Friday 14 November 2008

A Victim of Petty Theft

I'm not going to mince words. I'm incredibly irked at the moment with the Italian postal system, pretty much everyone responsible for controlling what happens to the post in this apartment, and the world itself.

Two weeks ago, I bought a book for Marta on eBay for her 8th birthday. It was bad enough that the parcel didn't make it in time for her birthday, but I figured that as long as it arrived in the end, all would be well.

Well, it arrived all right - on the one day that week I decided to stay after my Italian class to have a coffee with some friends. At the time, our cleaning lady, Maria, and the apartment janitor who is also in change of keeping large parcels safe until the owner returns home, were both in the building. Apparently, the postman had rung the doorbell, but Maria had not answered because she did not want to be responsible if that person were to break in and steal something -- a completely reasonable decision, which is why she is not the target of my anger.

The janitor, however, apparently spoke with the postman after he gave up on ringing the doorbell and told him that the person to whom the parcel was addressed (a.k.a. me) was not a resident in our apartment. (Let me mention that the janitor has met me many times before, and knew that I was an au pair at that address.) So, in the end, the postman simply left the parcel with her, without leaving a note in our mailbox to say that it had arrived but not been signed for, and went on his merry way. And the janitor, who for some reason was one card short of a full deck that day, decided to leave the parcel unprotected on top of our mailbox.

There were only 15 minutes between the time the parcel was left on top of the mailbox and my arrival back home. Within those 15 minutes, someone entered the apartment from outside, decided they liked the look of said parcel, and absconded with it, without actually knowing what it was.

Boy, am I annoyed. My only consolation is that the thief will not benefit much from their smutty act. The present was a book for children, written completely in English. And it order to understand any of it, you need to know the song that accompanies it. Excuse me while I smother a laugh.

1 comment:

The Wonder Worrier said...

Sorry for the ultra-late comment... but I just want to say, in the style of Stephanie Tanner of Full House fame:

HOW RUDE!

That would really, really TICK ME OFF!

Glad you could replace the birthday gift though, but I'm sorry you had to go through that.

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