Why are the simple (work) things not simple at all?

It's absurd.

Send a signed document to NYC, that's all I have to do.

But it's been over a year since I've had to courier anything and hey, guess what? UPS CampusShip tells me I don't exist anymore. Doesn't recognize my login ID (or password), doesn't even recognize my email address, the one they sent info to back in 2011. (I haven't couriered anything since March 2013.)

Call #1 to the administrator at our Procurement department.

Then a check on the Procurement site indicates that for international shipping I have to use FedEx.

I (our department) don't have a FedEx account.

Call #2 to the administrator at our Procurement department.

So I wait.

Then I think, well, I'll go to the FedEx site and take a look anyway and I discover you can do a quick send using a credit card. Great! We have an department credit card, I'll use that.

But hang on, I need a phone number for the person who'll be receiving the package and I don't have that. I have her mailing address (provided by the person we're dealing with at this company), but not a phone number or even email address.

So I email this person.

And wait.

And get the brilliant idea to go to the company's web site, and after much hunting, find a general office number at the particular location I'm sending to (they have a zillion branches world-wide).

Okay!

So I continue with the FedEx shipment, address my shipment, click "show rates" and discover that without an account, next-day service would cost about $172 CAN. Um, it's not worth that. Three days for about $17; I choose that (probably the same time as snail mail).

Then I schedule a pick up at our office...only to be told that ground pick up is not available without an account, and that if I click "continue" I will remove the option to pay by credit card.

::Headdesk::

I'm not upset; I'm laughing because it's so absurd. Just another typical office day, right?