Wednesday, September 15, 2010

What's Up With That? - Irony

I'm starting to wonder if the Lord is trying to teach me something, or else I just can't explain something so fluke-like happening twice in a week.  Do you remember last week when I showed you the damage that the post office had done to my book?  It happened again.  I am not kidding. 

I ordered a study book for someone from the Amazon marketplace a couple weeks ago.  I was anticipating receiving it any day, and it was with the mail this morning.  I didn't know exactly what to expect because it is a used book, although the seller stated it was in very good condition with minimal underlining and shelf wear.

That's not quite what it looked like when I removed it from the package.  The cover had been folded in several places.  It was peeling in spots.  There were pages totally folded up inside.  I was so disappointed, and all I could think was, "How am I going to give this to my friend?  It looks beat up."

The interesting part of all this is that I didn't realize the damage had been done by the post office.  I just thought I had gotten a bum deal from the marketplace seller.  But then I noticed a small slip of paper in the bottom of the package and pulled it out.  After that, I realized that the label on the mailer had the United States Postal Service as the return address, and it had been stamped DAMAGED IN HANDLING IN THE POSTAL SERVICE.  That's when it all became clear.

It began... We regret the damage to your mail that occurred during handling....  What?!?  No, this just can't be.  I laughed out loud at the irony of my love for pristine books and the adversity the post office has cruelly set upon me with its careless ways.

Oh, but my favorite part of the note -- and mind you, this is a generic printed note for such incidents -- says this,

We are constantly... striving to improve our processing methods to the extent that even a rare occurrence such as this one can be eliminated.

C'mon.  You know you're laughing with me now.  Rare occurrence?  Twice in a week for me is not considered rare.

So I'm asking the question again... What's up with that?

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