Attenzione: Get ready for a lot of negative energy in this post. Watch out, because fumes might come off the screen, into your office or home! Here's how my little conversation (in Italian) went at the post office today:
Me: Ciao, buongiorno. Could you please track these two packages that I sent to the U.S. in July? They both still haven't arrived and I'd like to see if you could look for them here. I think they might have been returned to Italy, or they never made it past Customs. They are very important wedding gifts and I've been trying to track them for months.
Rude lady behind counter: Si, signoria, ma I can't help you with this. You have to call the 800 number and they can tell you.
Me: Yes, but I've already called that number twice and they told me they can't find them. Can you at least give me the phone number for Customs?
Rude lady: I don't have that phone number. You can fill out these forms though. (She then hands me what looks like an application for a million dollar loan).
Me: Oh, and then what?
Rude lady: Then you can turn the form in in here.
Me: And then what?
Rude lady: Then, magari (maybe, possibly) someone will find it and contact you..
Yeah right. Those gifts are gone! I'm really surprised she didn't ask me to fax her the form because Italians LOVE faxing things. Want to make a hotel reservation? Doonn't even think about e-mailing them- you'll never hear back from them. Fax them! Want to change where you want your newspaper delivered? Fax.it.good. Ughhhh why is EVERYTHING so difficult here? Everything is made complicated. Oh well.. you'd think that after more than three years of living here that I'd be used to this but um..these things still make me angry.
While I rant, this all reminds me of my recent conversations with five different Italians regarding purchasing items online. All five Italians (all around my age) said they didn't trust paying with their credit card online. They couldn't believe that I had done about 85 % of my Christmas shopping all online. They couldn't fathom buying airline tickets online, either. They continued to ask me questions like "what if you don't receive the item?" or "how does the airlines know it's really you traveling?" and "how do you take it back?" It's really quite interesting and I find it apalling but they do not trust the whole World Wide Web shopping bit at all! They'd rather go to a travel agency (do those even still exist in the U.S by the way?) in person and make a personal transaction or go to the store and see and feel the item. I can understand this at times but the beauty of online purchasing is that you CAN take it back, even in Italy. They just don't get it and prefer to stay old-fashioned/archaic. Hey, whatever suits you..
Going back to the original post office story, the moral of the story is: Next time use Fed Ex!
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