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Thursday, June 25, 2009

The Jerk That Lives In My Old House


So, as I previously said, I have been doing a lot of online shopping for all the supplies that we'll need at the camp in the Czech. One of the things I had to buy was a small gift for each of the kids that come to the camp (somewhere around 100). After much shopping, I decided to order some really awesome Ed Hardy and Day of the Dead temporary tattoos. I ordered them from a vendor on ebay that supplies the temporary tattoos for vending machines. Since I was ordering two packages from the same seller, I emailed him and asked if he would give me a break on shipping. He agreed that he would, and sent me a PayPal "money request". I had never done that before, but all I had to do was click "accept", which I did, and the order went through. What I DIDN'T know was that my old Utah address was still on record with PayPal as my default address. I didn't become aware of this mistake until I got an email from FedEx telling me that a package had been delivered to my doorstep. After checking my doorstep and finding no package, I began to investigate further. That's when I discovered the problem. So then I picked up my phone and called my best friend from Utah, Stephanie, who lived just down the street from me. I told her the problem and asked if she would stop by the house and pick up my package of temporary tattoos and the mail them to me and I would pay her back. She said "oh sure, I'll stop by right now, because I am on my way home anyways..." (she was on her cell). I asked if she would remember where my old house was, and she laughed and said "it's not like I haven't been there a hundred times!"
A few moments later, she called me and said, "well, I got your package, but it's been opened... and... did you say it was 'temporary tattoos'?"
And I said, "yeah, why?"
She said, "well, because I rang the doorbell, and the lady that answered the door, had big temporary tattoos on her arms."
Hm....
Well, as it turns out, after recieving the package from Stephanie, there was indeed a few of the 600 tattoos missing (I counted each and every one!). I really wasn't concerned about the missing tattoos. I was just appalled that someone would help themselves to something that clearly wasn't intended for them. I composed the following letter to that special person that owns my old house (it may seem a bit redundant to you now that I have already explained).

Dear Current Resident,
In a couple of days I will be going on a mission trip to the Czech Republic. Part of my duties to prepare for the trip was to do the shopping for all the supplies we would need, including gifts for all the children at a camp we will be working at. I ordered temporary tattoos online as a gift for the kids there. However, I made the mistake of not checking my “default” address on Paypal, and therefore, my package was sent to my old address, which, unfortunately for me, appears to be your new address. I can understand that someone might have unknowingly opened a package that was NOT addressed to them, since it did show up on their doorstep. But after opening it, and seeing the contents, I am sure you realized it was not intended for you, and was obviously paid for by someone else. I can’t imagine anyone being rude enough to then help themselves to the temporary tattoos as if they were there own.
I hope there I not too many people like you in the world.
Sincerely,
Naomi

And here is the envelope before I dropped it in the mail:




Now that I have spoken my mind to them, I can release the bitterness... like an irretrievable letter after being dropped into a post office box.

9 comments:

Daphne said...

that is amazing that you actually sent that! you go!

Matt said...

Thanks for not putting our current, return address on the envelope!

Holly said...

unFLIPPIN'believable.

dude.

Holly said...

you totally should have sent her a stink bomb that was set to go off upon opening the package ;-)

ok. maybe not....but it's still funny to think about.

The Shoup Family said...

How rude of them! I like the letter you wrote in response! I bet that they open their neighbor's mail that they get by mistake too.

Stacy said...

you know, it is a BIG federal offense to open other people's mail...you could report it with the post office...

Naomi Haverland said...

Actually, I checked into that, Stacy. It wasn't a federal offense because it was Fedex and not USPS. Temporary tattoos go over real well in jail...

stephanie said...

I love how you addressed the letter. That really does crack me up. I am glad that you got them in time, and grateful that 1) I am your best utah friend 2)that I could help 3)that I didnt take any of the tattoos!

Connie said...

I sure hope you didn't really send that letter. I may have been theraputic to write, but it didn't need to be sent.