surprises in my mailbox

Should I start with the good surprise? I will. Memaw and PawPaw now live quite close to the birthplace of Smuckers jellies and jams. The last time the hub was in the area for business, he stopped by their giftshop and loaded up on cherry jam and his childhood favorite red plum jelly. So, come Thursday, there was a little package in the mailbox for Britton...

 Socks!  Don't lie - you want these in your size.

And a "Cupcake" apron...

Britton wasn't as excited about modeling the apron as she was about the apron itself! After all, Dora was on.

So, that was a nice surprise in the mailbox. What was the not-so-nice surprise? Indulge me on the long story, if you will. I recently signed up Britton for ballet at daycare. Their recital is May 21st, as in about four weeks after she started ballet! If I had known, I would have delayed signing her up, but she's in the class now and that's that. For their recital, they have to wear a white short-sleeved leotard, white tights, and a pink tutu. The tutu is provided by the ballet school, but we have to buy the leotard and tights. The tights were easy to find at Target. The white leotard, not so much. So I ordered one. It arrived, a size too small, so I had to return it and order a bigger size. It was scheduled to be delivered on Thursday too. The hub brought the mail in, and this was in there...

"Damaged in Handling.  Please accept our apologies."

I promptly investigated and found that not only was the original packaging ripped open, but the leotard had been run over by a tire!  And perhaps someone in the postal services arena has a grudge against ballerinas, because I swear that black dirt was ground into the leotard.  And there were holes.  And see that price tag?  It was ripped up too.  I think you'd have to really want to inflict this kind of damage.

This was on the back - it's long and will make you angry if you read it while holding your daughter's destroyed leotard.  My favorite part is the line, "We hope you understand."  My second favorite part is the giant heading, "WE CARE."  See, the post office cares!  They may have destroyed my leotard, but it's fine because they CARE!

The leotard.  Done.  Destroyed.  I went to the post office, receipt in hand, and you know what happened next.  There's nothing they can do!  Say huh?  Because the shipping company didn't insure the package, it's not their problem.  Seriously.  The post office worker told me it was the shipping company's fault for not using a box!  Apparently I have to buy insurance from the post office in case the post office is incapable of doing their job.  Think about that for a minute, will you?  Do restaurants sell you health insurance in case their food gives you food poisoning?  Do airlines sell you life insurance in case your flight crashes?  No, and frankly it pisses me off - they are making money off selling the insurance, when in reality I have every right to expect that the very essence of their job - getting a package from here to there - is done correctly.

So I called the dance company, and explained what happened.  Having already paid for shipping three times (on the original small leotard, the return, and now this bigger leotard) I was in no mood to make an $11.95 leotard into a $50 one.  Luckily, they are shipping me a new leotard.  And the customer service lady's last line to me was priceless.  "Yes, ma'am, we're shipping out a new leotard.  BY FED EX."