UPS fail

This morning I walked around downtown Austin. Austin boasts many parks and greenways. Although it was going to be a warm day (high was 80!), the morning was shrouded in fog. It made for interesting shooting conditions.

I have decided cameras are like dogs in the sense that two people carrying them are immediately drawn to one another. I met Brandon, a fellow photographer at one of the parks. We had the usual technical conversation about cameras and then he gave me some additional suggestions for places to shoot. Unfortunately, I was not able to take advantage of his suggestions - see below.

I returned to my room after my morning jaunt to find that there was a problem with the UPS delivery of the package with my computer and other electronics. Although I had a signed receipt from the UPS driver who picked up the package from the Aloft Hotel in El Paso, and it said that it had been scanned, apparently it was not. Hence the start of a UPS disaster which has still not been rectified. I made many calls to UPS over the afternoon. This turns out to be even more of an exercise in frustration than ever before. Their customer service line is set up to make sure you are never connected with a human. It literally cuts you off if keep requesting a representative or continually press 0. It turns out that you need to call the tech support line and choose option 5, “something else.” That number is 1 877 289-6418. Please feel free to disseminate using any social media you might have. At one point a first level customer representative assured me that the system simply had not updated and I could expect my package by 7 PM. Leaving aside the fact that I had paid for overnight air, that sounded like good news.

I happily went off to visit Still Austin, having learned of it from Colin the previous evening. I was able to join the hour-long tour, which was very educational. Still Austin is committed to making Bourbon (and Gin!) with local ingredients. They are very much a boutique operation. Among other things, they worked with local universities to develop strains of corn, rye and barley that would grow well in local conditions. Then, they use only RO water so as to have the terroir reflect only the grains. Apparently this is different than, for example, Scotland or Kentucky, where they use the local water, which contributes to the character of the whiskey. Still Austin also boasts the tallest still in existence. I can’t remember the exact height, but it requires a series of ladders and platforms to reach the top, which also has more valves than any other still. This allow further refinement of what fractions are extracted from the still and put in the white oak kegs for aging. We tasted several different Bourbons, as well as the one Gin they produce. The gin is distilled rye alcohol to which juniper and botanicals are added. Their products are definitely high quality as well as reasonably priced. I picked up a couple of bottles to use as house guest gifts during my journey.

I returned to my room at the end of the afternoon to find that the UPS customer service representative had literally lied to me. The tracking still showed only “label created” and no scans. It was fortunate that (on the advice of a representative I spoke to while creating the label) I insisted that the driver who picked up the package sign a receipt. Otherwise I would not have had any proof that it was in the hands of UPS. Realizing that I was losing objectivity and not thinking clearly, I contacted K to talk through my options. I have Apple trackers in several of my bags but, stupidly, not in that one. However I had not thought of simply checking to see if I could use “find my” on one of the devices. I’m not exactly sure how, as I usually turn off the wifi for travel, but the iPad was detected - at the El Paso airport near the UPS facility. More calls to UPS, and fights to be transferred to a supervisor. With the receipt and this new information about the actual location of the package, they promised to send someone in to find the package in the morning.

Stay tuned.