Mrs. Doubtfire and the Sled

The Sled Saga Continues

Today I spoke with Oky.  He was the third UPS spokesperson I had contacted.  Last week I had a few conversations with Tracey from DICOM and with Ron and his son from Kicksled Canada.  An unexpected benefit of all this is that I seem to have overcome my phone phobia.

Oky tells me that UPS drivers do not carry cell phones.  That is why this driver could not contact me as requested. In a previous post I mentioned that they do not seem to have snow tires or experience driving in Canadian winters either.  I am certain that deliveries here in the Gatineau Hills require both the tires and the ability to drive in snow, and I am not sure how one can be an efficient delivery person, especially outside urban areas, without a cell phone.

Oky read through the delivery notes and started muttering about denied access.  Like the last person I spoke to at UPS, he thought I must live in an apartment with an access code.  I explained that this was not the case.

Oky asked whether it was a building site with an unsecured building and no access.  I explained that it is a fully finished house.

I told Oky I thought that the driver had had trouble with access because of my road, and described the road with all its freshly plowed surface and freshly sprinkled sand.

I suggested that perhaps the driver had got lost, that he had ended up somewhere else.  After all if he was unprepared to call me for directions, it was a distinct possibility. 

Even without a phone, he could have managed to find me.  He could have asked at any house on the lake, and he'd have been given directions to my place.  Hell, someone would have hopped in his truck and directed him.  They'd likely have offered to drive, for pity sakes.

It is not that difficult to find me or to deliver a package.

So who do they hire at UPS?

At DICOM they hire people who break sleds but who know how to find addresses and then drive to them.  The second DICOM driver (not the one who broke the sled on its way to Ottawa) was a woman. 

At the risk of sounding sexist, I wonder if that might account for the difference.  A woman  might have been more willing to ask how to get here.

Update on Mrs. Doubtfire

On a totally different subject, I feel great.  It has been years since I have experienced a surge of energy that has lasted more than an hour or two.  I have been cleaning and painting walls and installing shelves that I painted ... and I still energy to spare.

I have also noticed that Mrs. Doubtfire's belly rolls seem to be receding. 

Isn't all this supposed to happen in the spring when one feels impelled to spring clean ... or just before childbirth, when one feels a need to scrub floors and feather a nest?

Well, it ain't spring, and I ain't no spring chicken about to pop out babies.   But I no longer feel as if  I am wearing Mrs' Doubtfire's body suit.