact Amazon, who reshipped my order for free, and told me to return to them the other package if it ever showed up (for free). The DAY my re-ship was delivered a woman comes to the door and gives my dad my original package that was delivered to her house by mistake and that her "idiot son" (her words, not mine) didn't tell her about. Interesting side-note--she was the florist my sister used for her wedding. Anyway, not only was her house number different, so was her street.

Late last year I had ordered some sewing stuff, didn't track it obsessively, and the PO delivered to the wrong house again. Some random guy came to the door with it and said he got it by mistake. At least this time it was the same street, and only one number indicating the block was incorrect.

At Christmas, I got one of those cards saying "You have a package at the post office to pick up." I knew what it was and was very excited to get it. Then I saw the note: no one was home. Which was a lie. My dad was sitting there grading finals (he teaches physics at a local university part-time) all day. No one knocked, nothing. When I picked up the package there was nothing indicating special delivery directions, so they could have just left it. But the best part - they had crossed out my address, written another one (which--WTF? and no wonder I wasn't there to receive it) but left the pick-up directions at my actual address. How does that even happen?????

And now, I'm really mad. I had ordered from one of my favorite UK sites for some piping cord and a purse kit to reward myself for all my hard work. I ordered it weeks ago. Got my shipment notice (but no tracking since it wasn't offered or I missed the part where you could pay a little extra for it) and waited. And I'm still waiting. I needed the cord, and put a ton of miles on my car last week to find something similar, meeting with success only the other night. I bought just what I needed, thinking that would ensure my package would be delivered the very next day. But it wasn't. And there's nothing I can do. The shipper is extremely reliable and I've never had an issue (I actually get my stuff so quickly it's almost insane). But my package is lost somewhere. Maybe if I reorder it someone from Mozambique will be knocking at my door saying "This was delivered to my house by mistake."

Sorry for the rant. But I really wanted the purse kit - I'm thinking I might have some free time this weekend to whip it together. Guess not. But I am about to redefine what it means to go postal...