A Thankless Tale 4/14/2024

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

Today I give you a story of woe. It is a tale full of frustration and strife. There is disappointment, perhaps even a bit of anger. It is a true story as well.  I experienced it my very own self over the course of the past few weeks.  Many of you will find it simplistic and trivial. And if I am being honest, it slightly is.  You see, this story is about the trials and tribulations of me attempting to simply receive an order from a children’s clothing company and have said order be correct. Not the narrative you were expecting perhaps, but I promise I am going somewhere. At the beginning of this description, I almost quoted Shakespeare and called this tale “full of sound and fury signifying nothing” and honestly that may very well be true. I didn’t however due to that same quote having in it that it was “told by an idiot” and I would rather avoid stating that (no matter how accurate it may be) outright in print if possible.

Let me paint the picture for you. My child will be 8 this June and is at that age that you get one year out of a season’s worth of clothes. A sweater will not fit the following winter and shorts will be entirely too short by the time warm weather rolls around yet again.  I also have the blessing and curse of being one of two tall parents that produced a tall child. To make a shirt not end above the belly or pants to not look as though the bottom quarter has been stolen, I tend to have to err on the side of a bit larger than necessary to garner the required length. And this beautiful blue-eyed blonde is only getting taller with every passing day, so wardrobe refreshes are necessary despite their financial tedium. Some of you have children. You know.

It all began with a fantastic sale on shorts and skorts (which is, if you are unaware, a skirt with built in shorts underneath which is just wise for an active kid).  I put in an order and saved a war pension. It was such a thorough order in fact, I had the pleasure of knowing once they all came in, my child would be set in warm weather attire until the cool returned which will be quite some time in our neck of the proverbial (and literal) woods.  Mild annoyance occurred when I was informed the order had shipped in two separate shipments. That isn’t such a big deal except that it was an order of 13 items, and they had divided that into 2 shipments, one of 12 and one of 1. That makes about as much sense as a parka in the desert but, at this early point in our adventure it was minor.  I received the one item rather quickly, now I was less than pleased when the carrier decided it was a good idea to leave this box lying on the ground, against the open gate at the end of my very long driveway when I have a front porch that would have made infinitely more sense, but I digress. One item received now we wait for the other 12.

I was informed of the shipment of the second package a few days later. Fair enough, I thought to my poor disillusioned self.  Yet, with each passing day I attempted to track this package which, with the weather quickly warming, was becoming the more and more important delivery.  The disconcerting thing I kept discovering was that there was nothing to track. All the information I could find showed that the carrier was still awaiting the package.  This did not bode well. This status stayed this way for two weeks. I had called hoping to be able to find anything else about my packages travels but until I have given the obligatory 10 business days, not much could be told. Finally, at the end of two weeks, the company admitted we could now call the package lost in transit and they promised to reship it. There was the small matter of verifying the reshipment would officially happen and did actually happen since I had been promised emails in regard to both which were agonizingly delayed in coming.  But they came eventually so all seemed resolved. And I did receive the reshipment very quickly. I was so excited to open it up and see those items my daughter would put to quick use. Well, I was excited until I realized, 3 of the 12 items were not there. Oh, joy and delight. I get to call this company for the 7^th time, to sit on hold for ages and address this new development.  I did so and learned, apparently this whole fiasco had taken so long that those items are now out of stock. By the way, did I mention that I had placed a second order back before everything went askew that is now showing that same questionable status as never being received by the carrier as the one that was lost so there is a healthy chance that I get to do this all over again? Did I mention that? No? Yes. That.

At dinner one night during this debacle, my husband asked me to give thanks for the food. I said I’d rather he does it because I was not in a proper mindset. I told him the tale he understood and proceeded to pray a standard prayer. My daughter was watching her tablet and I hit pause on it while we prayed. Some wild idea overtook her, and she decided to press play whilst the prayer was ongoing. Words (loud ones) were said, and the tablet was paused again.  My husband picked up where he left of and as he did, it was about that time that it hit us all. I was irritated about an order of brand-new clothing being hindered. My daughter was apparently displeased to have to stop her entertainment even if only for a moment. God make us truly grateful. We are so abundantly and overwhelmingly blessed to have these types of trials and tribulations which to bemoan. I sat at a table with technology and delicious food in a nice home with land and vehicles and all manner of unnecessary pleasures.  I didn’t want to pray because my mind wasn’t quite frankly in a ridiculously selfish and insolent place. I absolutely need to correct that. If nothing else that is the one thing that I should be able to most assuredly do. I should apologize for being an ungrateful brat; the equivalent of a person stranded on a deserted isle complaining because the boat that came to rescue me was not my favorite color. Lord, give me perspective for if I cannot see the massive amounts of undeserved favor beyond petty packages, I most certainly need it. Amen.