Friday, January 4, 2008

Integrity for $200 please, Alex...

Ever been the accidental recipient of someone else's mistake? Did you just accept it as "good fortune" and move on, or did you make an effort to make sure everything was straightened out?

We received a shipment that was supposed to contain the simple, but elegant, hammered copper sink that we ordered for a bathroom in the home we're building (a splurge item, I admit). Much to my surprise, when I opened the box... correction, when I opened the box within the box, both of which were completely stuffed with those obnoxious styrofoam pellets. Grrrr, you know the ones... they get all static-y and you find them for days on end, hiding under all your furniture and stuck to your shirt, hair, and even the dog!

So, I open this box/puzzle and find two sinks. Hmmm, packing slip only says one, we were only charged for one. What gives? Well, after a brief thought of how nice a copper sink would look elsewhere in the house, I figure I ought to give the warehouse a call. So I do, and who picks up but someone that I know. Now I have no choice but to do the "right thing", right? Yes, I should return one at my earliest convenience... sigh... alright. I try to find solace in my sparkling integrity, while gazing ever so slightly longingly at the second sink.

Today I returned one sink, they all had a good laugh, were quite taken aback at my honesty (that's a really sad testimony of our culture, but I digress), and thanked me for taking the time. When I return home, we get another box that looks suspiciously like the one the two sinks came in. Hmmm. We open it up. Yes, indeed it's another sink although this one has a different design to it. We look at the packing slip. It's not our name. Ah-ha! Factory mix-up. No, wait... this person only ordered one sink like we did. Now we're dying with curiosity. An online search of sink styles from the warehouse reveals that the three sinks (2 in the first box - 1 of which I returned, and the 1 from the second box) are of two different designs, neither of which we or this other person ordered.

It seems we inadvertantly placed an order for one simple hammered copper sink from Random Copper Sinks-R-Us. So, back to the store we go, with one amazingly strange story... hope they think it's as funny as we do!

Update to follow...

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