Saturday, June 5, 2010

Not-So-Happy Meal

We all know how great I am at being on time for things...
Riiiiight
.
And unfortunately this usually manifests itself not so much in my arrival time to destinations (most people probably don't care what time I arrive), more in sending things like birthday cards, gifts, RSVPs... so it always appears that I am aloof and can't seem to keep my days and weeks straight. Partially true, however, to my defense, if I am late sending something it usually has more to do with the fact that I am lovingly laboring over thoughts and ideas of how to make your day extra special. Just a few days after the fact.
I am working on this.

So for Mother's Day, which these "holidays" I am particularly bad about, I decided to make something for our mothers that they would both find useful and enjoy using. There is a big "reusable shopping bag" craze right now, so I thought I would make them one that was their very own since our mamas are hip with the latest fads, you know. I finished my mom's first and sent it out the day before Mother's day-- a day late to her, not too bad, right? It took me a little longer to finish Mama Nancy's due to my week's work schedule, but alas, it too was finished and ready to be sent. It may have even sat in our car longer than it took me to make, waiting to be mailed the next time we were in town.
Chris was running some errands one day so I asked him to go on and send it... this would make my life much simpler than the time that I mailed out four items at once with a baby on my hip. I am sure it looked like a three ring circus...but it got done, nonetheless. So like the good little boy he is, he sent it on its way, note inside and all.

It just so happens that the Fords were coming up a few days later, but I thought we could get it to her before they left, and then she could proudly don her new digs when they were up. And had the "incident" not happened, that's probably how it would have gone down. But no...

Oh, no.

I got an email from N last week after they arrived home that went a little something like this:
N: we are home from north carolina
. thanks for my happy meal mermaid doll for mothers day.

Me: happy meal mermaid doll? what are you talking about?


N: thats what was in the package...

Me: from me and chris? um. no, that's not what we sent you.

N: well that is what i got, indeed i thought you made something for me...but when i opened the package, mailed on may 19th from kingston, tennessee and with chris' handwriting on it, there was a long blonde haired mermaid doll inside a happy meal plastic wrap. (she is 5 1/2 inches long, teal body and purple tail)..so i thought there was some hidden message...and said thanks. was it for abigail or anne lois maybe? also it was in a ready post photo document mailer sent first class at $1.73. anyway thanks.

-----Sidenote: At this point I am thoroughly confused as you can imagine... thinking to myself: I sent Chris to do one thing, ONE THING, and he sent his mom a mermaid? What the heck...-----

Me: I have NO idea what in the world happened. Someone must have swiped your gift... we have no idea how a Barbie got in there. That is weird weird weird. Was there a note in there? We know nothing about a mermaid doll... Chris says that sounds like the packaging it was in and the price it was to ship. It was a reusable shopping bag, like I made for my mom as well. I will have to do another one. That is freaky weird... I am a little perturbed. Did the package look like it had been messed with? Maybe the labels got switched? You look around your apartment complex and see if anyone is carrying around a green flowered bag with blue edges. They stole it...

N:
no note, the end with the tear strip was not tampered but the flap was packing taped closed. there was no return address on it either. my name and address was written directly on the envelope. i will save the envelope. yep sounds like someone made a switch. you may want to report mail fraud but i don't know those rules, etc.

Me: Yep. Someone definitely messed with it...ugh. Makes me angry. I will be reporting it for sure. That's so sketchy.

What the heck? Who steals a Mother's Day gift? I mean, I thought it was special and priceless and all that other sentimental stuff, but I would never expect some random person to covet my work so much that they must have it at any cost. Including mail fraud...

Really, mail thief, really? You will go down for a felony for a shopping bag? They will think you are
real tough in the slammer. Maybe your cellmate will like your flowery bag... Oh, but thanks for replacing it with a HAPPY MEAL MERMAID! Very nice... wouldn't want the receiver to think that I had sent them junk.
Maybe it's a USPS conspiracy.
They really want you to insure your packages. Their budget depends on it.
Or else they will take your flowery bags hostage.
Until you break...

1 comment:

  1. So you had it all packed up and ready to go before he took it to the USPS and he just needed to pay for postage? At first it sounded like maybe the labels just got switched but that wouldn't be the case if you had it packed and ready to go. So I guess you should be flattered?? And rightfully mad that someone stole your gift!

    ReplyDelete