Appointed Rounds?

Crime is so common thing these days that most of us don’t really give it too much though unless it happens to us or to someone we know. Yes, we read about it in the papers and hear about it on the news, but not until it gets close do we feel the cold hand of crime. Then, when that false embrace comes from an unexpected friend, that twisted nauseated feeling you get in your stomach worsens so much that words just fall feebly aside attempting to describe the pain and disappointment.
The first time I felt that twist in my stomach was 1986. I had just bought my first new car, a shiny new Volkswagen GTI. No, they didn’t steal the car; they only smashed the passenger vent window. They tried to steal the Blaupunkt equalizer but must have been interrupted or something because the bracket was bent to all hell, but remained attached to the car. They got the radio and my big bottle of Obsession (remember it was 1986). But, worse of all, they took my prized possession, my Entertainment coupon book. I was inconsolable for at least a couple weeks.
Recently, I ordered an MP3 player from Buy.com. My first. For a gadget guy who’s also a big kid, this was a big deal. Not only did I get a great deal, the Google checkout discount made it even better. My expectation interest buzzed on high. You would have thought I was five years old and the jolly fat man was walking around on the roof.
Well, I waited. A few days later, my mailbox contained a white envelope with Buy.com as a return addressee. I could not wait to get into the house. Hey, I had a new toy. Something to play with. I could listen to my music while at the gym like a million other people do. So, I pull the tap to the envelope, and reach inside to pull out the package just to find that someone had cut open the blister pack and removed the MP3, the headphones, and the USB cable. I was crushed. No, I was pissed. A close examination revealed that the package had been cut open and re sealed with clear tape. The kind of tape that the post office uses.
Buy.com couldn’t be reached on the phone. You know, these days everything is voice mail or email. I calmed down enough to write a professional and courteous email to Buy.com expressing my disappointment. I could not contact the United States Postal Service by phone either, so I left an email message there as well. Buy.com responded promptly indicating that they would submit a claim on my behalf, and that they would follow-up.
To its credit, the USPS also responded promptly. The following morning at 8:15 a.m. I received a telephone call. The supervisor advised me that since the item was not insured, they could do nothing.
As a youth, we were always told never to send money through the mail because postal workers would steal the money. I don’t know for certain that a postal worker stole my mew toy. But, you better believe that one of them sits atop the suspect list. I believe that a postal worker is the crook. What’s worse is that the USPS doesn’t care that there’s a crook in its midst. I guess some thing really never change. It just doesn’t have to be money in an envelope anymore.