My UPS Story

After reading Merrit's UPS story I thought I would share one of my own.

Flash back to spring 1999. I was preparing to take a vacation to the Bahamas with two of my girlfriends. I had ordered some clothes for the escape from the cold Minnesota spring to the sunny Bahama beach.

At this time I owned a house in St Paul with a big fenced in yard. I had two dogs then; Toby, who is still with us, and Titan, my loving Rottie. On the side of the house was a large doggie door.

About a week before the big trip I came home to see clothes strewn all over my yard. I was very confused at first, wondering where my dogs had gotten clothes. Maybe I left the door to the main level of the house open? But they had never chewed clothes before...

Then I saw it: the packing bags from the company I had ordered my beachy clothes from. Those clothes were for my vacation!

I was beyond pissed. I called the UPS toll free number and explained, as calmly as possible, what I found. Let me just say that the people who man the toll free phones are worthless.

The next call I made was to the company I had ordered my clothes from. They were no help. Once the package leaves their warehouse it is not their responsibility.

So, 8am the next morning I was at the local UPS location, torn packages and destroyed clothes in hand.

The lady I dealt with was mortified. They called the delivery driver who said, "I saw the open door (dog door) and thought I would just throw the packages in there." What a genius. I had a "Beware of Dog" sign on my fence. Even if the dogs were inside there is no way he didn't know they were there. I'm sure Titan thought it was a game and came running out as soon as the packages hit the door.

After much arguing and working my way up the UPS ladder they did refund my complete receipt; items and shipping. They also added a note to my address stating that yellow tags should be left if I was not home to accept a package. I was unable to get the replacement items shipped in time for my trip. Of course. Which meant an emergency shopping trip. Before I got my check from UPS. Of course.

I did go on to have a lovely trip. A morning cruise to the Bahamas, 4 days on the beach and an evening cruise back to Florida. Much of the staff on the cruise ship was Latin. My two blond, petite girlfriends were a bit put-off that I got more attention than they did. What can I say; Latin guys like curves. But that's another tale...