Have you ever had a package get lost?

I have.

Today. My package was not on my front porch, even though UPS and Amazon said it was. I got frustrated and I felt a little crazy. I looked everywhere they’ve ever left a package. Nothing.

I called 1-800-PICK-UPS. I had to talk to a faux sympathetic automatic operator. I found myself using a tone with “her”. I suddenly thought “calm down, it’s not the end of the world, and you don’t have to be rude when a representative comes on the line.”

I took a deep breath and changed my attitude. The woman I talked to was very helpful. Cath, I believe was her name. Within a relatively short time, about 30 minutes, she’d contacted my local UPS, they contacted me and the driver, and now he was going to call me.

He didn’t.

No, instead he went and got my package from where ever he accidentally delivered it and brought it to me. He’d read the number wrong. He apologized. I got my package.

The whole process too about half an hour. I could have gotten more upset. I could have stomped around, left bad reviews everywhere, and posted all about it on social media.

Instead I acted like a grown up.

I made a choice to handle my business before losing my cool. That’s what maturity does. It’s not because I’m 47 that I can do this. Anyone can exercise self control over their emotions and attitudes. Trust me, I have plenty of emotions right now. I’m peri-menopausal along with some other personal issues that keep me on edge.

I chose to not act impetuous, hostile, or immature. I chose to remain calm, polite, and mature. You can too.

Perhaps you’re asking, “why would anyone get upset over a silly package?”. Well have you been online lately? People everywhere seem to be upset about everything, from the simplest to the greatest of reasons. It’s hard to tell what’s truly important because of all the yelling, complaining, and name-calling. And quite honestly if you spend money on an item, and it doesn’t get delivered, well that’s just wrong.

If you have a bad experience and things simply get handled badly, then by all means leave a bad review… in the proper place.

First though, consider whether or not you handled things badly to start with. Did you handle things at all, or did you jump the gun and rush to the internet to complain about something that was fixable? Too often we react instead of act. Anger and frustration have become our default settings in today’s world; therefore, anytime a thing happens we fly off the handle in a rage, or fall into a pit of despair.

These things ought not be.

So next time someone loses your package, ask yourself ” is getting upset over this worth my sanity, peace, or maturity?”. My guess is that if you’re honest the answer will be “no”.