Maybe go out, maybe stay home

[sovay]

At two-thirty in the morning our doorbell rang, massively freaking the cats. (They associate doorbells with vacuum cleaners. We have not been able to afford for people to come to our house with vacuum cleaners in four years, but the cats remember and they do not trust anything that rings.) After it rang a second and a third and possibly a fourth time, I went downstairs in my bathrobe to see if it was a crisis. It was a delivery guy with what smelled like Thai basil, trying to deliver takeout to the third-floor people. They were not answering their doorbell. They were not answering their phone. He finally asked if I could just give the order to them. I tried to explain that they were not housemates but other tenants with whom I interact mostly in passing on the stairs, but he insisted on handing it to me anyway.

The third-floor people did not answer when I knocked. I have left the food on their mat with a note on top of it explaining the situation and hoping it was something they actually ordered, although I can't really imagine swatting a person by sending them Thai food at half past two in the morning. spatch fears that they are elsewhere for the night and the order just reverted to their default address, which means that somewhere in Boston are two people really jonesing for their drunken noodles and wondering what went wrong with the all-night delivery. If so, I am confident that it will still be edible in the morning, but in the meantime the stairwell really smells like Thai basil and I feel it is heroic of me not to be eating my upstairs neighbors' food right now.

I hope it is not considered rude under the circumstances that we didn't tip.

[edit] THE MYSTERY IS SOLVED. The third-floor people left us a nicely handwritten note under the door explaining that they had canceled the order at one in the morning and were not expecting it to arrive hours later, after they had gone to sleep. They feel terrible that we had to deal with the delivery guy and the doorbell. I have assured them that we do not blame them for the balls-ups of the delivery service and we're just glad they weren't somewhere other than their apartment, missing late-night dinner.

Obviously, the moral of this story is that I should have eaten the food.

Comments

[lilysea]

I hope it is not considered rude under the circumstances that we didn't tip.

As the food was not for your household, or for your guests, I don't think you had any obligation to tip.

[sovay]

As the food was not for your household, or for your guests, I don't think you had any obligation to tip.

That was my feeling, but I am never sure how these things will be taken.

[lilysea]

At two-thirty in the morning our doorbell rang, massively freaking the cats. (They associate doorbells with vacuum cleaners. We have not been able to afford for people to come to our house with vacuum cleaners in four years, but the cats remember and they do not trust anything that rings.)

I am impressed and surprised by the length of your cats memories.

[sovay]

am impressed and surprised by the length of your cats memories.

They remember a lot of things! Hestia for years was ferociously protective of her belly because of the spaying and she still hisses at the smell of vet. Autolycus loves the feel of terrycloth under his kneading paws because of a towel in his kittenhood when they still lived with their mother. spatch has assured me many times that he recognizes the rhythm of my feet on the stairs, because he runs to the door when I come home. They're good cats.

[umadoshi]

Such wonderful beasties you have. *loves from afar*

[sovay]

Such wonderful beasties you have.

We like them! *transmits pats*

[sholio]

... I feel that it's entirely justified not to give a tip to a delivery person who rings the doorbell at 2 a.m. to try to deliver takeout they know wasn't supposed to be delivered to your address. I guess they're just trying to CYA, but still, who does that??

[sovay]

I guess they're just trying to CYA, but still, who does that??

I don't totally blame him for ringing the doorbell in the first place because it happens all the time with deliveries—the vast majority of the times our doorbell goes off (scattering the cats), UPS or FedEx has glitched on the apartment number on their label—but I do feel that handing me the food was not reasonable! UPS has never asked me to sign for the first-floor people. I would look at them really funny if they did.

[thisbluespirit]

but the cats remember and they do not trust anything that rings.

LOL, poor cats! Don't trust the vacuums!

And, oh dear. Not eating the food was probably pretty heroic in the circumstances.

[sovay]

LOL, poor cats! Don't trust the vacuums!

It occurs to me just now that I bet they feel betrayed when we vacuum, because they get no bell-warning.

And, oh dear. Not eating the food was probably pretty heroic in the circumstances.

See ETA! I should have gone with my first instincts.

[cmcmck]

I suspect that you are a far more patient person than I!

[sovay]

I suspect that you are a far more patient person than I!

I mean, I figure a guy who is doing all-night delivery driving is not having the greatest time already, but I still think it was a dubious proposition at best.

[asakiyume]

This is the opening scenario for some movie, and I just want to know what happens next.

[sovay]

This is the opening scenario for some movie, and I just want to know what happens next.

We got a nice note from the upstairs people and I caught them on the stairs and we established that we are both displeased with the delivery service and not with each other! (Solidarity?)

[asakiyume]

What was the deal--had they, as you surmised, ordered from some other place? Had the delivery been meant to arrive hours earlier and they were deep asleep? Enquiring minds want to know.

[sovay]

Enquiring minds want to know.

Sorry! See ETA to this post.

[asakiyume]

Aha! Well then, yes--the restaurant/delivery folks need to get their act together!

[sovay]

Well then, yes--the restaurant/delivery folks need to get their act together!

It did not once occur to me that anyone would be trying to deliver a canceled order! (I would actually have refused to accept it if I had known.) I am with the third-floor people in thinking that a complaint under these circumstances is appropriate.

[asakiyume]

Yes, it's definitely a glitch in their communication that they want to sort out to ensure they have happy patrons.

[a_reasonable_man]

Was delivery guy so insistent because he faced some sort of penalty if he didn't have someone accept the food? Was he used to delivering to college dorms? Still, I'd complain to either the restaurant or the delivery company. They can't have their people ring random doorbells at 2:30AM. In fact, that probably qualifies as disturbing the peace.

[sovay]

Was delivery guy so insistent because he faced some sort of penalty if he didn't have someone accept the food? Was he used to delivering to college dorms?

I suspect the answer to (b) is yes, because we are well within the ambit of Tufts, but I bet (a) is more in play—I would not be at all surprised if a delivery driver is supposed to have a certain number of successfully completed deliveries in order not to get dinged. It sounds like accountability on paper. In practice, well, look at this circus.

Still, I'd complain to either the restaurant or the delivery company. They can't have their people ring random doorbells at 2:30AM. In fact, that probably qualifies as disturbing the peace.

The upstairs people (see ETA) are actually placing a complaint, since not only did it disturb us, it was food they had no longer wanted in the first place. Which takes this entire incident into the realm of farce and now I really want Thai food for dinner, although probably not from that restaurant.

[asakiyume]

and now I really want Thai food for dinner, --hard same.

[ethelmay]

Sounds like a serious food safety issue to me. Hot food left to cool slowly is likely to stay in bug-growing range for a long time.

[sovay]

Hot food left to cool slowly is likely to stay in bug-growing range for a long time.

I have never been harmed by noodles left out accidentally overnight and I was not going to put it in our refrigerator, since that would imply even metaphysically that I was responsible for getting it to the third floor people. [edit] Or you mean on the part of the delivery guy?

[ethelmay]

Oh, I didn't mean to imply any ill-doing on your part! Just that I don't think I would have eaten the food.

[gwynnega]

I have never ordered food delivery at 2 a.m., and I suspect there is no Thai restaurant open that late in my vicinity. So I am sort of marveling at the whole concept.

[sovay]

So I am sort of marveling at the whole concept.

Ah! It is not as common around here as I would like, but Boston actually does have late-night restaurants, and at the point in time when I could eat at two in the morning without ill effect they were a godsend to me. (I can no longer eat at two in the morning without ill effect, but my entire nocturnally tuned body thinks I should be able to, and I still feel late- or all-night restaurants are a critical piece of a functioning city.)

[gwynnega]

We do have all-night restaurants, but most that I've gone to have served diner or deli food. It never occurred to me to try and order food at 2 a.m., but maybe it's possible!

[julian]

Is this a heartburn issue?

[sovay]

Is this a heartburn issue?

It's mostly the issue where for most of the last fifteen years, eating has caused me pain, and so if I eat late at night it keeps me up.

(This is not a mysterious issue. I have ulcerative colitis, diagnosed in 2004 and monitored by the same doctor since, and that's one of the major symptoms with me. At this precise moment the colitis has calmed in a way it hasn't since 2004 and all of a sudden I can eat all sorts of often-off-limits food without pain and it's great, but I am still not going to push my luck. I want to be able to keep eating all the things.)

[julian]

Oh! Geez. Yeah. That makes sense.

(And, to your edit, I don't, but so many people do, it's definitely best to be clear.)

[pameladean]

Agh, late-night doorbells followed by unreasonable requests and major Thai food temptations! (I too now want drunken noodles.)

We once had somebody attempt (or so they said) to deliver a pizza at four a.m. We have a door phone, so mercifully the conversation was not conducted in person. They refused to believe that nobody had ordered pizza, were unable to provide the name of the pizza place or the name of the person who had ordered, and eventually became hysterical and heaved two very large pots of geraniums through the windows on either side of the front door. Fortunately these have narrow panes, so while the glass broke, only ferrets and similar smallish rodents would have been able to get through them. Also the front hall has locking inner doors. Anyway, I mourned the geraniums but there wasn't serious harm done otherwise. We never did figure out what was going on, though. Nothing like that has happened, before or since.

P.

[sovay]

They refused to believe that nobody had ordered pizza, were unable to provide the name of the pizza place or the name of the person who had ordered, and eventually became hysterical and heaved two very large pots of geraniums through the windows on either side of the front door.

Yikes. Nothing about that interaction sounds like fun.

Nobody threw geraniums at us, at least!

[ethelmay]

Throwing geraniums sounds farcical, but it would actually be really unpleasant to be on the receiving end. Like that thing in the Thurber essay about Thing Contained for the Container.

[sovay]

Throwing geraniums sounds farcical, but it would actually be really unpleasant to be on the receiving end.

Anything in a large pot is no joke.

[pameladean]

"Get away from me or I'll hit you with the milk!" That essay is one of my very favorite things.

P.

[pameladean]

Indeed, it does seem you had an adequate supply of disturbance and perplexity without flying geraniums.

Our delivery person, if that is what they were, apparently had a bias against geraniums; the pot of the same size containing ferns was not molested.

P.

[sovay]

Our delivery person, if that is what they were, apparently had a bias against geraniums; the pot of the same size containing ferns was not molested.

EVERY SINGLE FACT ABOUT THIS STORY MAKES IT WEIRDER.

[edit] That was not the icon I meant to use, but I think it suits. You got the Melbourne method of pizza delivery.

[moon_custafer]

This whole situation sounds like an unfortunately-sober textfromlastnight.

[sovay]

This whole situation sounds like an unfortunately-sober textfromlastnight.

I'm not going to say it would have been better with alcohol, but yes.