I just wanted to share with you a short story of what happened to me this morning. It was so janky.

If you're like me, I shop a lot on Etsy because they have one-of-a-kind artisan, hand-crafted jewelry and all kinds of other stuff. And I had made a couple orders a few weeks ago, and I was tracking the package, and it said that delivery had been attempted. When I got home yesterday, on my door there was the UPS sticker that said, "We missed you, you can pick up your package…" and there was an address provided. But the address made me wonder, "There's not a UPS Store there."

So this morning on my way to work, I went to the address, and it's a purely residential neighborhood, and I thought, "Well, this can't be right." But there's a post office that's actually pretty close, so I thought, "Well, maybe they can help me."

I really like this post office because it's such a cross-section of the neighborhood; everyone is bilingual — both Spanish and English — and it always has a really good vibe. But today I get up there, and I'm like, "Hey, I got this UPS notice, and it's an address but I don't think there's a UPS Store there." And the woman goes, "Where'd you order the package from?" in this accusatory, weird way. And I said, "Turkey." And she goes, "What'd you order from Turkey?" And I thought,"Kilo of heroin"? No! A darling, knit, winter cap, lady! But really?? Are you asking me where I ordered something from in a sort of judgy, weird way?

And I said, "Yeah, well, it's … I just got this—"

And she goes, "Well, we're the POST OFFICE. That's not us."

And I said, "I realize that, I just wondered if anyone has ever come in here and had this question. It's a residential block, so … am I really going to pick up a package at somebody's house?"

And she's like, "Well, if it's from Turkey!"

And I thought, What's going on here?It was the most curious thing, and I guess I felt offended and I felt like I could have stayed there and actually asked her a few more questions but for the fact there was about 25 people behind me in line.

Anyway, I go back to the address, and it is a residential street, but there's this tiny little supermercado on the corner, and I walked in and I'm like, "Yeah … can I pick up a UPS package here somewhere?"

And they're like, "Yeah! Go over to the safes over there."

So this is a new thing for me that I learned: That, apparently, you can pick up a UPS package at a convenience store; they have safes for that. And I did end up getting the cute little cap.

But … God bless America.

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