It really is amazing that it has only taken just over two years for us to go from fairly comfortable middle class couple to teetering on the brink of poverty. We have been lucky, in that we managed to tap some resources and keep ourselves afloat for a while longer than many other people would have been able to do. But that will be coming to an end soon. Two weeks ago, my unemployment ran out. No more extensions. So aside from whatever freelance IT work comes my way, I have no income anymore. So today, for the first time in my life, I applied for food stamps.
We have indeed been more fortunate than many others, but I have to tell you, it sure has been hard. What used to seem like minor annoyances now feel like the universe is just piling on, really kicking us when we are down.
Remember that story I told in a previous diary about trying to get a copy of my birth certificate to apply for Mass Health? Well, it turns out just getting that damn certificate took a hell of a lot longer than it should have. For some reason, the shipping company (which shall remain nameless, but you can probably figure out who they are) managed to take an overnight package and turn it into an epic bureaucratic clusterfuck that managed to eat up a ridiculous amount of my time.
I knew the package was going to be delivered, and so my fiancee and I made sure that we were home, and that we could get to the door quickly. Well, the delivery guy must have just walked up to the door, maybe knocked (not sure if he did but I know he didn't ring the damn bell) and then slapped one of those "We're sorry we missed you" notes. He must have fucking tiptoed up to the door or something because we didn't hear him at all. I was pissed.
So the next day, same drill. Once again, no doorbell, but we did hear the dogs barking, so I got upstairs to the door as fast as I could. Once again, note slapped on the door, no truck anywhere to be seen. What the hell is going on here? Did I wrong this person somehow? DO they have some sort of deep-seated issue about actually delivering packages to people? Are they on that strict a timetable that they can't actually wait for someone to come to the door? It's an apartment building, OK? Unless I am ready to meet you, it's going to take at least twenty seconds or so for me to get there. Now I was pissed.
Sure, I could have signed the little note on the back and said "just drop it off without me signing it" but I was not about to do that. We have had packages stolen in recent months and this was my goddamn birth certificate, so there was no way in hell I was going to just let it sit on my steps. I needed this piece of paper and the guy was making it hard for me to get it. So I called the company up. I wasn't rude, but I was obviously upset. The guy on the other end told me that the guy would try to drop it off at my house by 7 PM, and if he didn't I would have to go to the distribution center in Watertown to try to pick it up. So I waited, and waited, and waited, and sure enough, he did not bring me the package. So I had to the distribution center. I programmed the address into the GPS to make it easy to find and headed out.
When I got there, I was starting to really get pissed. The place the guy on the phone had sent me to get my package closed at 6 PM. so let's go over the flaw in this dude's logic, shall we?
1) Wait until 7 PM to make sure the guy doesn't come with your package.
2) Once you have waited until 7 PM, drive all the way over to the next town to pick up your package at the place THAT CLOSES AT 6 PM.
I got out of my car. It was now raining (naturally). I looked around to see if there was any sign of life, and I saw no one, just some parked cars. So I got on the phone and called the company up again, and this time I was really letting them have it, although I will say I was at least holding back from profanity. Believe me, that took effort. As I was talking to this guy a car pulled up and some guy said "hey man, you can try over at the other place".
"What other place?" I asked, as the guy on the phone with me put me on hold to talk to his supervisor.
"There's another entrance on the other side. You can't miss it - guard shack and open gate."
So I headed over to find this other place, and sure enough, at a completely different street address, WAY over on the other side of the complex, there was a building with lights on, and a line of people coming out the door and down the steps, all of them being soaked in the rain. I was still on hold when I got there, and by this time, I was ready to lose my goddamn mind. I love how they keep telling you that you are important to them with an automated message. Right. So I just hung up and got out of my car to get in line with the rest of the customers who also had to deal with some sort of ethically-challenged delivery person. I say that because if you are working for a delivery company, you would think that the ultimate goal of the people working at the company, particularly the people who actually carry the packages and drive the delivery truck, would be to ACTUALLY DELIVER PACKAGES TO PEOPLE. It would be like a server at a restaurant who refused to actually bring anyone their food. Great business model, people.
Boy, was I naive. I could not believe how many people were there, waiting to get their packages. And the only two employees in sight were a security guard and a really angry clerk guy. The security guard could not have possibly given less of a shit about security, because the entire time I was there he was having a conversation on the phone in some foreign language. At one point all of us must have been making too much noise or something because he actually got up and walked outside, leaving the guard shack totally empty except for all of us, so he could continue his phone call without silly customers disturbing him. The angry clerk was this middle-aged man who seemed to be really pissed at the world, and who acted like it was our own faults for not getting our packages. Um, yeah, eat me, dude. He would disappear for a while and then return with a dolly full of packages that didn't get delivered, and then he would start reading off the list of addresses these packages were supposed to be delivered to but weren't. After the third trip he finally read off my address and I got my package. The rain had turned into a fine mist, but there was still a line of people going out the door and down the steps. And no one was happy. The security guard was nowhere to be found, and Jolly McFuckyouandyourpackage had left again to grab another load of packages.
You know, I thought to myself, people complain about the post office but I have never had an experience quite that bad before with the USPS. The whole experience with these guys was just totally shitty. No wonder the company picked brown for their color.
I don't get it. I really don't. In essence, you guys have ONE PERSON who is doing ALL of this package distribution after hours, with customers standing in the rain waiting for their stuff. If you don't want to deliver packages, then why bother with all the goddamn trucks? How about add another person to the little office here? Or better yet, find out why so many goddamn packages aren't getting delivered. If this is a regular problem, FIND A FUCKING SOLUTION. That's what you private business people are supposed to be all about, right? Or are you telling your delivery people to make all their rounds to pick up packages, and actual delivery be damned? Is that what is happening? Are you training your people to do this extra stealthy door approach thing? Stopping and taking the time to wait for me to answer the door is too much trouble? If so, why don't you just let me know the package is there at your facility and then have me come pick it up, like the Post Office does? At least then I wouldn't waste TWO AFTERNOONS AND AND AN EVENING dealing with your fucking company.