A Hat's Brush With Fame

I occasionally post a bunch of things on eBay. Typically it's when my son has gone through stuff and has things to get rid of. I'll add a few things that I'm getting rid of, but he regularly makes more money than I do.  Which is what happens when you collected Star Wars and Harry Potter Legos as a kid.

But I digress.

I listed some stuff, 90% of it my son's. One item was a Boston Red Sox hat, brand new, that was a gift to him that was too big. It hung around his room for a few years and never got worn.

I don't ship internationally because I am lazy don't have time to stand around in post office lines to fill out customs forms and ship. I use USPS Click N Ship from home and just swing through and dump them in the box. No lines for me.

So the buyer of the hat was from Canada, which isn't a big deal, but it means I have to deal with the post office. I cursed out loud under my breath and sent a curt response message telling the buyer that they should check with the seller first, blah, blah, blah and gave her the shipping amount. Yeah, I kind of chewed her out.

Then, after opening my mouth, I inserted my foot. There was a message I hadn't seen. One in which she asked me to ship the hat Fed Ex using their shipping account to a movie set in Vancouver, BC. Sure enough, her email is from the "Set Dec" department of a movie.

So then I was apologizing, and making the effort to send the thing. First I tried to print a mailing slip online - but if you've ever tried to use the Fed Ex website without an account, you'll know that is somewhat worse than beating yourself in the head with a baseball bat.

Then I walked down the street from my office and asked the owner of the little shipping store. Problem is, she had told me to ship International Ground. Apparently, I was the first person in 13 years to ask for International Ground at that store.

So I had to wait until the next morning and go to the Fed Ex store near home. Okay, by this time I was putting a whole lot more effort into this than I ever intended. And I was growing irritated. Once there, I was told it would cost something like $22 on their account. But she had told me it shouldn't cost more than $15. Well, turns out that's what shipping was, but she hadn't accounted for the $7 Customs Entry Fee.

I started to leave, thinking I'd have to email her again, when Hubs put and end to it, telling my to just send the damn package, they were paying, and I was simply doing what I was asked. Done deal. I shipped. I maybe cursed again and stated that it better be a big movie, and I better be able to go to the theater and see that damn hat on the big screen. And maybe they should throw up some credits somewhere after the set caterer's cousin, stating that the hat was originally ours.

Then I went home and looked up the name of the movie. Holy Mother of the Biggest Names In Hollywood. The movie? Is been directed by and starred in by none other than Robert Redford. There are other names, too, like Shia LaBeouf, Stanley Tucci, Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon, Chris Cooper and Julie Christie, to name a few.

I just may have softened my attitude a little. Because after all, my son's hat may get a brush with fame.

I'm just going to pretend I did this amazing man a personal favor.

***Ally

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