When I got home from work the other day at around 6:30PM with the kids in the car, there were two
giant rectangular boxes taller than I am blocking my garage.
I
got out of the car and saw a note from my neighbor (who I've never
met). It said that the boxes were delivered and left in front of our garage by accident and could
I please put them in her garage because she's pregnant and can't move
them.
First of all, I was not thrilled that I had to get out of my car in the dark and the cold with two cranky kids in the car at the end of a long workday because my garage was blocked by her package. Also, these boxes each easily weighed more than I do. And I
have musculoskeletal issues. So there was no way in hell I could move
these boxes and put them in her garage. All I could do was knock them
over (not gently), and shove them over and out of the way of my own
garage, which was in my case, a feat of superhuman effort.
I was so pissed off. I taped the following note to the package:
"Dear Neighbor,
I
don’t know exactly what you wanted me to do with these boxes but they
were completely blocking my garage with both my kids cranky in the car,
and all I could do was push them aside to get into the garage. I could
not even close to physically lift them (they probably weigh twice as
much as I do) and I have back problems, so I am sorry I could not do
anything with them. I know this wasn’t your fault, but please have your
husband move them when he gets home.
Thank you very much."
I thought it was a very polite note, considering how angry I was.
Yeah,
maybe it wasn't her fault that the boxes were delivered to the wrong
place. But leaving two 100+ pound boxes blocking your neighbor-who-you've-never-met's garage and hoping that they'll just move them for you
seems a little rude. For all she knows, I could be ninety years old. Was there no other person who she could have
called to move them? Maintenance, perhaps? A young strapping male
passer by? That's what I would have done. I once got a lifeguard to open a jar of pickles for me. Just leaving them blocking my garage and expecting me to
move them seems like not such a neighborly move. Which wasn't even
physically possible for me.
At the very least, she could have left a note saying that she had tried to take care of the situation and that her husband would be home soon to move them.
When my husband finally got home an hour later, the woman's husband was moving the boxes. I told my husband what happened and he went out to help. Then my husband informed me that the packages weren't that heavy (I swear, they were) and I overreacted.
Me: "I couldn't move them at all aside from tipping them over."
Mr. McFizz: "I don't know what you want me to say."
Obviously, I want you to say I'm right! Sheesh, is a little blind support too much to hope for? Do all men do that?
H-mmm. He should have said you overreacted?
ReplyDeleteThe lady should have called ups to come and redeliver them correctly. Simple solution, all neighbors happy.
ReplyDeleteIt probably would've been hard for her to get them to do that. But we do have maintenance people who could've come over to help her.
DeleteI would have called the maintenance people to move them, assuming I was on good terms with them. Moving personal items is not in their job description and should be rewarded with a gratuity. That said, speaking as a husband, I would have sided with you while keeping my opinions to myself.
DeleteAs far as your neighbor goes, yeah, I would've been bothered by the assumptions, too. But she might not have had anyone else. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I didn't. I would've have left that sort of a note, but I would've been struggling and worrying about what to do.
ReplyDeleteAs far as your husband goes, I can't speak for all men, but mine has reacted in favor of the opposing side sometimes, and sometimes (I felt) without justification. A couple of years ago he always seemed to feel that if I had an issue with something or someone, I was the one consistently in the wrong. I finally said something about how much it sucked that it didn't feel like he was on my side, and he's gotten better about it.
I feel like I have dated a number of guys who seem to intentionally pick the opposite side when I was involved in any kind of conflict.
DeleteI was a little worried that maybe she was single or something like that, but then her husband showed up. So that wasn't the case at all. A better note would have been apologetic for what happened and telling me that her husband would move them when he got home. Instead of asking me to move her heavy boxes.
For the record though, even if they have been delivered to the right garage, she still would've had to get them into her house somehow.
I think it would have been different had the note read, "Would it be possible for you to help me move the boxes, as they are very heavy and I am currently pregnant." The way it was written WAS presumptuous. OTOH, I think it's also possible that you were just pissed about having to get out of your car to move them away from your garage, and that perhaps you knocked them over because you were angry as much as they were too heavy. Your note wasn't much better than hers, IMO. I have to say, I'm not sure why she didn't originally suggest having her husband help move the boxes, but maybe she thought it would look weird to have a strange man messing around with boxes in front of your garage. Who knows. Ya both are nuts.
ReplyDeleteI agree her note was presumptuous, and I think your note was fair given the circumstances. I would be pissed too if my neighbor did something that kept me outside my house longer, especially after a long day.
ReplyDeleteMy husband does something similar, where when I'm trying to make a decision, and I tell him the two options, he literally puts his hands up and says "it's up to you." Dude, that's WHY I asked you! Tell me your opinion!!! And he's pretty fatalistic about stuff. A little while ago, I shared a room with someone where we were supposed to split a bill but it ended up charging me the full amount. It was very busy at the sign-out desk and my roommate definitely swiped her card, so I didn't think about it. Cue me getting home and freaking out about the double charge, and he says, "well, you did sign the receipt." DUDE, can you just be on my side for once??? Maybe if I'm freaking out, I just need some dang consolation!!
I think it must be a difference between men and women. Women automatically go into sympathy mode.
DeleteYes, we do. Then we have to apologize later for not being supportive, but it usually is our first thought. The scene would have played out exactly the same in most parts of the world. Except, of course, places where men couldn't be bothered at all with "women's stuff". But why weren't they delivered to the right place in the first place?
ReplyDeleteFinders Keepers! "What boxes? What note?"
ReplyDeleteHaha!!! I love this.
DeleteHonestly? I did that once. My neighbor kept leaving her packages on my porch (mine was covered, hers was not) and after about three months of very polite requests (in person, when I delivered them to her each night) to stop doing that, I simply started keeping them.
DeleteWe were about the same size and she had expensive taste. I got a couple of really nice dresses and a nice bowl set out of it before the packages mysteriously stopped coming to my house.
Did better than me. If they are on my property, I would have called the cops and said take the contraband away or kept it. There is no way my family or any one else would have helped.
ReplyDeleteI would have made sure the cops saw the note so that when I took their stuff, because by law it is mine, the neighbors couldn't do squat and would NEVER EVER pull that crap again.
Personally, I wouldn't have been happy but I'd of left my car out, got the kids inside and knocked on her door and asked her to please have her husband move them when he got home! If that wasn't possible for you to do (since you didn't know her), I'd of left a note that I was unable to move them and to please have someone do so b/f I returned home the next day! In the grand scheme of things, it's really not a big deal.
ReplyDeleteSo this is totally unrelated, but I just finished "Brain Damage" and it was amazing. The main character was just so funny and she felt so real that I actually cared about what would happen to her. I didn't think that you could combine mystery, medicine, comedy and romance and have it work, but it was a real page-turner.
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks! I really appreciate that! Did you find the book through this blog or vice versa?
DeleteI'm a long time reader of your blog, and I bought the book when you put it on sale :)
ReplyDeleteMy husband pulls the same kind of stunts and it hurts my feelings.
ReplyDeleteJen in San Jose
Sorry, I don't get it. She could have written her request better and you could be ......mmmmmmmmm....how shall I put this.... be more helpful. And no your note was not particularly polite. These are YOUR NEIGHBOURS! But what do I know, maybe it's an American thing :(
ReplyDelete