The Ongoing Package Saga, Part Two

So, our second order of shoes from Lands' End has now arrived (for the backstory, read here and here). Where I left off last time, I was pondering what we were going to do with these shoes when they came because we don't need doubles of them. We first got a slip on Thursday saying the package guy had stopped by, no one was home, so they'd be back the next day between 12:30 and 6 (way to narrow down a window of time) to try again. If we weren't home the second time, the package would go to the post office for us to collect. O and I decided, now that the shoes had arrived, that it was best to ignore them and leave it to the post office to ship them back to the sender after 3 weeks of us not picking them up.

I came home early on Friday due to feeling like shit and not doing anything at work anyway, and I unfortunately didn't note the lack of package slip in the mailbox. If I had, I could have realized that this likely meant that the package guy hadn't come yet, that he still had an hour left in his window of time, and that if the doorbell were to ring, I should just ignore it and pretend I wasn't home. But since none of that occurred to me, I quickly picked up the intercom when the bell rang at about 5:30. It was a guy with a package, and I needed to come down to get it because there were costs I needed to pay (both shipments of shoes got about 17 euros in customs charges added on, which I believe is the first time I've ever received something here that got stopped and charged by customs). I told the guy to hold on while I paused the CD I was almost done with (nice timing); threw on, but didn't tie, my shoes; grabbed my wallet; and ran downstairs, cursing myself for answering the door when we didn't want to accept the package and I should have known that's who it was going to be at the door. I knew how much I needed to pay the guy, so I quickly tucked into my pocket the 20 eur bill I had in my wallet, leaving only a 5, so I could innocently ask the guy how much I needed to pay and then look in my wallet and say "Um, sorry, I don't have enough cash. Can I pin?" Which is exactly what I did. And no, you can't pin, so he told me I would have to pick it up at the post office. "Oh, ok then." He filled out the slip for me to turn in at the post office and I turned to head upstairs.

It was then that my brain sort of played back what I'd done as I ran downstairs, and nowhere in the playback did I grab my keys. It was then that my brain asked "Did you shut the door behind you?" and I answered "I think I did" and my brain said "Well, shit." I got to the door, and yes, I had closed it behind me and I didn't have my keys. I knew that was going to happen someday. I bemoaned these stupid doors that lock behind you and thought that if we were in our old house I could get in because it had a normal, actual doorhandle that you could use to get back inside, instead of it just closing and having that be the end of it.

It wasn't so bad though because it was about time for O to get home, so I figured I wouldn't have to wait long, as long as it wasn't the rare day he decides to hang around work for awhile. I was cold though; I had been cold enough inside our house and now I was sitting in the cold stairwell. I also really hoped one of the guys who lives above us wasn't going to be coming home before Onno because I didn't know how to pretend I was doing something other than sitting there waiting for someone to let me back in my house.

After 20 minutes of waiting, O got home, coming up the stairs to find me sitting on the ground next to the door with only my wallet and a package slip. I was laughed at for awhile. I tried to ignore him and just finished off my CD and pouted in a bid for some sympathy.