What A Great Country -- Nothing About The Bakken -- An Amazon Vignette -- February 22, 2017

This has nothing to do with the Bakken. It's just an excuse to do something while listening to some great music.

Reason To Believe, Rod Stewart
What a great country.

Early this morning, about 8:30 a.m. my wife mentioned that she really liked one of the sauce pans she "earned" in some grocery story promotion and wished she had had enough "coupons" to get the larger saucepan.

On a lark, as they say, I went to Amazon, and ordered the complete pots and pans set. At checkout, Amazon.com said that "if I wanted I could have same day shipment" because I am a Prime Amazon member. I was curious if they could do it, so at 8:45 a.m. or thereabouts, I clicked on "free same day shipment."

Within an hour or two, I was told that the pots and pans had shipped and "guaranteed delivery" by 9:00 p.m. same day.

At 7:00 p.m. the order had not arrived.

We live in a gated community. That means the gate is closed and locked at 6:30 p.m. daily. I knew that if the courier -- Lone Star Shipping -- actually showed up after 6:30 p.m. the driver would not be able to access the gate and would simply state "tried to deliver" and then drive off, with delivery some time tomorrow.

I was curious if Lone Star would actually show up.

So, at 7:00 p.m. I sat on the curb outside the gate and waited. And waited. And waited.

I had my computer to keep me occupied so I didn't mind waiting. But by 8:30 p.m. I was pretty much ready to pack it in.

But with only 30 minutes to go, I thought I would hang out until the deadline, the guaranteed time that the product would be delivered.

At 8:50 p.m., under pitch black conditions, a small minivan with LSO (Lone Star) pulled up to the curb. A man -- somewhat confused -- got out when I approached the driver's side. I was thrilled. It was obvious it was the Amazon order, arriving ten minutes before the guaranteed time. Just like Cinderella and midnight, I guess.

It was interesting though how thorough the courier was verifying that I was truly the individual for whom the package was intended. I even described what I was waiting for ... and he exclaimed, "yes, the pots and pans." And then he asked to see my driver's license again (for the third time).

I asked him his name. Ola. It sounded Turkish. But he clearly was not Turkish. I asked him his nationality. Nigerian.

Wow, what a great guy. What a great experience.

I gave him a huge tip. Enough to pay for gas for a week.

What a great country.