I would like to register a complaint
While I love the convenience and crowd-avoidance benefits of shopping online, I am somewhat annoyed with certain vendors’ shipping practices. Not necessarily the shipping times; all the stuff I’ve ordered in the last month or so has arrived quickly, often more quickly than the promised delivery date.
No, what annoys me is the fact that certain vendors will ship the ordered articles to my home in cartons that clearly advertise what’s inside; sometimes with glossy color photographs. When these packages arrive on my front porch like this when I am not home, which is often, it destroys even any pretense of mystery about what sort of holiday gifts certain individuals might receive, especially when those certain individuals are the individuals who answer the door to receive the package.
But, you may be asking: “Don’t you dislike the holiday season?” The answer might surprise you – No. I dislike all of the artificial cheeriness and sanctimonious goodwill everyone puts on for one month out of the year then goes back to being thoughtless assholes for the other eleven. I dislike many of the pointless rituals, and the fact that the ones I do like had the point drained out of them centuries ago. I hate the iconography used for advertising and marketing purposes. However, I actually quite like the practice of seeking out gifts for loved ones that those loved ones would particularly enjoy, and I enjoy watching the moment of discovery.
When that discovery happens the second week of December at the hands of the FedEx guy, it kind of ruins the moment.
