The Chronicles of (non)Coincidence #327

I really have no idea what number "non-coincidence" this is, but these are adding up quickly!

This one has to do with a Christmas gift for my daughter's fiancee. I ordered something warm and fuzzy for him a couple of weeks ago, with MONOGRAM, having been assured by customer service that it would, indeed, arrive in time for the unwrapping ceremonies on January 2. As a matter of fact, she assured me, it would arrive by Friday, Dec. 26. When it had not arrived by Monday, December 29th, I went online to check the status of my order. The friendly customer service rep I "chatted" with online assured me that no, my gift had not yet been shipped due to the number of orders and backlog the week before.

I'm not going to name the company because this is not truly about them. They are a good company, a WISCONSIN company, which is generally very prompt and sells high-quality goods. But I did have to wonder how they got so behind on orders, knowing full well that Christmas is a busy, busy, busy season, and lots of people order from them.

Okay, so I asked the CS Rep when I would receive the item. She informed me that the item was in "monogramming," and would be shipped the next day via the Express UPS that I had chosen and paid for. That would place it in my hands on New Year's Eve. That's great, I said. As long as I'd receive it by then.

To be safe, I checked again the next day, Tuesday, December 30, to make sure the item had been shipped. No, a different CS Rep said, "It is in monogramming and would not be ready to ship until Friday." FRIDAY?!! "Yes, she said, but they would ship it via UPS Express and it will arrive Saturday morning." Well, that will have to do, I thought, as long as I can give him the gift before he returns to Colorado on Sunday.
She then reminded me that " you can return the item, even with monogramming, if you need to."

So, we opened gifts on Saturday morning, instead of Friday, thinking that the gift would arrive dramatically, and I would sweep it under the tree in time for gift opening. "Unfortunately," I was told by Saturday's child at the CS desk, "you don't have Saturday delivery in your area, so you'll receive it next week. Remember you CAN return it."

I was terribly disappointed. UNTIL Daughter One's fiancee told us that he was in the process of changing his last name. Regardless of the reasoning for that change, he said the paperwork was done and I couln't help but perk up at the news for a different reason. Here was another non-coincidence, I thought! He was never meant to get THAT piece of clothing with THAT monogram. If I had received the item in time, as promised, I would not have had the option to return it, and he would have been stuck with a fine quality item with the wrong monogram. As it turns out, I will be able to return this item and re-order it with the correct monogram, making this the fiancee's first gift with the new initials on it.

While this is not an earth-shattering or life-changing coincidence, it is yet another small one in the ongoing chronicle of those I encounter~~~!

As before, I invite you to send me your own non-coincidences!!