Laugh a minute

I know, I keep you in chuckles.

Perhaps you'll recall a music post from last week where I excitedly talked about loading an MP3 player for ex for Father's Day? I probably had hundreds more than I needed and I have the songs trimmed to about 600 now for 1.9G. I was getting two inexpensive 2G players, so I could load a big one for myself. Right now, I am using a 256M Woot, which is cheap and doesn't shuffle or generally follow directions.

Thing is, I don't have the new MP3 players. I ordered them off of ebay and, according to tracking, they arrived at 11:21 one morning. I was home about an hour later and my glass outer door was empty. I finally saw the tracking email a couple hours later, but I didn't know if that meant they had arrived at the PO, not my house. The next day, I took my tracking materials and receipts to the post office, learned indeed they had been delivered in an ENVELOPE (for $20 postage fee from the ebayer) and the mailman put them in my door.

Can you say postal fraud?

This is irregular for several reasons. Our mailbox area has two boxes for larger items and these boxes are larger than anything fitting in a mailing envelope. The mailman had said (learned via a conversation with a front desk clerk) they wouldn't fit in "the box" (I guess meaning my mailbox) but there was no reason he needed to leave them in my small box with the larger boxes right next to them to be used. Further, he could have left a card and I could have gone to the post office. Another oddity is the time; our mail is usually here at 4pm, so why was he "in" the neighborhood before lunch?

The cop who answered the call wonders if it was the mailman stealing the envelope, scanned the thing as if delivered when he noticed it as something he'd like, although I have mentioned before that I live in a high walking traffic place for which something like this happening would not be out of character - too easy to blame. According to the mailman (learned via a conversation with a front desk clerk), he remembered putting an envelope with two boxes inside in it between my doors. I have tried to find out from the ebay seller if the word 'electronics' was in the return address, but they never responded to that part, only said they'd give me $1 off on a (more expensive) MP4 player. Too generous.

Just before talking to the cop, I saw the supervisor at the post office, learned the policy was that he indeed should have left a card and he as such is liable. The supervisor was supposed to have called me back last week, but didn't. It was a holiday Monday and I was sick yesterday, so today is the day. I was feeling polite last week, but I am in a horrible mood this week. I don't think I can be polite or constructive.

If he didn't take them, I do not like getting the money (although it fucking better include shipping) out of the mail carrier, but as the cop said he wasn't doing his job correctly. The cop was very supportive, saying I should be dealing with the Postmaster, not a supervisor, and if I needed any help to let him know.

I was trying so hard to be all together for Father's Day and give ex something he'd like. Okay, it gave me joy, something hard to come by around here. I've been compiling the music for many months. The player was the final hurdle and I priced them for a long time, waiting on the right deal. Of course, the ebayer has no more of these, so I'm going to have to pay extra and, what's worse (!), I won't be able to afford a 2G one for myself. Instead, I got two pink 512M off of Woot yesterday for $25. They'll have to suffice for me (and I know them being pink will keep my kid's paws off of them), but somehow I think a pink MP3 player won't float for Father's Day. The search continues.