The Mystery Box

The following is an email I sent to my in-laws about a mystery package I received in December of 2005. This is another post that has been sitting in my edit box waiting to get posted.

"Hank and Lois-

We received 2 packages today which resulted in one big mystery. According to the order invoice from Macy’s, we expected to get and have now received in completion the following items for Christmas:

Lemon zester

2 wine goblets

Oxo pizza wheel

Ice cream scoop

Calphlon stainless steel skimmer

Stainless utensil crock (came today)

The following is a copy of the email I sent to the USPS. The short story is that 2 packages came today with labels from Lois, but only one contained a gift…..the other box is a mystery box…..

Here is the story I sent to USPS……

“OK - this is a strange one. We have been waiting for a completion of a shipment from WeddingChannel.com ordered by Lois Roenke well before Christmas.

Today, I received a very mangled box that had obviously been retaped and bound with yellow straps. It had label from WeddingChannel addressed to me with a shipping UPC dated 1/28/06 and the note Purchased by Lois Roenke. Naturally, I was expecting the utensil crock we had been waiting for.

When I opened the box, inside I found some torn papers and a stack of binders and papers. Upon looking at them to figure out what they were, I found that they are legal and medical documents belonging to an individual person or the court system in Georgia.

Upon closer inspection of the box, I discovered that the piece of cardboard with my shipping label was cut off of my box (I assume) and taped to this box over the original mailing label. The box I received was truly addressed to US Attorney's Office in Atlanta Georgia with a return address from the Social Security Administration in Falls Church, VA. I did not read the enclosed material any further because I could tell it was likely confidential.

I will be contacting the SS administration and the intended recipient tomorrow. My concern is that someone at the USPS cut apart my gift box, took what was inside and then sent this box to me to maintain the appearance of a shipment being delivered..

The really strange thing is that I received a second package today that has the item that I was expecting. SO maybe an item was stolen and then re-sent to us by Macy's? Or maybe Lois sent us something more, and it was stolen. I don't know. I can't call Lois tonight due to the time difference, but I will call tomorrow to find out if any other items were supposed to be delivered to us.

Thanks for your help. I would love to know how this mystery ends.

-Judy Roenke 808-676-7650”

So, that is the weird story for the day. I CC’d myself, and Henry as well as my brother just because I was on the phone with Charles as the mystery unfolded. --Judy

PS – Thank You’s finally went out today before the mystery packages arrived!! PPS- I think I will bring the mystery box to our local post office to send to the rightful owner."

The end of the story is that I called the Georgia court system to tell them they lost a package. Then I delivered the box to the main post office in Honolulu. I never heard what happened to that box after I put it back in to the USPS system. The good news is that we got all of our presents, and that's all that really matters, right. Who cares about some dude in Georgia and his workers comp suit.