Generalized Frustration

[UPDATED]
Well, actually, not so generalized. We're dealing with bank screwups here at Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk headquarters, and we've been forced to juggle finances to keep everything running smoothly. We were looking to transfer some funds earlier today, and our bank representative (who was actually being quite helpful, so I don't mean to criticize him unduly) told us that he couldn't guarantee we could do it in less than a couple of days. Global economy? What's that? We finally figured out that we could go around a 24-hour-plus bank-to-bank wire transfer by sending cash through Western Union (although even the Western Union attendant said that he could guarantee that the money would arrive at the bank today, but he had no power as to how quickly the bank would process it). And sure enough, the money was where he said it would be. Forget these twenty-first century firms with all their fancy "technology," we got what we needed from the company that ran the Pony Express out of business.

That helped solve one of our problems, but we've still got to work our way through other problems with the bank. We've been looking for a document, and various people at the bank have told us that it's being sent to us, that it's being processed, and that they're not sure where it is or what's being done with it. Finally, about 2:00 this afternoon, the helpful bank clerk I mentioned above was able to get a tracking number from UPS. I've been checking that number, and until just a few minutes ago, it said that our package was on schedule to be delivered on time on December 3 (and yes, that time stamp below is accurate). While I've been writing, it's gone past 11:00, or midnight EST. The tracking page on the Web says that the package is still on its way to us, but apparently they've given up on claiming it will arrive on December 3 (technically, though, it's still before midnight in Chicago, so I'm still willing to accept it as a Wednesday delivery for another few minutes). What can brown do for me? Not much, apparently. Right now, I'm signing off to go call UPS again to talk to a real person.

UPDATE--So apparently, after promising me that the driver of the truck with our package could not finish the day without attempting to deliver every package on the truck, UPS sent the driver back to the warehouse without having made any attempt to deliver it whatsoever. I ask again, what can brown so for me? Absolutely nothing.