Neighbor: Crazy or Justified?

[Skellingtonj]

I kind of get her frustration. But i would totally have said “yes come get your package”. She really has no right to withhold something that legally belongs to you. And I can’t imagine how I’d handle that at all. We’ve had stuff delivered to us that was supposed to go to another house, we dropped it off at that house. She’s definitely unstable and probably picks a fight with anyone and Everyone over nothing.

 

[fauna74]

Yeah, it's definitely unanimous that she is crazy.
I had a situation a few years ago with a package that contained a Christmas present from my (then) husband. It never showed up even though UPS said it had been delivered. It was a whole kerfuffle- including nasty phone calls with UPS where I was called a thief oh and told what was in the package (thanks for spoiling my Christmas surprise). I walked up and down my street to see if it was on anyone's porch, nada. Fast forward to April, and one of the neighbors kids shows up on my doorstep with a package that the other neighbors (2 doors down from me) asked him to bring to me. Yep, the missing Christmas present. That they took into their house and kept for 3.5 months.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Definitely crazy. I get mail all the time for the people at 805 of the next street over. Just this morning I dropped a large manila envelope into their mailbox on my way to work that I got yesterday.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I wonder what your neighbor's DIS username is.

 

[aristocatz]

OK, because someone has to, I'll parse this a bit further...

1. Yep, she's way over the top in terms of "that'll teach 'em" delusion. FedEx doesn't give a rat's patootie either way, as long as their paying customer (the shipper) is satisfied, and I guarantee you that they have a satisfactory completion rate in their contract that allows for some misdeliveries.

2. You seem to have a second problem, besides your mad-at-the-Man neighbor. If it is true that she has gotten several deliveries meant for your house, then your house signage is probably somehow misleading, which means that it's likely to happen again. If you need to move or duplicate your house number to make it clearer which house is which, you probably should examine that situation.

Thank you-strange thing is-my house number is visibly much clearer than hers is. Large number (black numbers against a white house) next to our front door that faces the street & also on our mailbox. Her front door doesn't face the street with small numbers.

 

[Pooh2]

Your neighbor has some issues!

Our mail person seems to just randomly through mail into boxes (we've have complained to the post office).
The neighbors are great about sorting it out.
It is frustrating for sure, but grateful for nice neighbors giving me my mail!

 

[DISNEYSQUIRRELS]

WOW! She is the weirdest/craziest/jerkiest for sure.
I don't know how you held it together, I think I would have lost it when she told me I couldn't have it.
Horrible person!!

 

[scoutie]

I think this may be the one time where everybody on the DIS will be in agreement that she is not acting normally.

 

[Shanti]

Just curious to hear your take on this situation....

Around a month ago, I ordered some Spring jackets from Carters/Oshkosh for my toddlers. The package never arrived, which I thought was bizarre, because we have never not received a package since moving into our home.

Called Fedex and their records state the package was delivered. Called Oshkosh & they offered to resend it, but the jackets were now out of stock in their sizes. Finally, I gave up.

One month later and the lady who lives next door to us is walking her dog while we were out in our yard. She started chatting with us and let me know that she has my package! I was so excited for my kids to get their jackets. I asked her if I could come over and get it and she says.....No-?? She said she was sorry, but she was very angry with Fedex for delivering my package to her house & that they have delivered my packages to her house 2 other times this year. She told me I would need to call Fedex and ask them to come out and pick up the package from her doorstep & deliver it to my house. Mind you, I live right next door to her & she walks by my house every day to walk her dog. I was a bit taken aback, but didn't want to cause a fight with her because nothing good comes out of fighting with your next door neighbor. She asked if there was anything breakable in there and I said no, but explained that my toddler's spring jackets were in there & I would love for them to get some use out of them before spring is over. She didn't seem to care.

I ended up calling Fedex to explain the situation. They said it was the craziest story they've heard. They ended up coming out & picking up the package from my neighbor's front steps....and walking it over to my steps. So, all is resolved now.

What do you think about this-was my neighbor's response justified? I just can't imagine withholding a package from a neighbor.

Crazy. She should marry my next-door neighbor, who keeps two military trucks parked on his lawn and displays aggressive political statements on them.

 

[cabanafrau]

I could have given her that she was frustrated with dealing with FedEx's mistakes and decided they needed to learn a lesson. However it seems she had no intentions of ever informing FedEx or yourself, until you were at her absolute convenience to inform, no effort on her part other than opening her mouth to you at that moment. That's not okay in the least.

I wonder if her job or her potentially broken marriage revolved around cleaning up other people's screwups. Any way you slice it, she's run way off the tracks as far as how to properly handle things while not being a doormat.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I think this may be the one time where everybody on the DIS will be in agreement that she is not acting normally.

Definitely! - Normal is being a good neighbor and passing on the mis-delivered package/letter. We've done it, and I'm sure other people have done it for us.

And what happened to the other two packages? -

She said she was sorry, but she was very angry with Fedex for delivering my package to her house & that they have delivered my packages to her house 2 other times this year. She told me I would need to call Fedex and ask them to come out and pick up the package from her doorstep & deliver it to my house.

It's like she's attempting to train a corporation as if it was child not hanging up their jacket - the old "make them do it, don't do it for them and nag afterward" advice.

When you mentioned this -

I think she is recently divorced, because we haven't noticed her husband around in over a year.

I wondered if she was still angry/hurt, and taking it out on you and FedEx? (or maybe thinking that not being assertive was a big reason, and reeeeeally over-correcting? )

Thank you-strange thing is-my house number is visibly much clearer than hers is. Large number (black numbers against a white house) next to our front door that faces the street & also on our mailbox. Her front door doesn't face the street with small numbers.

If they're passing her house first, though, it would be hers that's causing the problem. If it's not clear, they may think it's the one they're looking for, and not check the next house up (yours) at all...though I bet they've flagged it now!

Sometimes when you order things, there is a box for any special delivery instructions (like when people would ask for something to be left on a side porch). I suppose you could type in there that it's the __(whatever color)__ house, not the __(whatever color)__ one, so they would double-check.

 

[I loveStitchnippyjon]

Last month my DD ordered some stuff on eBay. UPS showed the package as delivered, but it wasn't. She filed a claim and the UPS driver stopped by her house one day and said she had delivered it to the next street over......different street, different house number! The worst part is that those folks refused to give the package back to either DD or to UPS! Said it was delivered to them so it is theirs. At least DD got a refund!

 

[Spencer Wright]

I've been hearing of this going on a good bit lately.

I really hope she needs a serious favor from you in the near future!!

 

[SharonZ]

You haven't seen her husband in over a year? I'd be worried she has him chained in the basement, or buried in the backyard!

 

[BrianL]

Your thread title shouldn't even have the word justified in it! Your neighbor is just being petty, and yes, super crazy. If I get mail for a neighbor, I just go walk it over to them. It's not that big of a deal, is it? Also, to wait for a whole month is uncalled for. At the very least, she could have called FedEx and said it was delivered to the wrong house, but really, when you know the right house is right next door, why do that? This neighbor of yours is just nuts, but at least you got your package eventually.

 

[cabanafrau]

FWIW I think that there's a difference in stating someone is crazy or a situation is crazy and saying that someone is mentally ill in any kind of clinical way.

The neighbor and situation outlined here are crazy. Clinically, I have no idea.

 

[robinb]

Definitely crazy.

• Crazy to keep your package for so long
• Crazy to not give it to you when you asked for it
• Crazy not to just leave it on her porch for you to pick up
• ... and finally crazy to think that she taught FedEx some kind of lesson

 

[SpaceMtnGirl]

Wow! What a nutcase. I'd avoid her if at all possible.

I had an Amazon Prime package delivered to my house by mistake once. Weird thing was, it was supposed to be delivered about a mile away, on a completely different street. Our names were not similar in the slightest. I got in the car, drove the package to the person's house and hand-delivered it to them. They were SO appreciative. It took 5 minutes out of my day. I would hope someone would do the same for me.

OP... what will you do if you ever get a package of hers by mistake?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That's just odd behavior all around.

Confessing to having it..a month later..

Holding the package hostage..when she lives right next door AND you were asking to come to her house to pick it up not asking her to drop it off

To asking if there was something breakable in there but not really caring what was it in..why did it matter if it was breakable if she was not going to give it to you?

---
We've gotten the occasional mail from our neighbors though it hasn't been packages. Sometimes it's our utilities bill that is from the City (includes water, trash and sewer) where two bills got stuck together, sometimes it's work paperwork (our neighbors on both sides of us work for school districts), etc. We've always delivered their mail to them, walking across the street or next door is hardly a chore and we get it that sometimes it happens. The only time we didn't return the mail directly to the person and instead left a note on the mail saying it was delivered to the incorrect house and placed it in the outgoing mailbox was because it was for a house 15miles away.

Sorry that that happened to you OP!

 

[disneyeveryyear]

We have problems with misdirected mail and packages constantly.

I will try to explain the problem with no actual street names:

There is a business at the end of our street: A B C D (company name, 4 words)

Our street name: C D Road

Main street leading to our street: A B Lane

There is a house on the main street with the same exact number to ours, whose owner has the same first name of my husband, last names are not at all similar.

Invariably I get mail and packages for Identical First Name - Different Last Name at A B Lane delivered to my DH, Identical First Name - Our Last Name at C D Road, and they get our mail/packages quite frequently.

But you know what happens? Either when I grab the mail (mailbox at end of driveway), I stay in the car and go around the corner and deliver it to their mailbox, or if it is a package and I find it on my front porch (I have learned to read the label well before opening , I put the leash on the dog and take her for a walk and deliver it. They do the same for us. Easy peasy.

I definitely agree your neighbor is a sandwich shy of a picnic.