Unfiltered Story #56916

I was living with my family in a rural area at the time of this story. This was pre-internet, so when I needed to order new checks, I had to mail in my order. When I still hadn’t received my checks after 2 months, I called the company to find out why they hadn’t arrived.

Me: I’m calling to inquire about the status of my order. (Gives name, address, etc.)

Call center employee: I see the problem right here – we don’t ship to P.O. Boxes, so we need you to give us your street address.

Me: That is my street address. We live in a rural area where the streets aren’t named or numbered. The post office assigns us a rural route and then each house on the route has a box number. So our physical address is Rural Route (number), Box (number). It’s not a post office box, that’s our home address.

Call center employee: We don’t deliver to post office boxes. We need your house number.

Me: That is my house number. If you want, you can say that my street name is Rural Route (number), and my house number is Box (number).

Call center employee: Honey, I need your house number, not your box number.

Me: I don’t have a house number. Our house is not numbered, and our street isn’t named. It’s a rural route.

Call center employee: Just tell me the address you give people when they’re coming to your house. That’s what we need, not your box number.

Me: We don’t give people an address. If they’re from around here, we tell them we live in the old (Smith) family place. If they aren’t from around here, we tell them to drive one mile out of town on county road (number), take the first paved road on the right and go 3 miles until they see a dirt road on the left past a red barn with 3 silos. Then they follow that road until it bottoms out in the river valley, and that’s our house. There’s no street names, and no house numbers.

Call center employee: Everyone has a street name and house number! How do the firemen or police find you? How does the postman know where to deliver your mail?

Me: They know we’re box (number) on rural route (number)! That’s our address!

Call center employee: we don’t deliver to post office boxes.

Me: Never mind. Cancel my order and refund my money.