Where is your UPS delivery man on XMAS?

I'm sure everyone has had a box or a letter shipped to them, but do you ever wonder how and where your package is being prepared and shipped? And whether or not it'll be on time? I did. I'm sure everyone is thinking that right now, especially as they are waiting for their holiday orders to arrive. Perhaps you were like me, anxiously clicking the refresh button under the UPS "track order"page?

Today, I went over to a friend's place in Jersey to pick up a "next day air" package, but didn't know when the UPS delivery truck would arrive. However, the doorman mentioned that UPS usually makes their rounds around 12:00-12:15 pm or at 1:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m (hmm, a lot of delivery times). It was 11:00 a.m. when I asked the doorman. One hour, that's not too much of a wait, especially since I was very anxious to pick up the package. So I wait... 12:00 p.m. no UPS truck, no men in brown uniforms, only United States Postal Service in blue uniforms. Um, hello, I want the guys in the brown uniforms -- where are they? So, I peer out the window and guess what I see? I see two UPS trucks sitting in a parking lot. A few minutes later, I look out again and now there is a group of UPS trucks congregating in the parking lot across the street from my friends apartment. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Where is my PACKAGE?!?! and why are they lined up like so? I wasn't angry, rather I was curious. So I decided to walk over... If you can see the photos above, it appeared as if the UPS trucks had their own organized line-up, a semi circle of sorts, with the back of the trucks all facing one another. I was intrigued, so I walked over.

As I entered this semi-private affair, I was pleasantly surprised. The guys (no female workers today), were joking and laughing... music was blasting ... people gathered round to hear the captain's orders and packages were being moved from one truck to another -- they were all having a good time! ... it was almost as if I was watching a scene out of a Christmas movie (or Elf) where you see the elves working away in an assembly line putting packages on the right carousel so it goes to the right Santa bag -- meanwhile you hear them singing and humming along to Santa Clause is coming to town.

So why was it set up like this? Were they having some sort of party? You can call it that ... They set the back of their trucks to one another to organize the delivery of their packages. So, they were simply rearranging packages from one truck, to another, in an attempt to make the delivery process more efficient! Go Santa's little helpers!

As they finished separating the packages, each truck departed to deliver their goods to the households of New Jersey (yeah!!! boxes and more boxes of goodies -- presents?!!). Ah, the sleigh is ready ... "So were you naughty or nice this year?" one UPS man asked.

Nice of course! (ok, he didn't really ask, but wouldn't it be cool if he did? ha ha)

So, are you wondering what happened to my package? ... and whether it arrived at 12:15 / 1:00 / or 4:00 pm. If you think it arrived at any other time but 12:15 pm, you probably don't know me very well. :D jk. Lucky for me, as I was spectating, I met Bob who seemed like a jolly fellow... it turned out he was my special UPS man delivering packages to my friends apartment building. He was my Santa for the day (he found my package in his truck!). And though he was going to make the delivery later in the day, he was gracious enough to make a quick stop at my friends apartment (it was across the street!) before heading out to his other destinations. Woo HOO!!!! Santa agrees -- I was nice all year!

So ... my brown sleigh arrived just in time for the holidays (or in my case, arrived just in time before my Egypt trip next week!)

Thanks Bob and the rest of the Santa crew for making my day!