Tonight I had dinner with my daughter and her friend Jessica. Last Sunday night, Jessica and her friends were hanging out, watching football and having a good time. Jessica's friend Lindsay left her friends to go pick up her boyfriend, driving into worsening road conditions and probably going a little too fast. Eight hours later, worried sick and unable to sleep, her friend's roommate called. She had just received a call from police officers, who were on their way to the apartment she and Lindsay shared.
As you can imagine, the news was not good. She plummeted over a freeway bridge and her car flipped over, killing her. Jessica and her friends spent the rest of the night alternating between throwing up and crying.
Two days later, after the sober reality of what had happened was sinking in, Jessica and her boyfriend arrived at a U.S. Post Office to mail a pair of red shoes to the funeral home in Kearney, Nebraska, where Lindsay's body was being prepared for burial.
Being 21 years old, they arrived at the post office with the items in hand, but no box or packing material. They stood in line behind several other customers and the clerk eyed them a few times, slightly shaking his head at Lindsay's belongings.
Once the reached the counter, the postal worker sarcastically broke the news: It was 4:30 and they didn't have time to get the package ready. And besides, they weren't doing any overnight deliveries to Kearney, Nebraska. What happened to "If it fits, it ships?" Hmmm...
After tearing across town, they reached a Fed Ex store, where the clerk helped them out with the appropriate packaging and got the items sent.
My heart broke for Jessica tonight, but the PR Princess in me was incensed. Could it have been that hard for the postal clerk to have handed them a box? Or asked where the package was going? Or admitted the U.S. Postal Services hires Fed Ex to make some of its overnight deliveries?
So, so sad... Where she died (I think) is the bridge that every time we drive over/under (Igor's parents live in the area) Igor says "so scared someone will go down" and she did... so sad... roads are not safe, and we need to be more careful.
As far as customer service goes, I get the worst customer service at US postal offices. I ship at least one package per week to my cousins' babies internationally. I go to the post office here in Ankeny and to the main one in DSM. So bad... always treated without respect. I do my best to be nice and easy for them, I get all the paperwork done ahead of time. They are not nice :(
Posted by: Suzana | January 29, 2010 at 01:55 PM