Tricking the System

I live in a part of Brooklyn where it is relatively safe for packages to be left when nobody is home, especially if they take a minute to leave them in a less visible spot. Despite this, I came home the other day to a missed package slip. I didn’t give it much thought other than being a little annoyed because we were running out of those cat probiotics. I expected it to be redelivered, so I waited a few days. Then, frustrated, I looked up the tracking number and discovered they had left the package at Staples, about ten blocks away. Today, when I showed up at Staples, the jovial middle-aged man at the counter found the package pretty easily, but when he tried to scan it he ran into trouble. He called over a younger co-worker who gave him a tablet to try it on instead of the handheld scanner. He tried again, and it informed him that the package did not exist. He was stumped. “Do they give you a tech support number for this?” I asked, thinking that maybe he could call someone. “They didn’t give us anything, they just dumped this on us because corporate figured they could make money.” “It’s probably partly because Trump wants to privatize the postal system” I said. He rolled his eyes “another of his 'good ideas'" he replied. “I didn’t expect to still be getting arrested protesting at almost 50,” I said. Just then inspiration struck him. “I’m going to try to add it to the system like it's new,” he said, tapping at the screen. “Now I can enter it as picked up” he said handing me the box while he tapped some more. “Good job tricking the system" I said.” He smiled. “Sometimes that’s what you have to do.”