Adventures in Waiting

I want to setup a little cloud at a local colo – while I won’t have the same amount of bandwidth as I do using dedicated servers down in the US, I’ll have better hardware, and I won’t have to pay outrageous sums of money for crappy hardware.  To this end, I went to eBay and snagged a few 1U servers; coupled with the existing hardware I have, I can have a pretty decent little setup.  Everything went smoothly – I paid for the servers and the seller set the shipment up using UPS.  I got my tracking number, and then the fun began.

You see, I am enthusiastic about tracking my package – overzealous, even.  I memorize that stupid UPS tracking URL and visit every two seconds, hoping that something will have changed.  When it does change, I get happier, as it means my package will be getting closer to me.  On Friday evening, I was super excited, because the package had arrived at the local depot, which meant that the package would be on a truck on Monday (today) morning.

First thing this morning, back to the website, and there it is – “Out for Delivery” as of 7:07am!  Of course, I then realize the downside – I’m basically going to be sitting around in a panic all day long, hearing phantom doorbells, rushing to the terrace to look over the railing to see if the delivery person was there.  Bathroom break?  Push!  Food?  Inhale it!  No food in the house?  What’s the closest (healthy) place?  The end result is that I have the longest, slowest day ever – where is my package!?

Finally, at around 6:15, I couldn’t take it anymore and started walking around the block in an attempt to burn off some nervous energy.  As I’m doing this, I see the UPS van pull up!  I’m all excited, and get ready to wander over, when I see the driver grab a (small) package and head over to drop it off.  I tell myself to relax, and go hang out in front of my place, so I will stop scaring the neighbourhood kids.  I hear the van start up, and start cruising around the crescent – I tell myself that he’s trying to find my unit.

Note to everybody: the block of townhouses I live in is beyond poorly marked – the signs are at the sides, not the front, and they are put so high up that you cannot see them from a vehicle.  When I first came to see the unit, I wandered around lost for roughly 20 minutes before I finally found it.  If anybody had moved in, I would have asked them, but the development was a ghost town.

Back to the UPS van – he’s driving around the crescent, passes my block.  Keeps going.  Accelerates.  Gets back to the “main” road, and stops.  I hear him get out – I’ve got ears that would rival those of an owl, when it comes to deliveries!  A few minutes pass, and I don’t see him walking around, looking for the unit.  Then, horror of horrors, the engine fires, and the van zooms off.  I don’t have a package, and I’ve wasted nearly twelve hours in a panicky state.

I venture online and check to see if the tracking information has updated.  Why, yes, it has!  “First Attempt Made” – “The driver was unable to collect funds on the 1st delivery attempt.”  I go from panicking that I’d miss the driver to wanting to immolate him with my mind!  I was right here!  I was sitting right out from of my damn house when you were here!  You went to the unit on Foundry, didn’t you!  If I walked over to that unit, I’m pretty sure there is a notice on their door, or that he had spoken to them asking for the $200 in “duties and fees” that my $900 package had slapped on it and the person at the door choked.  (Can’t wait to argue about the fees, too!)

With my anger tap wide open and spewing venom, I call UPS’ 800 number.  I breathe and tell myself to be calm, that the agent who calls isn’t the person who screwed up, and doesn’t need to put up with an irate person.  Calmly, I explain that there seems to have been some mix up, and could they send the driver back?  “I’m pretty sure that they went to the right unit, but on the wrong road!”  The agent proves to be less than useful, and says that she can send a message to the centre and that they’ll arrange for delivery tomorrow.

Seriously?  I get to do this whole thing again tomorrow?  I’m not sure my heart can take it.  Or if the driver will have both arms.