Usually when you mail something it’s great to have a tracking number so you can find out when the package is going to arrive and make sure it was delivered.

In today’s story, a customer is very upset about a tracking number because she’s worried about a thief. But, that’s not the only odd thing she’s worried about.

Let’s read the whole story.

A very odd costumer screamed at me for… doing my job

So, there was this customer, an American old lady that came to my post office in Italy at the last minute today (grr), and was… very odd.

Here are some things that made me feel… very puzzled.

1. She came with an enormous bag on herself, that severely limited her movements. When she tried to reach for a document she had on herself, she spent something like two minutes trying to retrieve it, and I honestly have no idea where she pulled it from.

2. She had to send this document, a birth certificate. She was extremely protective of it, and basically was wary of everything I did regarding this document.

She was particular about the envelope.

She had an envelope with her, for instance, and she wanted to protect it at any cost… despite the envelope being put in our own DHL envelope.

She wanted to write the address on the envelope, even though that was useless, since the envelope was inside ours.

Also, the envelope has one of those weird sides that you have to wet to make sticky, and she asked us if we had any sponge to do that, as if we were in a 60s post office.

When I denied that, she licked her finger, smeared her spit on the side of the envelope and sealed it.

She then asked us to seal the envelope even further with scotch tape.

When I pulled out the normal tape, she insisted that I use the wide one, the one we use for cardboard.

Again, this was all useless.

The customer was also puzzled and alarmed about silly things.

3. She was puzzled when I told her that the shipment would take 3 workdays. She claims that it was possible to send documents in 1 day twenty years ago. I suggested that maybe 9/11 had changed the protocols, so she grudgingly agreed.

4. She became alarmed when she saw that I had labeled the contents of the shipment ‘Documents – general business’.

She said: “No! No one must know that these are business documents!”

Despite the fact that it simply means that the documents are generic, even birthday cards would be labelled this way.

Most people are happy to get a receipt and tracking number.

5. At the end of the shipment, we usually sent the recipt with the tracking number to the e-mail address and the phone number provided by the shipper. I did this, and told her.

She grew pale, and muttered: “I wish you had not done yet. My phone has been stolen, and whoever has stolen it will be able to look at my data. I shall have to go to the Carabinieri (Italian army) and have the phone card locked”.

I replied: “Don’t worry, there is just a notice of the shipment, the receipt proper is via e-mail. The phone message only has a tracking number”.

This made her even more upset.

She: “A TRACKING NUMBER!? Are you STUPID!? Now that criminal will be able to STEAL MY SHIPMENT!”.

Now, that makes no sense. A tracking number only tells you what happened to a shipment. You cannot modify the shipment, nor even know what is being shipped.

Still, she said: “How could you be so STUPID!? Now I have thrown away all the money I spent to get this birth certificate. I wish I had never come here”.

I replied: “Next time, I advice you to exert some politeness”.

She said: “It’s okay. It is not your fault”.

I replied: “I guess it’s my bad genes”.

Honestly, I can understand being upset about the tracking number because that might give away her address, and that’s probably what she’s worried about.

This is why it’s important to have safety features on your phone, like automatically locking after a certain amount of time.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person understands being worried about mailing a birth certificate.

It makes sense that she’s nervous.

Seriously. The post office is slow compared to Amazon!

This person can understand being anxious about sending an important document like a birth certificate.

On the flip side, this person points to mental illness.

Another person agrees that it sounds like the customer has a mental illness.

I’d be nervous about mailing a birth certificate too.

It’s just common sense.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.