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merricat_gw

Memo to self: Don't trust P.O. to mail plants.

merricat
17 years ago

Hello, folks.

You know, I get the feeling that Someone out there just wants me to pour concrete all over my lawn and garden. Or maybe live in an apartment. Without a balcony.

It's just NOT safe to be a plant around me. If you're a tomato, you get massacred; if you're a flower....you may end up mulch.

This'll look familiar to someone: I used part of this in a letter to the-person-who-I-was-sending-them-too. Just another fun day around Merri's Garden. Or, as I like to think of it, "Kudzu Hell".

You see, I packed up a few of my bigger Datura (White Devil's Trumpet) seedlings (I've sent live plants before, they were well-packed), and took them to the PO here in our small town. The usual postmistress (my neighbor) is on vacation, so I simply did the mailing with the clerk there.

I ASSUMED that telling her that they were live plants would get the service I USUALLY get with Canada Post: quick and easy, and handled carefully. Instead, she "wasn't sure what to do about it" (I found this out later) so she put them aside until she found out the right procedure. Several days later she calls "as a courtesy", just to let me know it's OK to send them.

NOW she calls me?

Turns out she's new and was confused over domestic and international shipping of plant materials. There are many restrictions when you're crossing borders (as it should be), but NOT in Canada.

I should have made sure she knew what the hell she was doing before I walked out that door. I told her I'd strangle her if she sent them now, and to hold them RIGHT THERE. I went over, opened them up....yeah. You can imagine what 10 days in this heatwave did to them. Gourmet compost. DAMN it!

REALLY nice of them to refund my money, wasn't it? Maybe she noticed my homicidal glare....

Now I gotta figure out what to do next. I still have some seedlings, and they may even make it to the flower stage this year. Or I can send seeds (single-white Datura, and double-purple a neighbor has promised me this fall). One way or anther I want to make this right. I DID promise those plants, and I know how disappointing it is to expect something that never shows up.

Is it possible to Go Postal on your local P.O.?

Sigh,

Merri

Comments (6)

  • ianna
    17 years ago

    Merri,

    I do find small town community life so refreshing. I'd be lucky if I get any such attention from our corner store postal service down here in Toronto. The poor girl is on a learning curve and so please forgive her. She'll learn fast enough especially if you are about to turn postal.

    Ianna

  • merricat
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    How does one change their online name here?

    Is "Psycho_Gardener" already taken?

  • ianna
    17 years ago

    I know you are joking but that's very interesting question. I've tried to edit my members page, and I couldn't. The window kept diverting back to getting me to sign in every time I tried to save my changes. My member page information continues to be the same pre-ivillage takeover. Can you give it a try and see how it turns out? I've contacted their technical service but haven' heard from them. And that's probably part of the problem I'm experiencing, I'm not getting any emails from gardenweb forwarded to my address. Theres a block and it seems to be originating from my member's page.

    About going postal... if it's of any consolation, I've encountered people who defy imagination as to how they got their jobs in the first place.

    Ianna

  • merricat
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Hi, Ianna :-)

    Yes, it IS a good question, but I'll be hanged if I can figure out the answer. As much as I appreciate the existance of this forum, NOTHING I've ever sent to Tech Support has been answered. I've asked them to delete double-posts, or sent tech questions, and the result has always been silence. True, none were actually big-deal things, but still.....

    As far as I can see, if you want a new name the only thing to do is to come online and create a whole new account for yourself. That's a bit of a pain if you want to keep your trading lists and other attributes, but just want to change names.

    It's easy enough to get a new account; I've still got my old name/account here, and if I wanted to use it as "another person" I would. But why? I suppose it could be my Evil Twin for angry replies, but the whole POINT of coming here (for me anyway) is the community that's created by like-minded (and been-there-done-that-ness) gardeners. You come here to form relationships, not to yell "you're so STUPID you don't know chickweed from alfalfa!" at someone. Flame wars on a gardening site...strange concept. I only wish Tech would tell me how to delete my old name, it's annoying to know it's still in the system.

    (Come to think of it, what DOES alfalfa look like?)

    As for getting mail, I went down that road already. Here's the final tally: if you send mail to someone and choose to hide your email, then good luck ever hearing from them again (unless you include your username, they come online and find your page and mail you through THERE). There actually ISN'T any forwarding service "from" GW. I thought you could reply to "user@gardenweb.com" addresses and they would pass them on while keeping the email private. Not so.

    Yeah, I know: then why bother sending an anonymous email, unless it's a nastygram? Why? Well, it's because...I mean, it's a good reason for....ummm.....can I get back to you on that?

  • sharon_sd
    17 years ago

    "Come to think of it, what DOES alfalfa look like?" Sort of like clover - at least the leaves. It gets lovely pink to purple flowers. I have made it into bouquets with daisys.

  • merricat
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Saw it, sharon. Actually, it's in my flowerbeds as a weed, and you're right: it IS quite pretty. Thanks!