The case of the missing packages

Our mail carrier is currently on my shit list. Not for a mistake he may have made, either, but for his attitude.

Saturday, after checking our mail and not receiving two packages I was expecting, I logged onto the USPS website to check their status. Sure enough, both of them showed being delivered that day. Since the packages weren’t in our box, I checked between the doors just in case even though I knew they were small enough to be left in our box.

Today we checked the mail again in the hopes that our mail carrier accidentally put them in the wrong box. Since we’re in a townhome, there is one large box that is divided into sections for several units. The mail carrier opens the entire box from one side where he has access to all the slots and each resident has access via a key to their individual box on the opposite side. So it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that our packages were mistakenly put in the wrong slot, especially considering the fact we got one of our neighbor’s pieces of mail today.

We went to the post office to ask whether our carrier could check all the boxes tomorrow just in case. The woman who waited on us disappeared in back for a bit and then came out with our letter carrier. We calmly explained to him about the missing packages and what we suspect may have happened. He got defensive and insisted there was no way he put them in the wrong bin (because I guess people don’t make mistakes?) even after we showed him our neighbors mail that was in our box today. Then he kept talking about how he knows everyone by name (what does that have to do with anything?) and saying how he would have noticed putting it into the box for our next door neighbor.

We couldn’t understand why he kept talking about the box above ours (one of our neighbors’) when there is also a box below and to the side of ours. Is it not possible he could have put them in one of those boxes instead? Joe asked about the other boxes and the carrier replied “are you being sarcastic?” It was like he just wanted to start an argument.

Finally, getting nowhere with this guy, I asked if he could just double-check the other boxes tomorrow. He claimed he was going to go check it “right now”, but we had errands to run so I don’t know if he did. We checked our box when we got home and just as I feared, it was still empty.

I don’t know what that guy’s deal is. We’re not trying to get him in trouble; we just want our stuff. I even told the lady after he disappeared in the back that I understand mistakes happen. But come on, stop being so defensive! I never insist I know I did something because I’m not perfect. Usually if someone thinks I made a mistake and I don’t think I did, I will say “I could have sworn I didn’t do that” but I will also investigate. We do get our neighbors’ mail from time to time so our letter carrier isn’t perfect and I’m more offended by his attitude than the possibility that he made a mistake.

It is really frustrating since the packages contain Christmas presents. There are three CDs in one package and a PC game in the other. All but one of them is the girl’s.

I’m waiting until tomorrow to check our box once more in case they mysteriously show up. I will also ask both our next door neighbors whether they’ve checked their mail recently. The one neighbor is constantly sending and receiving packages so perhaps he got them by mistake and hasn’t even realized it yet. Contrary to what our mail carrier implied, I don’t think any of our neighbors would be intentionally hanging onto something that doesn’t belong to them, but if he put it in box of a person who is out of town, they wouldn’t have any idea about it.

If all else fails, I guess I will have to contact Amazon.com to file a claim. In the meantime the girl is out some presents. Merry Christmas!