A Particular Wine

We all have some favorite things.  I have the misfortune to like things that are not popular.  They tend to disappear.  I hate that.  

The latest one is my favorite brand of wine.  Not that I drink a lot of it; 2 glasses of wine with dinner.  But, as far as I am concerned it goes well with most everything I usually cook.  And it is cheap.  I don't see the point of drinking a $20 bottle of wine with a $5 home-cooked meal.  Wine is an "accompaniment", not the focus.

But I do enjoy the couple of glasses.  So when the local wine shop wasn't selling enough of it to support the shelf space, they were kind enough to special order a few cases at a time for me.  I appreciated it.  Now they have trouble even getting it from their supplier.  

The store is actually a wine/liquor/butcher/deli store and they have great specials each week, so I shop there often anywhere.  There aren't many places where you can get filet mignon trimmed and sliced to order for $10.99 sometimes or Delmonico steaks for $8.99.  Their deli dept is great, too.  

Oddly, they are the only store I know of around here where you can get actually ripe Golden Delicious apple.  

But they are having trouble getting the wine (Twisted Cellars brand Old vine Zinfandel).

There is a place in Maryland that gets it, but they don't ship and it is a hour drive away to pick up.  There is a store in New York State that will ship, but it's an extra several dollars per bottle.  I ordered 8 cases from them 2 weeks ago.  And if the local store gets more (usually 4 cases when they can get it), I'll buy all they have.  Anything to keep them trying to get it.

I have a large basement that is mostly underground so it stays at 68F.  It will keep red wine OK.  I wouldn't mind a year's supply, LOL!

I'm down to 1 case.  And just tonight I got an email saying I could expect the NY shipment of 8 cases on on Saturday.  Which means I have to stay around to sign for the delivery, but that's OK.  I leave the house about once a week.  

Hurray!

Update:  It arrived.  I was expecting a call to assure delivery between 2 pm and 6 pm, so I laid in bed after 1 pm fully dressed (I'm a real night owl sometimes and only went to bed the at 8 am), but there was just a knock on the door at 3 pm.  I was out and ready to sign for the delivery (the website said I had to) but the the UPS guy said they don't.  

But hey, 8 cases of 1.5 L bottles.  I'm good for many months!

Wrong Address

A nice little light-hearted happy post...

I was stepping outside Wednesday to get my mail when a Fed Ex truck stopped.  I had some small items on order from Amazon (more mole repellent pellets because the sprayable liquid kind just would not spray well, a new electric razor because my old one actually fell apart, and some Felliway refills), but I wasn't expecting them that day.  And the Fed Ex guy backed up as close to the garage as he could.  When there are small items. they just stop at the street and bring the boxes up.  So I was a bit curious.

He opened the back of the truck at brought out 2 chewy.com boxes.  Which really surprised me because, while I have an autoship arrangement, it wasn't time for one and I always get an email first.  So I just dragged the boxes into the garage.

I had thought to email Chewy about the "gift" shipment, but I opened the boxes first.  It wasn't stuff I order!  So I glanced at the label to get the order number to see if I had possibly ordered something new (which I was sure I hadn't of course) and noticed the name and address wasn't mine.  It was a neighbor.

Well, I HAD mentioned my surprise the the driver, and he mentioned there were 2 other regular Chewy customers right on my street (which only has 20 houses on it) and indeed, he had 2 more Chewy boxes to deliver further down the street. 

I SHOULD have realized there was an error right then, but who thinks quickly when surprised?

So I looked up the name on Whitepages.com and found one with an address on my street and 2 phone numbers.  I got a lady who said "he moved away 4 years ago".  Oh drat.  Wait, then why was a delivery being made there after 4 years?  So I asked if I was talking to (the address on the box)?

It was his mother (at some other address).  The address on whitepages.com was right, the phone number was old!  So I explained everything and she cracked up.  And said she would call him immediately to come and pick up the boxes. 

Which he did in about 30 minutes.  Turns out he has Chewy autoshipping too.  We had a good laugh about the entire error.  He is going to correct his phone number on whitepages.com.

Meanwhile, he had done exactly what I do about tracking orders and had seen the "delivered" notice and knew he hadn't received the order.  So he contacted them and they had already sent a replacement order before his mother called him to let him know I had his stuff!

Which meant he was getting a whole free order.  Soooo, I said, "How about I keep the bag of kitty litter and you make off with all the other free goodies"?  He laughed and handed me the bag of litter.  It was the least part of the order.

So...

1.  The Fed Ex guy delivered the package to the wrong address.
2.  I had to spend time figuring out where it belonged.
3.  The whitepages.com site had old information.
4.  Chewy did good customer service.
5.  The rightful recipient had to go out of his way to get his order.
6.  But he is getting a whole new order free.
7.  I got a free bag of kitty litter as a reward for my efforts.
8.  Chewy will have a very routine claim against Fed Ex and get their cost back.
9.  Fed Ex will ultimately pay for their delivery error.

It all works out nicely for all involved except the Fed Ex people who made the error!

Don't you wish everything worked out that nicely?