Gone Postal

Last Thursday, I received an e-mail from Amazon telling me the U.S. Postal Service had tried unsuccessfully to deliver my order the day before (the Leverage soundtrack and the collected poems of Philip Larkin) and that my package would be available for pickup at the post office indicated on the notice.

Problem: I never received the aforementioned notice. The USPS automated call-in system could not track my package, so I called a local post office where my mail had been held in the past. I said I never got a notice and was told I didn't need the notice; I could come in and pick up mail with my photo ID.

So yesterday, I went to the post office and waited in line for forty-five minutes only to have a counter person check for my package without looking at my photo ID to confirm my address (I'm pretty sure he misheard me.)—all while the counter person next to him was telling another customer, "I have to check your ID. Otherwise, how do I know you're not some crazy guy picking up other people's mail?"

Finally back home, I e-mailed Amazon, telling them everything I did to try and retrieve my order, and they sent me a new Leverage CD by UPS and refunded me for the Larkin book, which was no longer in stock.