# Weird, failed attempt at hurting me **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 29, 2015, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914 "2015-11-29T08:57:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914/21 "2015-11-30T05:53:04Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Years ago, I worked with a divorce attorney. > > Every case - **every one** - had at least one example of one person going to bizarre lengths to screw with one of the parties for minimal benefit, to anyone. (Getting a car towed was so popular I can mention it without any risk of breaking confidentiality.) > > So, **Mangetout** , I have no trouble believing someone maliciously tried to cancel your order, and can reassure you, it’s not you, it’s them. That would basically imply that it was his wife trying to screw with him, though. Unless your divorce cases were based on this person going to great lengths being a totally uninvested third party with no connection to either of them other than an intense desire to cause their divorce. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914/22 "2015-11-30T06:35:30Z")
The USPS has, on three occasions, delivered to me things not intended for me. Two of the cases involved people getting a name match in a phone book and sending stuff to the wrong “First Name Last Name”. You are observing a birthday for someone and you don’t know what city he is in. I’m guessing these birthday things were intended for a person who did purchasing for a huge MegaCorp in the area. The third was the USPS clerk handing me a box addressed to an entirely different name and address. He placed the box on the counter face down. None of these cases required the presence of a malicious third party. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914/23 "2015-11-30T07:13:22Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > That would basically imply that it was his wife trying to screw with him, though. Unless your divorce cases were based on this person going to great lengths being a totally uninvested third party with no connection to either of them other than an intense desire to cause their divorce. I think there’s also a logical fallacy built into that one; i.e. divorces involve malice, therefore malice implies divorce. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914/24 "2015-11-30T07:14:39Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > The USPS has, on three occasions, delivered to me things not intended for me. > > Two of the cases involved people getting a name match in a phone book and sending stuff to the wrong “First Name Last Name”. You are observing a birthday for someone and you don’t know what city he is in. I’m guessing these birthday things were intended for a person who did purchasing for a huge MegaCorp in the area. > > The third was the USPS clerk handing me a box addressed to an entirely different name and address. > He placed the box on the counter face down. > > None of these cases required the presence of a malicious third party. The other thing these cases have in common is that they do not particularly resemble what happened to me. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914/25 "2015-11-30T11:01:39Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > That would basically imply that it was his wife trying to screw with him, though. Unless your divorce cases were based on this person going to great lengths being a totally uninvested third party with no connection to either of them other than an intense desire to cause their divorce. No, I did not say it was always the spouse, and there are obvious options to a “third party with no connection”, aren’t there? Parents, siblings, best friends, and lovers can be dragged into, or willingly entangle themselves in, divorces. My point is that logical arguments against the likelihood of malice aren’t really valid, because malice often isn’t logical. I only brought up divorce because that is the context I saw this in most often. I’ve also seen the behavior in corporate offices, condo associations, heard about on church boards quite a lot … Divorce is just one context. > [@Mangetout](#): > > I think there’s also a logical fallacy built into that one; i.e. divorces involve malice, therefore malice implies divorce. Oh, no, malice just implies family. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914/26 "2015-11-30T14:59:19Z")
Hey mods, **Mangetout** emailed me and said he wants this thread closed. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914/27 "2015-11-30T15:44:30Z")
I accept that in cases like divorce or neighbour dispute, people can do nasty things. I agree that sometimes shop staff make mistakes. I think that just trying to cancel an order, where there is little inconvenience involved, is almost certainly just a mistake. **Mangetout** , if you do have an enemy, they seem pretty incompetent! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914/28 "2015-11-30T17:50:06Z")
> [@glee](#): > > **Mangetout** , if you do have an enemy, they seem pretty incompetent! That is actually strikingly consistent with the character of the only likely candidate we know of. 😃 But I agree now, there are more likely explanations than the one I first imagined. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914/29 "2015-11-30T17:51:11Z")
> [@smeghead](#): > > hey mods, **mangetout** emailed me and said he wants this thread closed. iswydt. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914/30 "2015-11-30T23:42:18Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I paid the full amount (necessary because my ring needs to be made to order to fit my sausagey finger) - but I paid by card, so it would not be refundable to anyone else - although that might not stop somebody trying. Speaking of sausagey fingers and rings and things that could hurt my feelings, I bought a ring I had fallen in love with once and assumed it would be ordered. I was a size ten and this didn’t cost any more than the others, and again, I didn’t expect them to have it in stock. Why then did the woman have to tell me at least three times that such a large size would have to be ordered, with a tone of voice that implied gargantuan beings like me never buy this ring? Yes, I know I am a big person – I can still buy myself a ring if I want! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914/31 "2015-12-01T00:20:00Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Speaking of sausagey fingers and rings and things that could hurt my feelings, I bought a ring I had fallen in love with once and assumed it would be ordered. I was a size ten and this didn’t cost any more than the others, and again, I didn’t expect them to have it in stock. Why then did the woman have to tell me at least three times that such a large size would have to be ordered, with a tone of voice that implied gargantuan beings like me never buy this ring? Yes, I know I am a big person – I can still buy myself a ring if I want! [Still a classic!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSL4cmFW_GU) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914/32 "2015-12-01T17:26:51Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [Still a classic!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSL4cmFW_GU) 😛 They’re not THAT big!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-failed-attempt-at-hurting-me/738914.md?page=1)