2015 has been quite the year. I have had plenty of moments where I wondered if being me on the Internet was worth it. But then today I received a note.
Every now and again people contact me with things that I think are beyond my capacity to help – and it is never about money (heck I don’t have a silver spoon in my mouth so that isn’t happening)- it’s people seeking information. Today someone sent me a note. To say thank you for providing them with a necessary connection for their family.
It was just fate that helped me show them a good direction (nothing more) , and I did it because paying it forward in this world with no strings attached is what being human is supposed to be about. It’s not about money or status, it’s about caring. And fate. Maybe even to an extent the kindness of friends and strangers.
And that simple thank you, privately said and heart felt? That was awesome. As opposed to others I have met in this journey called life for whom “paying it forward” comes with strings and strands of personal gain, that is not how I operate.
Human kindness.
How quickly we can all get caught up and forget about being human and being kind.
2015 was a bit of a crazy year in one part of Chester County. West Vincent, to be precise. Those folks have survived a toxic election season and as of their final meeting last night can hopefully close the door on Tammany Hall style politics….at least until their Lower Merion refugee decides to run for re-election or not.
West Vincent and their election season reminded me once again how awful human beings and purported adults can be towards one and other. It was actually nastier than a Main Line election season and that is saying something.
In 2015 I learned to shed fake friends with less regret or “what ifs”. I also learned about people not meant to be in my life for long and it was o.k. People have to choose within their own comfort level. And learning to let go of people who are wrong for your life without feeling guilty is actually hard. But I am learning.
One person who had once claimed I was a friend was indeed a disappointing learning curve. They deliberately lied and tried to hurt me to raise their own shall we say “sympathy” profile on social media? The irony is, I had quietly let that person go when I sadly realized the only thing they were true to was whatever anyone else could do for them. I figured it was easier to let go after a couple of years then to allow them further in. Trust after all is everything, and at least for me if the trust is broken, it’s a hard road. But Karma is real, isn’t it?
There are people who throw around catchy Christian phrases about being “blessed”, but truly those are the people you not only forgive for their idiotic selfish trespasses, but pass a prayer along for because you actually feel sorry for them and their lack of realization of how their actions actually affect them. They think their little white lies and bald faced fibs won’t catch up with them, and unfortunately they should remove their blinders.
2015 was a year of learning more about myself as an adult. It was about letting go and learning to be more accepting about what I can’t control. It was about taking chances on people whether or not they ended up becoming part of my world, or were just a passing, pleasant thought. It was therefore, about personal growth after a fashion. It was also about opening other doors and windows. It was about opening completely to love and having faith and finally not being afraid of either.
2015 was a difficult year for some of my friends. But they have faced it with grace and courage. Sometimes as adults, we yearn for the simplicity of childhood. For some, childhood wasn’t so simple and growing up freed them. Life is a complicated puddle of color and emotion and life circumstances never entirely predictable although to say we have a hand in our own fates is to an extent true because life is what we make of it.
2015 was about renewing more relationships time and distance had interrupted over the years. One of the most marvelous things I have discovered about Chester County is who lives here. Not just the amazing new friends I have made since moving here, but people from all stages of my life I had lost track of through distance and life circumstance…who all live in Chester County now.
In 2015 I got to see the Duffy’s Cut site and get to know it’s patron saint, Dr. William Watson of Immaculata. What a marvelous educator. And just a super bight, genuine human being. A perennial student of history, I deeply appreciate what he is about. I also met some other like minded souls who also find other things in Chester County that I find important of interest. Loch Aeirie and the ruins of Ebenezer AME on Bacton Hill. I am also happy to discover there are many like minded people out here when it comes to historic preservation and preservation of Chester County’s amazing beauty and natural resources.
2015 was a year of super fun non-profit events. My favorites were Natural Lands Trust’s Stardust, Brandywine in White, and Main Line Animal Rescue’s Bark-O’Lounge (where I learned to wear my glasses while bidding on silent auction items!!)
2015 meant the loss of some family of my father’s and a dear family friend. That was kind of hard. But they left wonderful legacies of their own. And memories to keep us smiling for years to come. 2015 also marked a decade since my own father passed. Time passes so quickly.
2015 was also an amazing gardening year. I expanded my gardens and they rewarded me. It is one the most fun things for me to just go dig in the dirt and it has been that way since I was a little girl.
2015 I became a cover girl when one of my photos graced the cover of County Lines Magazine. I also had my own photography show thanks to Christopher and Molly Todd of Christopher’s Restaurant in Malvern.
The last two months of 2015 have been a crazy kaleidoscope of everything. Friends, family, and holidays.
This has possibly been one of the best Christmas seasons of my life and at four and one half years cancer free the emotion of the season and the joy is felt by me most profoundly. And somewhat humbly.
I am truly grateful to you my readers and the insane numbers of people who visited according to WordPress . As a blogger I am a writer and I have some amazing mentors and friends who are full-time writers. They inspire me daily. I understand that not everyone appreciates my style, and that is ok.
My journey through Chester County and the second half of my life continues to evolve and grow. It’s hard being a stranger in a new land, so I really appreciate those folks who have made me feel so welcome and shared experiences with me and pointed me in new directions. Intellectually as adults we have to continue to grow. It keeps us alive.
And as 2015 draws to a close a special note for my friends and family and especially my sweet man. You are the bedrock of my life and the love your show me is almost indescribable. I am a fortunate woman indeed. To be loved and respected and valued as an individual just as you are is one of the greatest gifts in this world. Trust me when I say I love you all in return. To the moon and back.
Here is a wish and prayer for an amazing 2016 for all. There is no place like home, is there indeed, Dorothy?
2 3/4 cups of almond flour – I find this at Wegmans or Kimberton Whole Foods if you live locally.
1 1/4 cup of superfine sugar – you can take regular granulated sugar and put it through spice grinder to get this if you can’t find superfine in the grocery store. Some people use confectioners sugar I prefer this. And I use organic white cane sugar that I put through the spice grinder – or coffee grinder take your pick.
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract and – not imitation real almond extract
Beat the egg whites until you get soft peaks. Beat in cream of tartar, don’t over-beat.
Add sugar followed by almond extract and then little by little the almond flour until mixed.
Your dough will be smooth but it will be sort of sticky because it’s almond flour sugar and egg whites.
Transfer your dough to an airtight container and refrigerate overnight.
The next day preheat your oven to 325°
I use silicone baking sheets on my cookie sheets – otherwise use parchment paper.
Drop by teaspoons full a couple inches apart on the cookie sheet – I get about 12 cookies per sheet.
Before you put your cookies into the oven to bake I dust them with festive Christmas sugar – this year I used red last year I used green sugar.
You bake 14 to 17 minutes. You’ll just sort of know when they’re done they’re sort of brownish on top and they crack a little.
Take out of the oven and cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before moving to a cookie rack to completely cool.
Once there was a little stone house on Morstein Road in East Whiteland. Old timers would tell you it wasn’t a very happy house so no one was surprised the family wanted to sell it after a death in the family.
As local lore and legend had it a few neighbors approached the family about purchasing even small pieces of the land to protect the woods and natural surroundings as we all know developers will shoe horn in wherever they can…especially in municipalities like East Whiteland which are shall we say developer friendly?
Anyway, local and legend also has it that the family didn’t respond well to neighbors interested in purchasing parts of the land and lo and behold they came forth to East Whiteland along with the developer for a two lot subdivision plan a while back.
It was astounding to hear these people tell the zoning board that no one wanted to buy the property which is why they were selling to a developer. It’s on the record somewhere I attended the meeting. But they wanted the most money out of the land which is their right, even if it sucks for the neighbors.
The house sat and rotted for a couple of years and the other day I thought I heard the sounds of demolition through the woods to the side. And when I drove by today lo and behold, the house was no more. I couldn’t help but wonder if they moved the family items that you could see in the front windows out of the house every time you drove by before they demolished it, or if somebody’s probably holiday platter that sat in a picture window in the front just got bulldozed away along with the house.
So now neighbors in East Whiteland get to deal with the reality of yet more development.
Yes, it’s just a two lot subdivision but you can see by what has been cleared away that whoever is building there isn’t very interested in the trees or natural surroundings. But then if they were interested in trees are natural surroundings they would’ve only got one house approved wouldn’t they?
Now neighbors got to babysit construction of a two lot subdivision to make sure that stormwater runoff is treated properly and septic. Unless of course that is one of the sections over there that has public sewer access.
Merry Christmas in East Whiteland – nothing says happy holidays like demolition.
Do I sound sarcastic? I was going more for ironic but I’ll take sarcastic. Chester County is going to be as messed up as the Main Line if it doesn’t start to pay attention to every development project.
Yes it’s a two lot subdivision, it could be a heck of a lot worse it could be some of those lovely “carriage home” or “townhouse” developments. But for those who live nearby there is always the same things to worry about —issues with construction stormwater management , septic problems, drinking water wells.
I hope this project goes smoothly and I know it was coming but right or wrong, the fact that they tore down a house at Christmas just bothers me.
The other day when I was visiting Duffy’s Cut I was struck by the juxtaposition of development quite literally a stone’s throw from the Duffy’s Cut site. It made me realize how quickly Chester County’s geography is changing.
We can’t save every old barn, every house, and so on. I know that. But what frightens me is the density that is replacing all of these things.
It’s like we all moved out here for the open space and the land and the farms and the feeling that you could just breathe…. And slowly but surely one development project at a time it’s all being erased.
I saw Duffy’s Cut today. It took my breath away. It is such a compelling story, and it is an eerie, silent, almost sacred place. Yet it is also an inconvenient history, an inconvenient truth.
When I was little my one grandfather whom I called Poppy would tell me stories of how the Irish were persecuted at different times in this country (John Francis Xavier Gallen was Irish and born in the late 19th century) . When he was a little boy, my great grandmother Rebecca Nesbitt Gallen was in service and was the summer housekeeper to the Cassatt Family in Haverford. If I recall correctly, he lost a lot of family during the Spanish Flu Pandemic of the early 20th century, but I digress. Poppy would tell me of anti-Irish sentiment and tales of “Irish need not apply”.
My other grandfather, Pop Pop, would tell me of anti-Italian sentiment. Poppy’s wife, my grandmother (my Mumma), who was Pennsylvania German, would tell me tales of anti- German sentiment during both world wars. And so did my own mother. Yes, I am off on a slight tangent here, but for all that the United States was founded as a nation of immigrants, different sets of immigrants have been persecuted at different times throughout our history and even today. Considering the immigrant stock that runs through my veins I identify with this and am basically unapologetic about my views.
So maybe while Duffy’s Cut is one of Chester County’s most astounding and horrific pieces of history, can it also be said cruelty to various sets of immigrants is as much a part of this country’s inconvenient history as slavery and indentured servitude were?
But back to Duffy’s Cut. I heard about that from my Poppy as a little girl, yet we never learned about it in history class in school. Well one history teacher I had knew of it, but it wasn’t taught to us.
I first wrote about Duffy’s Cut in 2013. I happened to be passing by the Duffy’s Cut historical marker at the time, and stopped to photograph it. Given the clouds of mystery and intrigue still surrounding Duffy’s Cut, I think the foggy afternoon was perfect. I also think that given the development occurring in Malvern (borough and East Whiteland) by developers who don’t truly give a rat’s fanny about the area, the history, or the current residents (they care about building and selling projects) it is also appropriate to remember the history. You can never truly move forward into the future if you can’t honor the past, or that is just my opinion as a mere mortal and female.
Duffy’s Cut is a big deal. What was Duffy’s Cut? Most simplistically the mass murder of Irish rail workers in 1832 around the time of a cholera outbreak they were blamed for but most say in actuality didn’t cause.
…..Duffy’s Cut, the….tale of 57 Irish immigrants who left their deeply divided homeland in search of a better life in America, only to be discriminated against, struck with disease, and tossed into a mass grave beside the tracks within two and a half weeks of their arrival….. The tale of Duffy’s Cut is more than a local story; it’s even more than an Irish story. It’s a story of human indifference and cruelty, of family legends, and of the power of technology to uncover the truth.
In April 1832, a ship called the John Stamp embarked on a journey from Derry, Ireland, to Philadelphia. Aboard the ship were about one hundred Irish immigrants. They left poverty and religious strife in Ireland; they came in search of “The American Dream.” After a long journey, the John Stamp arrived in Philadelphia safely on June 23, 1832, during an unusually hot and humid summer. Historian Earl Schandelmeier III sums up what it was like for an immigrant at this time, “you came over and either made your way or you didn’t.”
…..In charge of a particularly difficult portion of this stretch [of Railroad] was Phillip Duffy, an Irish contractor who lived in Willistown Township, Chester County. He had many contracts with the Philadelphia & Columbia and West Chester Railroads from 1829 to 1849. Track Mile 59 of the former was significantly more difficult than any other mile and delayed the whole project for over a year….Track mile 59, later known as Duffy’s Cut, was a setback. Duffy was in need of men who would work tirelessly for little pay.
Phillip Duffy ventured down to the Philadelphia docks on June 23, 1832, and met the immigrants who had just come ashore from the John Stamp. He greeted the immigrants and persuaded 57 of them to work for him on track mile 59 (Duffy’s Cut). The men were put up in a shantytown and given strict orders not to leave the camp. Duffy’s new laborers were loathed by locals; they were looked upon as less than human…. within two and a half weeks all 57 were dead.
There had been a cholera outbreak. People believed the Irish bought the disease with them. They didn’t as the records for the ship would later prove, but it didn’t matter. Those 57 men (and a woman) were immigrants who spoke mostly Gaelic and lived in the shanty town created to house them next to the railroad (Philadelphia and Columbia line) they were helping create in Malvern.
These immigrants were different. They were “dirty Irish” and locals at the time were suspect of them and threatened by them. I am sorry that sounds awful, but it is an unfortunate truth. I think that and the murder of at least some of these Irish rail workers is why this story has taken so long to unfold and is still continuing.
For example did you know that there is an edition of a paper that was a predecessor (I believe) of the Daily Local called the Village Record.
The October 3, 1832 edition of the paper had an accurate telling of what happened down at Duffy’s Cut earlier that year. The edition of the paper disappeared. The only thing that still exists is the November 8th correction article. The more palatable version of events (yet how was any of it ever palatable or acceptable?)
So my friend and I met with Dr. William Watson at Immaculata today, and he took us to the site. I will not disclose the exact location of the site because well, shall we say, Duffy’s Cut still makes people uncomfortable. And modern day residents who live near this piece of history deserve to NOT be pestered by amateur sleuths and ghost chasers.
Dr. Watson and his brother Reverend Frank Watson became intrigued by Duffy’s Cut when they were given a file that had been in the possession of their grandfather, Joseph F. Tripician. Their grandfather had been a secretary to Martin Clement, the 11th president of The Pennsylvania Railroad. Their grandfather had Clement’s old file on Duffy’s Cut. (And it was Clement who put up the stone monument at the edge of the tracks.)
Photo courtesy or Rev Frank Watson and Dr William Watson – Part of the PRR employee Julian Sachse document from the papers of Mr. Tripician from Martin Clement. This image appears many places including where I found it Duffy’s Cut: The Murder Mystery of Malvern By William S. Patton III, Spring 2014 (PSU.edu)
In April 2010 Smithsonian Magazine had this amazing article on Duffy’s Cut. You can read it online today.
And articles keep being written . Especially because Dr. Watson and his brother and their team have actually gotten some of the remains returned to family descendants in Ireland to be buried with other family members.
The world has taken notice of Duffy’s Cut and what happened there. Perhaps more so than around here truth be told. However, in 2012 an Inquirer reporter named Kristin Holmes wrote a wonderful article about the Duffy’s Cut workers remains which were given burial space at West Laurel Hill Cemetery.
When the bodies of the 57 Irish immigrants were dumped into a mass grave in 1832, it was a secret, perhaps meant to shroud a violent end.
But 180 years later, in a ceremony to commemorate the railroad workers’ deaths, there was pomp and fanfare.
Bagpipes, a procession, and a regal, 10-foot high Celtic cross grave marker were part of a funeral service Friday meant to give five of the 57 the proper burial they never had.
The observance at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd was the culmination of a 10-year research project, known as Duffy’s Cut, to determine the fate of the workers who stepped off a boat from Ireland in June 1832 and were dead eight weeks later.
While most died of cholera in an epidemic that swept the region, researchers say some may have been slain in an act rooted in fear and prejudice….The investigation began in 2002 when the Watson brothers, 49, read a secret file that mentioned the workers and a mass grave. The papers were left to them by their grandfather, who worked as a secretary to the president of what was then the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad, and is now part of SEPTA.
The brothers began research that would eventually involve geophysicist Timothy Bechtel; the Chester County Coroner’s Office; Earl Schandelmeier, an adjunct professor at Immaculata; Janet Monge, the keeper of skeletal collections at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; and others. Project researcher John Ahtes died of a heart attack in the midst of the investigation….
The men from Donegal, Tyrone, and Derry Counties sailed to the United States and were promptly hired by railroad man Philip Duffy of Willistown. The mass of workers lived in a shanty near the tracks. The washerwoman served them. Within eight weeks, they were dead – of cholera and other causes.
Four skulls unearthed at the shanty site show signs of blunt trauma, investigators said. One has a hole that might be from a bullet.
The men probably were the victims of anti-Irish sentiment, the fear of cholera, and prejudice against immigrants, researchers say.
“Their sacrifice has been our motivation,” Frank Watson said.
“Their sacrifice has been our motivation.” How beautiful a sentiment is that?
In the spring of 2013, the New York Times continued with another part of the story: they covered the remains of young John Ruddy being returned to his descendants in Ireland:
MALVERN, Pa. — They laid his bones in a bed of Bubble Wrap, with a care beyond what is normally given to fragile things. They double-boxed those bones and carried them last month to the United Parcel Service office on Spruce Street in Philadelphia. Then they printed out the address and paid the fee.
With that, the remains of a young man were soon soaring over the Atlantic Ocean he had crossed once in a three-masted ship. His name is believed to have been John Ruddy, and he was being returned to the Ireland he had left as a strapping teenage laborer. In 1832.….Three weeks ago, the Watson brothers joined a small crowd gathered in a church cemetery in the small Donegal town of Ardara. They prayed and sang under a limestone sky, as a young laborer, late of Duffy’s Cut, received his delayed but proper burial.
Decades ago, just before the Pennsylvania Railroad was auctioned off, Watson’s grandfather — who worked for the company — saved key company records before they were destroyed. Among them were documents that hypothesized the location of the mass grave and reported the deaths of 57 workers.
The documents also clearly stated that the information was intended to remain a secret.
It was a “crazy coincidence” that the railroad company’s records survived through his family, Watson said.
The papers confirmed fears of a cover up. If the men’s deaths were due to cholera, why weren’t they recorded in a local paper, like most cholera deaths were at that time? And why would some of the bodies have been brutalized?
The answers remain elusive.
Have you noticed when you mention Duffy’s Cut you get many reactions/opinions? Ok I get it. Some day the entire truth will come out….and I wouldn’t want to be related to people who either took part in making these workers disappear or the cover up which ensued. It will be like saying you are related to Benedict Arnold. Or a slave owner. And it is something else historically wonky that basically happened in East Whiteland. (Dare I say it? Has the East Whiteland Historical Commission ever opined on this? Participated in research in any way? Or just erected a slightly historically inaccurate sign?)
But it is part of our history around here. And for those of us with at least partial Irish lineage, well, don’t you just want to know? Will finally learning the truth be so bad? John Ruddy from Donegal and the woman Catherine Burns from Tyrone have been returned to their modern descendants and buried in Ireland. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to identify the remains of more workers so that they could be sent home to their modern day descendants and rest in peace?
Fresh research and searching for the truth is underway. That has gotten a lot of coverage the past few months in Ireland, incidentally:
You will notice in the Walt Hunter report the incorrect verbiage on the Duffy’s Cut sign by the stone monument – by the East Whiteland Historical Commission. I mean I guess they tried but they state the wrong year (1834 when the incidents occurred in 1832) and the well wrong cause of death – black diphtheria, and the disease was cholera. The text of the sign is “Burial Plot of Irish Railroad Workers. Died Summer of 1834 of Black Diptheria- East Whiteland Historical Commission.”
Core samples are being taken. Amtrak seems to be cooperating a little more (I call that a true Christmas miracle – hopefully that continues.)
And oh yeah, thanks to the latest Walt Hunter story Duffy’s Cut has even made People Magazine. So what of other local media? Since it was the paper that possibly eventually became the Daily Local (Village Record, West Chester, PA) had that article that disappeared from October 3rd, 1832 how about an in-depth update from our local paper or any of the other Chester County newspapers?
Dr. Watson took us to the little museum at Immaculata where we saw the artifacts and heard the tale. I also find it fascinating how many songs and musical tributes to Duffy’s Cut exist. (You can buy a CD of songs on the Duffy’s Cut Project Website.) But it was when he took us to the site where it hit home ten days before Christmas.
The site feels almost sacred and is so quiet except for the occasional piercing whistle of a passing train or a hawk overhead. Dr. Watson told us not only the tale of the workers but his tale of his grandfather’s file and all the twists and turns it has taken to get this far.
And as his words floated in the air around us and I gazed at a stone monument and surrounding woods, could I heard in my imagination the sounds of the workers? Did they just sort of float in the air outside of our normal consciousness? I am not being fey or deliberately dotty but when you stand there and you hear what happened to them, you can almost see and hear the past…and feel it.
We need to put this right. We need to support this ongoing project as a community. It is part of our history on so many levels, like it or not. We can’t undo what happened, but we can help correct it on some level by finally getting the entire story told.
And finally we can learn from this. Every generation in this country founded by immigrants fleeing persecution, we somehow as a nation seem to persecute over and over different sets of NEW immigrants to this country. How is that showing the religious and cultural tolerance on which this country was founded?
As a society, we can do better. We need to honor our dead locally whether at Duffy’s Cut or the ruins of Ebenezer AME Church on Bacton Hill Road, or farther out towards Kennett Square and elsewhere where other bits of our history is disappearing whether it takes the form of old houses involved in the Underground Railroad, to all the abandoned graveyards that dot Chester County and the rest of the state.
We shouldn’t whitewash our history or pretend uncomfortable and horrific things didn’t happen. We learn from those mistakes. If you cover them up, as human beings we are then doomed to repeat them unless we break the cycle and face the past.
I have a bunch of photos from today from the site and the museum. I will get to them over the next day or so. You can visit the Duffy’s Cut Museum in the Library at Immaculata when the library is open. The actual Duffy’s Cut site is NOT open to the public it is impossibly located to do that, so kindly respect that fact because so many over the years have not. People folly hunting for Duffy’s Cut only jeopardize the work that archeologists, geologists, and historians are trying to accomplish and that is not right.
Before I sign off, a big thank you to Dr. William Watson. He is kind of a big deal history professor and he took the time for us to show us Duffy’s Cut and tell us all about their work surrounding that. Educators like him make all the difference in how you learn and I think his students are so very lucky to have a professor with a passion for history like he has.
This has been a very long post….so thanks for reading through until the end and for stopping by.
Decorating days are here. I like it to be festive and beautiful not Christmas psychotic.
I have taken a long time to hunt my Christmas decorations and as a process it is a constant evolution.
I find decorations I like, but if I find ones I like better I will swap things out.
Some people just do mass assemblages of layered and layered decorations with not much restraint (or taste) and well it ends up looking like an episode of Christmas Hoarders. If you take your time it makes it easier and you don’t have to put out all of the ornaments and decorations…rotate them!
Last year I did a lot of little decorated trees with feather ornaments and such, but this year I decided to have more Santas and nutcrackers out instead. (I did one small tree with vintage ornaments for our bedroom – a tabletop tree).
Ebay and Etsy are great resources for Christmas decorations and ornaments. So are Facebook yard sale groups, church rummage sales, and garage sales and my favorite…barn picking 🎅
Decorating for Christmas is easy and fun. Use Pinterest for ideas and inspiration and keep it simple to start.
Vintage holiday table linens and dishes also do not have to cost a fortune at all.
But seriously where people screw up every year is they take the time to decorate… And then it’s paper plates and plastic cups! Just say no! Buy yourself a pair of festive dish gloves and towels and do the dishes!
This is what I was referring to recently – a lot of windows are getting broken in the rush to build townhouses. Now I get with restoration they will need new windows but why let all the elements in ?
(East Whiteland Historical Commission, hello? What do you people actually do?)
UPDATE 12/10/2015There is this lady who works for UPS in Fort Worth who is amazing. Her name is Scarlett and she located and retrieved one of my packages – so the one destined for Colorado will actually get there now. BUT the package really destined for Texas dropped off the face of the earth in Horsham. I find that unacceptable.
I will note that I have gotten this far with lost packages because I hunted on the Internet until I was able to find the e-mail addresses of the Chairman and other top executives at UPS. I should not have had to do that, but I did. I put my problems in writing. Those things don’t leave their servers.
UPS does customers a disservice with the off-shore call centers. Those people are useless. And rude.
One down, one to go.
UPDATE:
I am still in UPS hell. Overnight some social media customer service person basically had the so sad too bad attitude. So I looked up the corporate office phone number. Calling UPS is like calling Fort Knox or the White House –you can’t get through to anybody. I ended up in the retirement plans department for employees first. They transferred me to a number that got me nowhere. Then I did a little googling and found the media relations phone number (404-828-7123).
The man who answered the phone did not want to deal with an irate woman. So I was finally able to obtain the corporate customer service phone number in Atlanta Georgia. That number for any of you who are interested is 404-828-3700. After an estimatedI don’t know how long hold time very nice woman named Teri Miller picked up the phone. She transferred me to a woman who is my caseworker with UPS. Several days later I did not know I had a caseworker. I got her voicemail her name is to Tenille Stephens. So I am in my next level of UPS limbo.
Meanwhile the package destined for Colorado that ended up in Texas has been delivered somewhere in Texas. So basically I don’t know where any packages are. I also located a bunch of corporate emails we will see if that does anything.
ORIGINAL POST:
I am in UPS hell as in United Parcel Service hell.
Last week I sent two holiday packages out of the Staples in Exton. One package bound for Colorado and one package bound for Texas.
Both left Staples with UPS I assume properly.
Only for some reason the package bound for Texas went to Horsham PA after West Chester PA and hasn’t been heard from since.
The package destined for Colorado got rerouted to Texas. Yes, Texas. So I called and was told the package would be correctly routed to Colorado.
The package last heard from in Horsham supposed to go to Texas is purportedly being “investigated”. Or that’s what some phone rep in the Philippines told me yesterday. Yes, the Philippines because like other US companies they route the call centers on overflow to the Philippines. And when they go to the Philippines these calls you get people who do not have a complete command of every day American English vernacular. And I can’t seem to deviate from some UPS provided script.
So today when I went to check on the tracking of the package destined for Colorado but taking a tour of Texas I see that it is out for delivery in freaking Texas. So I call UPS and I spend forever on hold and get someone in the Philippines. This person in the Philippines could not understand me and could not deviate from some stupid UPS script and also told me I had no reason to be upset. I hung up on her.
So now I have spent another hour of my life on hold with UPS as they try to straighten out their hot mess. I’m really tired of getting all my US company calls routed to offshore call centers who also tell me things like if a package gets lost I can just go buy something else??? Really???
I spent a total of another two hours on the phone with UPS because it took a while to get someone in a stateside call center. Hopefully they have located one package but the other package is still anyone’s guess.
The moral of the story is don’t ship during the holidays.
I have a big bad case of bah humbug thanks to United Parcel Service.
This morning our Gracie left us. She wasn’t feeling well, so we took her to the vet. While at the vet, her heart just stopped. And just like that, she was gone.
Gracie was one of my step dogs. Part of my blended family. I loved her like she was my own, always.
She was a magnificent Blue Belton English Setter. She was a rescue. She came to us through an English Setter rescue. Her start in life was not easy. She had a cruel first master who dumped her in the mountains a few states away where she gave birth to a litter of puppies. She found some humans she led back to where they all were and she and the puppies were all saved.
She came to my sweet man and stepson as a scared young dog. With love and time she was an awesome girl. The had most of her life with her, but I shared a good part of her life with them. I was really lucky to have known her,
I knew, we knew ,hat our time was borrowed with her. As she aged she started to lose her eye sight and her hearing. She was almost completely blind. And with the hearing being basically gone we learned to communicate with her by thumping the floor or wall – she felt the vibrations I suppose.
In spite of her failing health she still wagged her tail and lived life with her furry siblings.
It was hard watching her decline. She was such a magnificent dog.
This never gets easier. I loved her like I loved all others before her. Each pet I have had the privilege to love and know has been special and unique. Gracie is no exception. She was one of the dogs who saw me through breast cancer. She was an amazing girl.
My heart is heavy yet I know I was lucky to have a few years with her.
To all my readers, in honor of my Gracie please support your favorite rescue during the holiday season. There are so many homeless pets and they deserve love and shelter…and a home. These rescues are busting at the seams, they need adoptions, and donations to support their populations. Do that for Gracie, please.
Rest in Peace sweet Gracie….I bet you are chasing geese again. We loved you beautiful girl.
THE LAST BATTLE
If it should be that I grow frail and weak
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then will you do what must be done,
For this — the last battle — can’t be won.
You will be sad I understand,
But don’t let grief then stay your hand,
For on this day, more than the rest,
Your love and friendship must stand the test.
We have had so many happy years,
You wouldn’t want me to suffer so.
When the time comes, please, let me go.
Take me to where to my needs they’ll tend.
Only, stay with me till the end
And hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see.
I know in time you will agree
It is a kindness you do to me.
Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffering I have been saved.
Don’t grieve that it must be you
Who has to decide this thing to do;
We’ve been so close — we two — these years,
Don’t let your heart hold any tears.
2015 has been quite the year. I have had plenty of moments where I wondered if being me on the Internet was worth it. But then today I received a note.
For example did you know that there is an edition of a paper that was a predecessor (I believe) of the Daily Local called the Village Record.
