Brown Santa

My partner who works for UPS works hard-not like most of us who can troll the internet, catch up on Facebook, or play Candy Saga Crush (a game I have yet to let myself succumb to) from our desk jobs. There’s no coffee “meetings” at Starbuck’s or lunch dates with an old friend for her. She goes in at 9am, and comes home whenever she’s done delivering packages. When she’s not driving, she’s running through town, trying to meet her time quota and rearranging her truck on her lunch break. From 9am to usually 7pm, she’s running nonstop.

I would collapse from exhaustion around stop 2. I’d probably just roll up to a house or office, throw open the doors and honk the horn. If that didn’t get a response I’d chuck the package out the door, hope it landed safely, and forge the receiver’s signature as I sped away.

One day while I was checking Facebook statuses from home (not work, just in case any of my employees are reading) I saw a friends post who said he couldn’t wait for “Brown Santa” to arrive with his package. By that he meant the UPS driver clad in brown that brings him packages. I instantly fell in love with the idea and as soon as Alissa walked in the door I said, “Brown Santa is home!” For most of us who are expecting a package from UPS it’s because we’re eagerly awaiting a present or a coveted item we found on Etsy (I shamelessly plugged my own shop, but this place really is great for finding all sorts of awesome items). Perhaps in the future we can all see our driver as a jolly bearer of gifts rather than some peon that is late in delivering packages. 

Check out this funny video done by UPS driver, Ken Jones from Springdale, Arkansas:

However, some people feel the need to give “Santa” an earful or make outrageous demands, such as, “Walk these ten fifty pound boxes all the way across my chain drugstore, even though there’s a designated drop off post,” or “Wait here while I rearrange my stock room to make room for these fifteen boxes. You’re not in a hurry, right?”  My all time favorite is “I know I ordered this package C.O.D, but I’d like you to sit here and wait for me to open it up and see if I really want what’s inside.”

Do you expect this of the real Santa? Do you stand by the chimney at night and tell the big guy you’d like to open the presents before he floats away on reindeer to see if it’s what you really wanted? I mean that would be nice, but not the Christmas spirit.  Granted the difference is you paid for the items being dropped off by UPS, and the driver is a real person (Well so is Santa but don’t tell anyone I still believe).  Shouldn’t this be even more reason to treat the drivers with kindness?

So the next time you see that UPS driver running by, give them a smile. If your package doesn’t arrive on the day that you expected, remember that they have no control of the weather in Atlanta or that accident on I-5. Instead of waiting to pay for the C.O.D or asking what’s in the package (Do you expect them to have x-ray vision?) just pay up, sign the board and say thank you. The longer you take, the longer my family has to wait for our Brown Santa to come home, delivering love and hugs, or in my case, dinner!

This customer was so excited for this final part they were waiting on that they took a picture of their UPS driver. Don't forget, drivers love to be remembered around the Holiday's. Last year "we" got the best homemade cookies I've ever tasted. Lucky for me, Alissa doesn't like Oatmeal in her chocolate chip cookies.