Incompetence, Carelessness and the Kindness of Strangers

Understand this: when you live, quite literally, at the end of the road, getting deliveries can sometimes be a challenge. Delivery companies generally come to a Key West once or twice a week, at best. So, when I ordered a large wine cooler from Costco, I expected the delivery to be headache inducing. Just not in the way it actually happened.

The cooler shipped quicker than I expected and I managed to get a delivery date of last Monday. Then, Friday afternoon the driver called to see if he could come early Saturday morning. “Sure,” I said aloud when I was thinking “too bad my house guests will not have any peace and quiet in the morning. I hope they don’t sleep too late.”

The guy arrives before 8AM, and after FKGuy had left to play tennis. I opened the front door, and waited impatiently for delivery guy to bring in the cooler. After about fifteen minutes, I wandered out front (still in my pajamas, still without contact lenses in) to see what the holdup was. It turns out that he didn’t really think through the whole delivery thing. You would think he did this for a living or something. He came alone. Apparently he chose to ignore me when I told him, quite clearly, there are four stairs leading up to the house. There was no way he was going to get the dolly up the four stairs alone. And there was no way I was going to throw my back out trying to help him move the 300 pound thing. After all, that is why I paid for white glove delivery.

As my house guest was being roused to come assist, a guy riding by on a bike, stopped, helped the delivery guy get the dolly up the stairs and left. Just like that. It was incredibly gracious of him. I would like to thank him, but I have no idea who he is, and let’s face it, I probably wouldn’t recognize him on the street anyway (remember the part about no contact lenses?)

I have been shocked and delighted on several occasions when perfect strangers have helped me out of a bind. (Like when I bought a grill that didn’t fit in my car.)

I would like to tell you that the rest of the delivery went smoothly, but then I would have to gloss over the fact that he knocked a photo off the wall, shattering the frame, while removing the empty box from my house. Or the part where he didn’t know that the the unit was bolted to the palette, and those bolts need to be removed. Or the part where he just could not deliver this item on his own.

But I will tell you that in the end, it all worked out. Well, except for my framed photo. It would not  have been possible without the kindness of strangers. I look forward to being able to pay it forward soon, although it will not be by moving large appliances.