The Canadian Adventure Part One
I discovered in Buffalo, SD that I had forgotten my wallet. I had my passport and The Laird had cash and cards (and his passport). I thought to myself I thought, “no biggie; I’ll have my driver’s license FedEx-ed to the hotel in Calgary.”
Having my passport, I didn’t find driving the USA particularly concerning. The police have interconnected computer systems. I might get a ticket, but they can verify that I’m myself and that I have a driver’s license easily enough. Driving in Canada, however, seems a bit more fraught with peril. While being strip-searched by Mounties makes a good start to p0rn, I’d rather imagine it than experience it.
That evening (no rush, it’s only Wednesday) I sent a stream of texts to our house-sitter: Please FedEx driver’s license and cash to hotel in Calgary (at which we will arrive on Friday night). Do not send the wallet in case something goes wrong, there will be less to replace.
Problem the first: My texts don’t go through. They are “RCS messages”, whatever that is, and they sit in “sending…” status indefinitely. After waiting a couple hours, I wonder to myself I wonder “what the fuck is RCS? and how do I change it to plain SMS?” My phone helpfully put a “…” link after “Sending. Options…” One of those options was “send as SMS”. Problem the first resolved.
Problem the second: The Laird reserved the rooms using the debit card. The hotel will not accept anything until they have a charge against a credit card. This was very confusing over the phone. The Laird supplied the credit card information and the hotel was happy. Problem the second resolved.
Problem the third: FedEx will not send cash. We have mail-in ballots, but one cannot send cash in a FedEx envelope?!? Oh well. Does anyone want $500 Canadian? It will sit in our safe indefinitely. Problem the third was not resolved, but whatever. Driver’s license on the way.
Our stay in Moose Jaw (Wed evening, all day Thu, leaving Fri morning) was excellent. See Part Two. Off to Calgary. That was basically Friday. We check into the hotel. No FedEx waiting. This is reasonable. I sent the texts Wed night. The house-sitter sent the package on Thu. It’s now Fri night. If “next day shipping” were a real thing, it would have been there, but I can understand a delay due to distance and a border.
No package on Saturday. No package on Sunday. No package on Monday. No package on Tuesday. Time to leave Calgary. I’m typing this on Wednesday night at home. It still has not arrived at the hotel. They said they would call to confirm delivery and shredding.
What the ever living fuck?!? Tomorrow will be a week for “next day” delivery. It cost $90 plus whatever it will cost to replace my license. For absolutely nothing.
The sender was not told to expect this sort of delay. $90 is _far_ beyond regular post. I can understand that there may be issues with this sort of thing, however, expectation management! The clerk at the store should have said, “this is unlikely to work as you hope; are you sure?” The clerk did not. The clerk is getting a visit from me, tomorrow. I know they don’t care because they don’t need to, but shipping reality aside, being told the truth by someone charging $90 for a service is a reasonable expectation.
I’m considering having the hotel snail-mail it back to me when they call, just as a comparison.
On the bright side, it was barely a minor inconvenience. The trip was great.
Huh. I don’t have a “Travel” category. Probably because I don’t like travelling.
