Semantics

Same Day Leh!
Originally uploaded by Terz.

I knew that having majored in English and having been an English Language and Literature teacher would come back and bite me in the ass some day.

So, I get back from Bloggers.SG on Saturday, marginally wasted, and spend a little time processing the shoot I did on Thursday and Friday. I go to bed at 4 am, to wake up only 3 hours later because I have to get down to a junior college to help out at a photography workshop.

Workshop lasts the whole day, I leave at 10 pm. I get dinner and a teh tarik and I stone with Darren and Seng for about an hour. Then it's off to the studio, because the printer used at the workshop happens to be ours and we have to bring it back to our workplace.

It's a little past midnight by the time I get back. And I finish working on the post-production work for the aforementioned Thursday and Friday shoot. Just so I can send out the CD-ROMs by courier to the designer who needs the images by today.

Which brings me to the above image. I call up Speedpost and make arrangements for somone to pick it up and deliver it all in the "same day."

Courier comes by at 4 pm. But no problem, the person who picked up my call said that it'd be delivered latest by 5.30 pm. Or so I thought.

I get a call from the designer at 6 pm to ask if the package's going to arrive any time soon. I call up Speedpost and find out, "Acherly, same day means:

1. If it's collected before 1230 hours, it'll be delivered on the same day; and

2. If it's picked up after that time, then it'll be delivered between 9 am and 1 pm the next day."

OK for starters: don't call it 'same day'. In my mind, 'same day' implies today's nonsense wouldn't have happened to me. It implies the designer will have received the CD-ROMs and will have begun working on them already.

Call it 'Normal'.

'Relak service.'

'Anytime but today.'

But don't call it 'same day'.

Please.

Secondly, when something like this happens, don't laugh it off and say I picked the wrong service. I did ask the first person I spoke if it was going to be delivered today. And she replied in the affirmative. Refer to the first point for the rest of my response.

So now, I'm pissed off before I'm supposed to attend a shindig at the studio. I'm also $16 poorer because, "er, the difference lah, between 'same day' delivery and er, 'one hour'."

Thirdly, I really like the way you leap into action to help locate my package the moment I tell you, "I'll pay the difference".

It never fails to happen. A perfectly good, relaxing day, ruined by morons.

And now I have to go wake up the missus before we are late again.