Happy New Year Everybody!!
The following story is the story of the past few days for me.
So, I’m sitting here, at my grandparent’s home in Florida on vacation, waiting for a delivery man – at 12:40am. (warning, this post is sort of a rant. I do not disclose specifics as I do not want to slander the company)
Two days ago (December 30th) I started my hectic journey down here to celebrate a late Christmas & New Year with the family on my mom’s side. Woke up at 7am, packed my bag and my camera gear, and headed to the airport for my flight that was to leave at 11:15am.
Checked my bag with all my clothes, shoes, flip-flops, etc.. under the plane. Brought my camera bag as a check-on. I’m told my flight is being delayed.. till 1:30pm.. due to fog/low visibility in the Chicago area. This means I’m missing my second flight, which was supposed to leave ORD at – you guessed it – 1:30pm.
The person helping me booked me for a flight that left the next day out of Chicago, at 6pm. Which meant I would be spending the night in Chicago. He said that my luggage, however, would go out on the next flight to Tampa whether I was on the plane or not.
So, I decided it would be best to get to Chicago and go Standby on every flight I could that would get me to Tampa. Guess what, there were two. The one I missed at 1:30. And one at 6pm.
*flies to Chicago after waiting on the runway for an hour because they had to shift luggage on the tiny plane so it was balanced*
Instead of waiting for the 6pm, the customer service rep in Chicago suggested me to switch my ticket to another airline, which had a “confirmed” ticket for me. But I would just have to make a stop somewhere and connect back to Tampa. No biggie, it meant I would still get there that night. So, I did it.
I get to the gate (which was in an entirely different terminal than where the cust service desk was) for that flight, which was supposed to leave at 4:30pm. It’s delayed till 5:30. Which meant I would miss the other flight I was to connect on to Tampa.
*walks back to the cust serv desk – which takes about 20 minutes to do btw. O’Hare International Airport is huge.*
Peter, I nicknamed him Peter the Saint, got my ticket brought back to my original airline after being on hold with them for 30 minutes on the phone, and put me back on standby for the 6pm flight, and he bumped me to the top of the standby list. What a great guy!
I get to the gate for that flight, chillax until the flight. I get a ticket. I make it to Tampa, Florida at 10pm EST.
I go to the baggage claim.. patiently watching the bags roll by on the conveyor belt. No suitcase. No big deal, they say it’ll come the next morning and I’ll have it by noon. I fill out a delayed baggage claim form, and head to my grandparents’ home that is 45 minutes away.
Yesterday/Today (December 31st), I wait for a phone call from the delivery people saying my bag is on its way. No call. I check online, and it says it could be delivered anytime between 1:30pm and 5:30pm.
So I wait till 5:30. No call. I call customer service, which happens to be outsourced to India, who says in a voice I barely understand, “We are sorry for this inconvenience. The delivery people say they will call you by 6:30pm to confirm you are there to accept the package.”
6:30 – No Call. I call back at 7 and receive a similar response, “We’re sorry for this inconvenience sir. I just talked to them and they will call you within the next two hours.” I say, “Sure they will”.
9pm – No Call. Starting to get upset.
9:15 – They finally call. “We will deliver your suitcase between midnight and 2am.” Who seriously deliver’s packages at 2am??
So, its 1:05 and I’m still waiting here for my suitcase. Not only has my whole day been ruined because I was waiting for the delivery guy to show up, but I didn’t get to spend it with family because they weren’t at the house the suitcase is supposed to be delivered to. I celebrated the New Year with my dad, who stayed behind with me to wait.
Now, its 1:45am. I see lights outside. He’s finally here. I’m thinking about what I’ll say to him. How I’ll react. Will I explode? Will I rip his face off? I open the door to see an old man, out of breath, about 60 years old or so, carrying my suitcase. I’m speechless. That poor guy delivered packages for more than 12 hours, and I’m sure he still has more to go.
I accept my bag, sign one of the hundreds of slips he had for packages delivered, and say, “Happy New Year”.
Jeremy Dwayne
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