Where Was That Again?

We have lived here almost 4 months. We have received one piece of mail not counting the water and electricity bills that get slipped under the door. I thought we would receive our second delivery a week or so ago.

My American Express card was set to expire in October. Anticipating a delay in receiving the replacement, I called Amex and asked to have the new card shipped to our house in Costa Rica. They willingly accommodated my request, paying close attention to the strange foreign address. A few days after the expected delivery date, I called Amex again because I had not received it. They confirmed the address and gave me the name of the person who signed for it.

Nancy wandered up to the condo office and guard house to inquire if anyone recognized the name of the signer. Through her vastly improved Spanish, she learned that they did not recognize the name. And that they would have called. Or that they would call. Or that they called. Or that we should call American Express. And that it was their pleasure to serve us.

Being ever paranoid about stolen credit cards (well, since April 17, 2005 anyway) I called Amex yet again to cancel the card and request another replacement. This time I gave them the address of our plant in Alejuela (we have a plant in Heredia too). I had considered work delivery previously, but figured that it was more likely to get lost amongst the 2000 people at the plant rather than in the neighborhood where everybody knows our name. OK, just one of the guards knows our name, but he is here all day every day and very friendly.

So, again I gave Amex careful instruction, which they dutifully read back and gave me the expected delivery date, September 22. On the 21st, the lone administrative assistant at the plant stopped by my office to drop something off. At the end of our conversation, I mentioned that I was expecting a package – and before I could say “tomorrow” she said “oh, someone in HR was just asking what to do with a package – let me go check.” Shortly thereafter she brought it to my office, and sure enough, it was the Amex card. The first one. With most of our home address listed. Yet here it was a work.

What I had failed to anticipate was that because the card was for business, “Boston Scientific” was written above “James Mark Broge” and the rest of the address. Rather than bothering with the written address, DHL knew where BSC was, so they delivered it to the plant. Furthermore, the plant receiving office did not know who “James Mark” was. They know me as Jim Broge, and did not realize that Jim was short for James or that Mark was my middle name rather my father’s last name. They ignored what they thought was my mother’s last name. Thus, the package ended up in HR.

I received the replacement replacement the next day.