I've long since learned that when expecting a delivery, it's best to keep track of the shipment via the company's website, or complications might ensue. That's why I've been refreshing a page at the FedEx site all day.
At about 2 o'clock this afternoon, when I checked the shipment's progress, I saw this:
1:47PM Delivered Left at front door. Signature Service not requested.
Why hadn't I heard the deliverer's knock, I wondered. I had been down in the basement reading, so I should have easily heard a knock on the front door. Oh, the package was probably left at the back door; the way my property is laid out, some folks have a hard time differentiating front from back. So I went to check the back door.
No package.
Hmmm, maybe the package really was left at the front door. So why hadn't I heard a knock?
Then it hit me. The delivery must have occurred while I was out back disciplining the squirrel.
You see, I've been putting out nuts for the squirrels for the past few months. The squirrels are getting to the point that they come up right to the glass door and stand on their hind legs to request a new supply. A little while earlier one of the black squirrels had made a request, so I had tossed out a handful. In addition to the black one, there were two gray squirrels feeding as well, and they were not getting along. In particular one of the grays was viciously keeping the black guy from getting his fair share.
So I had to go outside and explain to the gray guy that that was not acceptable behavior.
It must have been at that precise time that the FedEx package was delivered to the front door.
So I walked around to the front to retrieve the package. Alas, there was no package to be found. I circled my property twice to make sure it really wasn't there and did a quick scan of the neighboring houses. No FedEx package anywhere.
Back inside, I looked up the number of FedEx customer service and was just about to dial the number when...
There was a knock at the front door.
Looking out the window, I saw there was a FedEx truck out in the street. I didn't get to the door before the deliverer had jumped back into the truck and sped away, so I don't know just what happened.
This is one time I probably would have been better off not checking the shipment's progress...
Posted by jt at February 3, 2007 02:56 PM