Don't Help the Neighbors

My mom has new neighbors and they are only there during the summer.  They asked my mom to sign for a package, a replacement part for their couch, and my mom agreed.  This seems a little forward to me as they're new neighbors but my parents have always been over-involved in the neighbors since they've retired.

Well, my mom didn't catch the mailman so there was a slip left to sign for the package.  I tried to walk through what the slip said to attempt to determine if they're going to redeliver or what. This is after trying to figure out if it was USPS, FedEx, or UPS.  Or the stork.

This was such an exercise in frustration.  This is where I say that she's almost eighty and living on her own. And also where I'm going to hell for the gestures and eye-rolls that I made during this conversation.

It's a repair part for a couch they were having issues with and we're assuming it's a warranty thing. They are living in Yemen over the winter so this seems it was a time sensitive thing and why they asked her to sign for it.  My mom is unsure when they are returning so we don't know if they're gone until next summer or what.  So, we also don't know what the timing is for this to be resolved.

To up the difficulty level: my mom doesn't know their last name nor have a telephone number for them.  I KNOW.  But this tells me that someone must be returning  sooner rather than later.

I suggested to just sign the thing, leave it in the mailbox, and see what happens.  This is where my mom broke out the martyr hat that I get to "enjoy" every once in a while.  "SURELY, this is a LEGAL DOCUMENT" she says.  (imagine me with an imaginary gun in my mouth at this moment)

I suggested that she could go to the post office and explain what happened.  She then worried that she would get accused for mail fraud/theft.  (again: imaginary gun to my head)  I reassured her that it seemed unlikely.

We decided to just wait and see what happens.  They really didn't leave her any choice or enough information to do this favor.  She was worried that she will have failed their request; when in fact they failed her.

This just confirms the "no good deed shall go unpunished" theory.