No matter where I live, it seems I am to be plagued by Customs agents who have no common sense and no sense of respect for private property and no professionalism.
I asked my parents to send on some personal items to me and the best way we thought was to hold onto the items and once a complete box-full of stuff was ready to be shipped, to just send the box on via UPS.
Well
I was actually impressed that the box got here within 5 days – nevermind that the delivery guy took my outdoor mat (yes – THAT mat that we wipe our muddy, dirty feet on) and covered the box up outside the doorway. The first thing I noticed was that the box has been opened. Fine – I expected that considering it would have to come through customs to get to me… I expected them to open up to make sure my mother wasn’t sending me some drug or explosive or some other kind of contraband to sell or us … I get that.
So, I ignored that and opened up the box. Nothing was missing – according to the inventory sheet Dad included, it was all there. Nice.
The ONE item I REALLY wanted to get among them all was my old journal from Digicel – leather-bound and personalized with both my name and the company name. It had notes that I thought I’d want to have with me if I was going to continue in the Tech field. While flipping through, I noticed that the outside covers had 2 slits in identical locations – back and front. “Hmm”, I thought, “must have been packed badly and the hardcover books cos the old leather to crack and tear”.
I didn’t even think twice about it – I just went back to whatever it was I had been doing before. It wasn’t until hubby came home and I was showing it to him that I realized that the inside cover also had a slit in it … nay! a slit AND a TEAR!
As in, they sliced it open with a sharp edge and tore it apart.
I was so mad, everything around me was literally tinged with red. Hubby said “calm down -we’ll call UPS. see what they tell us” and I dropped it. I left it alone because I know if I even approached the subject before I was able to let it go completely, I would be a bumbling idiot.
The danger of that course of action, however, is that you forget. Well, thank you UPS for reminding me because yesterday, here comes an envelope from UPS charging me brokerage for the package. And here I go getting incensed again … because not only did UPS allow customs to destroy my property, but now they are charging me for it too.
Oooo… I was mad. Luckily, I had a number to call them. The delivery man came again another day; he asked me about my international package and I told him about the damage. So he quickly wrote down a number for me to call to claim damages. Which is the number I called with bill in hand.
Well, they were polite and commiserating – I’ll give them that. However, while the first woman told me she was going to make a note that the brokerage charges were pending the damage case, the second dude told me I would be required to pay them anyway.
BULLSHIT! I ain’t paying them jack shit until they either reimburse me for my damaged goods or tell me “You know what – let’s just call it even”. Fuck them. Rude.
Grrr… just makes me mad all over again. What bothers me most about this scenario is that had the Customs inspectors used their brain instead of their mile-long rule books, they would have realized that this book is unlikely to have anything hidden in the cover – book is years old, as can be seen by the writing in the book itself; but if that is not enough considering writing can be faked, the wear and tear alone is another clue. Don’t think that can be faked as easily. And if that is STILL not enough, the binding is intact – clearly hasn’t been tampered with. On top of everything else, have none of them ever SEEN a leather-bound book? What the hell are you going to conceal in the cover of a leather-bound book? Furthermore, who would send an Italian leather bound book to Jamaica and then to the US along with other technical books in a box that is likely to contain contraband?
Nevermind all that speculation … just one answer will do “what the HELL could they be looking for?” is what I want to know.
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by yolospat
15 Jul 2009 at 19:53
WTF? I can understand the drug stuff, but come on. This is a book you've obviously used. I hate people, seriously. I hate anyone that takes my stuff and ruins it. I've had to rebuild 3 times now. When it comes to my journals, I almost mourn for them if they get ruined. I remember M burning 3 of my journals once and I just saw red I was so mad.
I'm sorry hon … keep on them, they need to pay for that, seriously!