# I am NEVER ordering anything by FedEx again **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 31, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253 "2015-05-31T14:11:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/61 "2015-06-01T05:12:28Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > But it’s not making fun of racial differences. It’s making fun of cultural/ethnic/social differences. And if we had a word like “ethnicist” in common usage you’d have a point. But we don’t, and “racist” serves us just fine for people who make fun of ethnic differences too. “No Irish allowed” was racist, just like “No Blacks allowed”. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/62 "2015-06-01T05:35:55Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > But it’s not making fun of racial differences. It’s making fun of cultural/ethnic/social differences. It’s not saying, “Those dark-skinned fools…” > > … > The joke may have been offensive, but it wasn’t exactly racist. What the fuck? Of course it’s racist. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/63 "2015-06-01T05:56:19Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Ooh, more. I feel like Jamie Lee Curtis in A Fish Called Wanda. I tried to watch that movie, but it just sounded like “Smirnoff khrushchev bolshoi dos vedanya tovarich” to me. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/64 "2015-06-01T07:32:48Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I can’t believe that the English fluency is better in the Philippines than in India. It’s probably just cheaper labor rates. In any event, I have had both good and bad experiences from tech support in both places. Well, there is a concerted effort to try and teach an American accent, to the point that some people who want to learn American English but can’t go to America will go to the Philippines. So while India is more fluent, it’s the Indian variety of English, which is not necessarily well understood. That said, I’ve always found that the Indian tech support is more knowledgeable than American tech support. It seems that the Indian tech support actually has technological know-how. I guess that’s not all that relevant to something like FedEx, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/65 "2015-06-01T09:51:16Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > If they HAD left me a notice, wouldn’t I have been trying to visit them that next day to pick up the package? And would not have been able to do so because you claim that you had it in your truck trying to redeliver it to me while I’m here trying to pick it up? I used to work for Purolator courier about 15 years ago. At the time it was policy to attempt delivery twice. The first time would leave a doorknocker letting the recipient know that we would try again the next day. If they wanted to pick up they would need to call to request that service. That part of the story rings true to me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Angry\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@The\_Angry\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Angry_Badger)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/66 "2015-06-01T10:27:42Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Either way, this is why I have all my deliveries sent to work. There’s always someone there if something needs to get signed for, nothing is ever sitting out in the freezing cold or rain, packages are never delayed for a day because the driver didn’t feel like walking up to the house (they don’t pull that stunt on businesses) etc. Even business deliveries aren’t a sure bet. I get all my packages delivered to work and every now and again they go astray - sometimes claiming there is nobody there (possible, I guess, but really unlikely). In my last job, I had three packages not delivered because ‘nobody was in’. Yeah. I worked in a hotel at the time. We had a huge reception area that you literally couldn’t miss, and there was ALWAYS somebody in. They could have delivered at 2AM on Christmas Eve and there would have been someone to take it. :rolleyes: I tend to find that the uselessness (or not) of courier companies comes down to the actual drivers as much as the company itself. Where I work, the UPS driver is brilliant and I’ve never ever had a problem in almost 7 years. UPS at home? Forget it. I’ve never had a single delivery from them arrive correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/67 "2015-06-01T11:16:12Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > What the fuck? Of course it’s racist. :dubious: I don’t think poking fun at an accent is necessarily racist at all. I live in the south and have a NY accent which people sometimes joke about, and obviously I make fun of their southern drawls. I also went to business school with a bunch of Indian people and there were some hilarious miscommunications at times. When you put people in a situation where they can’t understand each other, it can be funny. If you make it mean spirited and include a bunch of stereotypes in there, sure, that can be incredibly racist, but so can anything else - a racist can make anything sound racist, and often do. But joking around about accents can be good clean fun, too. I also think that most people who get pissed off at a customer service rep’s accent aren’t mad at the person for having an accent, they’re mad at the company for hiring a person who isn’t qualified to do that particular job. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/68 "2015-06-01T11:42:38Z")
I’m wondering if the OP perhaps heard what he or she expected to hear, regardless of what the person on the other end was actually saying. Or maybe the call center he called was [this outfit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g0XMx1sFEA&spfreload=10). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/69 "2015-06-01T12:01:34Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > I don’t think poking fun at an accent is necessarily racist at all. I live in the south and have a NY accent which people sometimes joke about, and obviously I make fun of their southern drawls. I also went to business school with a bunch of Indian people and there were some hilarious miscommunications at times. When you put people in a situation where they can’t understand each other, it can be funny. > > If you make it mean spirited and include a bunch of stereotypes in there, sure, that can be incredibly racist, but so can anything else - a racist can make anything sound racist, and often do. But joking around about accents can be good clean fun, too. The OP said “Apu wallah wallah bing bang many arms elephant”. He could have said “I couldn’t understand him through his thick Indian accent” instead of pretending to imitate it. Even so, I’m quite sure nothing the operator said sounding anything like the name Apu or ‘many arms elephant’. Both of those of those are mean spirited and include sterotypes and making fun of Ganesha is anything but good clean fun. The fact that he picked those things to include in his ‘this is what the guy sounded like’ ramble, is racist. And I see his other sentence was “Hookah wallah bimbim sallah bim, duwali couscous nahasapeemapetilon”. So basically it wasn’t ‘this is what the guy sounded like’ it was ‘these are things I associate with Indian culture’ And you had to go out of your way to look up Apu’s last name. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/70 "2015-06-01T12:10:19Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > … making fun of Ganesha is anything but good clean fun. :dubious: Why? Is he just gonna get more wrath? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/71 "2015-06-01T12:17:28Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Both of those of those are mean spirited and include sterotypes and making fun of Ganesha is anything but good clean fun. Totally agree. I was just trying to distinguish the general from the specific, as it seemed some posters were implying that making fun of accents is inherently racist, which I disagree with. eta: seemed might be too strong here - I really wasn’t sure. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/72 "2015-06-01T12:18:43Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > As others pointed out, the OP is a racist asshole. He’s also stupid, in that he didn’t “order something by Fedex.” He ordered something from a company that chose to use Fedex for delivery. Huh, in spite of the heavily accented post I immediately realized he was ordering something _sent_ by FedEx. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/73 "2015-06-01T12:24:17Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > I was just trying to distinguish the general from the specific, as it seemed some posters were implying that making fun of accents is inherently racist, which I disagree with. I don’t think anyone’s saying that, especially not the poster you directly quoted. It’s _the way_ he made fun of the accent that’s racist. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/74 "2015-06-01T12:46:17Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I don’t think anyone’s saying that, especially not the poster you directly quoted. > > It’s _the way_ he made fun of the accent that’s racist. tbh, I was more referring to your post in 61 - like I said, I wasn’t sure if it was being implied, so I just threw out my opinion. I thought the OP’s remarks were clearly enough on the other side of the line that they didn’t really warrant much discussion. eta: the reason I quoted the person I did was because since it was a few replies in, I felt like the ‘it’ kind of got lost - was ‘it’ the specific situation in the OP or was ‘it’ joking about accents in general. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/75 "2015-06-01T13:15:07Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > tbh, I was more referring to your post in 61 - like I said, I wasn’t sure if it was being implied, so I just threw out my opinion. Fair enough - I thought I was clear on what I was calling out (saying he was making fun of an ethnicity not a race is a non-starter). I _agree_ there’s nothing inherently racist about making fun of an accent (I do it about Sahf Effrikuhn all the time). But, of course, bearing in mind there’s making fun, and then there’s punching down… And separately, I just want to comment again on how the OP isn’t just a racist, but a pig-ignorant racist, his choice of words for his gobbledygook managing to conflate Indians, North Africans and Arabs. But that’s OK, all brown folk are interchangeable, right, **Knowed Out**? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/76 "2015-06-01T13:20:25Z")
I got no quibble with the dibble. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/77 "2015-06-01T14:43:56Z")
Because it’s the Pit: {{{Darth Panda}}} 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/78 "2015-06-01T15:45:31Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > You’re too kind. I was so focused on the stupidity of not realizing how FedEx works that I totally missed the racism. Same here. OP gave impression that he/she needs to held by the hand and led through life, or is 85 years old, or both. Calling a center of _any_ company has sucked for at least the last decade. Good thing OP ordered a smart phone because next time he/she can just access internet and retrieve tracking number from conformation email without having to call someone in another country. ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/79 "2015-06-01T18:10:37Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I do think fedex has stricter rules about when a signature is required, though. Like, you have to explicitly request a drop off from fedex, where you’d have to explicitly request a sig from UPS or USPS for some values packages. This isn’t so. I ship FedEx all the time for work, and a delivery signature is an option that you have to request. Now back to the fun of mocking the OP… ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253/80 "2015-06-01T21:14:43Z")
Both FedEx and UPS donate heavily to the GOP, and they have backed GOP attempts to gut the USPS. So there’s a reason not to want UPS or Fedex. And there’s no reason at all why the Clerk at the Fedex place couldnt help him, that just fucking poor customer service. I dont want to “sign for my packages” (like many of us, I work for a living- so am not home during delivery hours) , and so USPS is the best. Fedex and UPS seems to want to deliver notices not packages. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-never-ordering-anything-by-fedex-again/721253.md?page=5)