The coolest event from this week is my "Coffeepot story".
It's a bit long, but a heartwarming story for me:
We'll start with my parish priest, Father Mark.
Father Mark is awesome.
He came to us a few years ago, with his two dogs, Harry and Oliver.
Father Mark is inspiring when he gives his homilies.
He gets your attention with his understanding of events and feelings.
Father Mark has attracted many new parishioners, built up many of our programs,
and created a true sense of community.
Father Mark built up a website, a Facebook page,
and set us up with an app that provides all information anyone might need
at the touch of a finger.
He's probably the best parish priest we have ever had!
When Covid hit, Father further showed his forward thinking and innovation.
We were quickly able to watch Mass at our parish via either Facebook or directly online.
He has been giving weekly video messages in addition to the recorded homilies.
The Coffeepot story begins about two weeks ago,
when I was getting shipping notifications about some sort of mystery box.
I couldn't figure out what might be coming from Walmart!
I don't even have an account there!
Perhaps something I ordered from Amazon was coming via Walmart?
Who knows these days?
A large box was parked on my doorstep. I opened it to find......
a coffeemaker???
Oh, rats. Gotta spend my time fixing this now.
I first went the route of the online chat.
What's your order number?
I don't have an order number!
Oh, what's your email?
I can't see why they need my email, but I give it to them.
Etc.
I learned that the item was ordered by
an obscure one-truck shipping company,
and I learned that they paid for it. Not me.
(I've never heard of them before this!)
In the end, I was supposed to get a shipping label
and it would be picked up by the USPS, to return to Walmart.
Well, I never got the shipping label
but I did get an email from the USPS that they were picking it up.
What do I know?
I set it out BEFORE our mail came, with the email attached.
I left it out all day. We were away for part of that day.
We came home and it was still there.
It got dark and it was still there.
I figured that I'd better bring it inside.
(Who wants their house to look like no one is home
with a big box on the doorstep, anyway?)
The next morning, I got an email from the USPS
that they attempted to pick up my package but it was not there.
No mention of when this might have occurred.....
Oh, no.
I got on the computer and found a phone number for Walmart.
What's your order number?
I don't have an order number!
What's your email?
Good grief!!!
After talking to TWO people there,
my second person said that if I didn't hear back,
I could keep it, donate it, or do whatever I'd like.
The box sat in my TV room for 10 days, awaiting its fate.
Finally, we decided no one was going to call us.
We don't need a coffeemaker.
On a daily basis, we use the low-tech Mellita filter method.
With company, we already have a different drip coffeemaker.
I opened everything up again and took a picture of the item.
I sent the picture with an offer to Father Mark:
Did he want it?
Did he know where it can be of good use?
Well he took it!
I think it's for his use, but that's FINE with us.
He certainly deserves a break!
Peter dropped it off at the parish office yesterday afternoon.
Well, I'm sure you have experienced the happy effect of giving away something.
I'm grateful for that opportunity!
