My grandparents, who are from Central America, made the trip to Miami to visit me and my wife for the baptism of our new born son. The day after the baptism, my wife, daughter, new born son and I left for Pennsylvania where I was to begin my internship. We left without our son's birth certificate because it had not arrived yet. I figured that my parents (who live in Miami) could send it to me when it arrived. A few days later, my parents called to tell me that my grandmother had suffered a stroke, caused by a brain tumor in her brain, which had grown dramatically in a matter of days. Doctors gave her less than 10 days.
She was hospitalized immediately, but there was not much they could do for her. The family made the decision to take her to Nicaragua, her home. I immediately asked my parents to send me the birth certificate in the mail, so that I could expedite my son's passport, and all of us could travel to Nicaragua for my grandmother's last days.
My brother used FedEx, priority service. It was supposed to be overnight delivery, and I was supposed to receive it on June 2, at 10:45am. We didn't even receive a phone call from FedEx. It simply didn't arrive. I had to reschedule an appointment with the State Department, I had to change airplane tickets, and in all of this, FedEx COULD NOT TELL ME WHERE MY SON'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE WAS! It was simply lost in Memphis somewhere.
The greatest part of all is when I was talking to a representative, and she said "I think it will probably be arriving tomorrow, because it was probably mistaken as 2 day delivery. It happens all the time."
I could not believe what I was hearing! The service rep actually said that it happens all the time! And she couldn't even tell me where my package was. All she could do is guess on when it would arrive, based on the poor service she had witnessed repeatedly in the past.
In the mean time, I don't know if I will make it in time to see my grandmother one last time.
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