I Hate UPS

I have been the victim of a vast conspiracy. I am not sure who is to blame. Although, I do suspect the cast of The Office. Here's the dealio: I decided that I would take this summer while tv is totally in the doldrums to catch up on a couple of shows so I could add them to my regular viewing in the fall. I chose 30 Rock and How I Met Your Mother as we were lacking on the comedy-front in our viewing habits.

I ordered season one of 30 Rock from amazon.com. As soon as finals were over, I watched the whole season in about 3 days. I could not get enough. I even laughed out loud on occasion. Gigi gave me the strangest looks. I don't think she got the humor. So, I could see that a problem was arising. I was going to need season two pronto or I would be faced with daytime television during the rest of my break before summer classes started. I immediately ordered it and paid the extra $3.99 for overnight shipping.

It came the next day. However, there was one slight problem. Our mailbox is really just a slot in the garage door. Someone (I won't say who, Shlomo) was not looking as they drove into the garage and drove over my dvds. The packaging was destroyed, but I thought the dvds survived. I tried to play them: opening still shot of first scene on disk to last credit of last episode all in a span of 2 seconds. It was our fault (by our, I mean Shlomo's) so I ordered another copy. Again, I paid the extra $3.99 for overnight shipping.

The following day, I religiously checked the progress of my package delivery on the UPS website. It said "Out for delivery" all day. At 10:00 that night, I determined it would not be delivered that day. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I have gotten packages at 9:30 recently. I emailed amazon for a refund of the overnight shipping. They happily obliged. The next day, however, still no dvds. I checked the UPS website. It showed that it was delivered mid-day. I was home all day. There was no way it was delivered without my knowing it. Still, I checked all around our front door. I also checked all around our neighbors' front doors. No package.

Again, I emailed amazon. I got a prompt response that they would ship out another copy at no charge. Long story short: it was the same thing all over again. UPS said it was delivered. I had no dvds. I was even in the driveway at the time they showed it was delivered. (I just happen to know what time I left to go get my mom at the airport as I was running late. I was not sitting in the driveway with a brewsky waiting. I have a life. Clearly, I do. I told you I watched a whole season in less than three days.) At this point, I decided I should call the fine folks at amazon.com. I tried calling UPS first. They were no help. They are never helpful. This was the Friday evening of the holiday weekend. They promised to once again ship a copy on Tuesday (overnight, of course) at no additional charge. I felt the need to exlpain that I was not trying to scam them for 18 copies of the second season of 30 Rock. All they would have to do is check my order history and know that I am a stand-up guy who never complains. In fact, I probably order enough to be customer of the year. Have I mentioned that I often use them to supplement the library for my research?

Finally, on Wednesday, I received my copy of season 2. I have also now watched it as it was a short season due to that pesky writers' strike of 2007. Don't even get me started on the painful memories of how that messed up my life. I can report that there was no sophomore slump. It, too, was hilarious. Now, I am just a year behind. Season 3 does not come out until later this summer on dvd. In the meantime, season one of HIMYM is scheduled to arrive on Monday. Why do I get the feeling that UPS will once again be providing material for my blog?