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Agreed. Do the favor, but they need to make the call so you can just pick it up and you can deliver it at your convenience, since it is not an emergency for them to have it.
I’m in this camp. How long does it take to find the number for the Amtrak station to call to say that someone else is going to pick up the luggage because the owner doesn’t have a car. I know if luggage is lost at the airport, they often deliver it to your destination, so maybe if they call back and say that don’t have a way to pick it up, they can arrange to have it delivered. It is certainly worth a maximum of 15 minutes of effort to avoid making someone spend 4 hours on a weekend that might not even be necessary.
I have had a friend since 1978 who works in Washington. He is about 60, and he has a mother and older sister who don't drive. They live in the New York area, as do I. My friend's sister and mother were traveling to Washington last weekend and left their luggage and New Rochelle's Amtrak station. Tonight my friend's sister received a call to the effect that the luggage was at the security office at the station in New Rochelle, about a 30 minute drive.
He asked me "certainly no emergency, can you pick the luggage up in New Rochelle. I told my friend to call the office in New Rochelle and fax or email them permission for me to pick up the luggage. He said his sister hadn't gotten the number, and would I pick up her sister and drive her to New Rochelle, and back home. I said "I just don't have four hours to spare" this weekend.
Is he asking too much?
Since his sister doesn’t have a car, why can’t she do whatever she usually does to get around without having a car? The only reason why I sort of feel bad for her is because she’s over 60, otherwise I’d be like cab/Uber/Lyft.
Yes.He's asking too much.Have the sister get the ph# and fax# to that place so she can tell them to give you permission to pick up the luggage, take it to your place so that the sister can pick up her luggage.Problem solved.Let HER drive how many hours to your place to pick up HER luggage..when she can of course.
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It does seem like he's asking a lot, when this could be simplified.
If you were to go to the train station alone (with an understanding you'd be allowed to retrieve the bag) and deliver it to the sister in New Rochelle, how much time would that take?
Does the sister have dementia, or is she difficult to deal with for some reason? The number that called her should be on her phone, even if it's a landline. Why is she so incapable of figuring out who called her from the train station, and then calling to work this out in a simplified way?
That's not so easy. My beef is that he and his sister aren't willing to invest the energy to look at her cell phone to get the number for the place. I would pick it up and drive it to their place; no problem. I just won't spend four hours on a fools errand.
Why is it not so easy for them to get to the train station? How did they get to and from the train station last weekend when they traveled to DC?
I would say that your schedule is erratic and you can't commit to a time that you will drop by the train station but you should be able to work it in within a week, so they will need to call the station and make sure you have advance authorization to pick up the luggage.
It does seem like he's asking a lot, when this could be simplified.
If you were to go to the train station alone (with an understanding you'd be allowed to retrieve the bag) and deliver it to the sister in New Rochelle, how much time would that take?
I will likely go there and see what happen. One attempt.
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Originally Posted by jbgusa
I will likely go there and see what happen. One attempt.
I think that's your best bet. As a favor I decided to try to call them and get the answer for you, but it was as impossible as calling a movie theater and hoping to get a human to answer a question.
I think I'd say something like she's not well enough to travel. Something like that.
This is very strange. How do you accidentally forget your luggage in a train station? Do both of them have dementia?
Do they live near the train station? How did they get there in the first place? Can't they just call an Uber or Lyfft to drive them? Can't the friend arrange an Uber or Lyfft to drive them?
I have had a friend since 1978 who works in Washington. He is about 60, and he has a mother and older sister who don't drive. They live in the New York area, as do I. My friend's sister and mother were traveling to Washington last weekend and left their luggage and New Rochelle's Amtrak station. Tonight my friend's sister received a call to the effect that the luggage was at the security office at the station in New Rochelle, about a 30 minute drive.
He asked me "certainly no emergency, can you pick the luggage up in New Rochelle. I told my friend to call the office in New Rochelle and fax or email them permission for me to pick up the luggage. He said his sister hadn't gotten the number, and would I pick up her sister and drive her to New Rochelle, and back home. I said "I just don't have four hours to spare" this weekend.
Is he asking too much?
Yes. You're supposed to drive four hours, but the sister can't pick up the phone?
I have had a friend since 1978 who works in Washington. He is about 60, and he has a mother and older sister who don't drive. They live in the New York area, as do I. My friend's sister and mother were traveling to Washington last weekend and left their luggage and New Rochelle's Amtrak station. Tonight my friend's sister received a call to the effect that the luggage was at the security office at the station in New Rochelle, about a 30 minute drive.
He asked me "certainly no emergency, can you pick the luggage up in New Rochelle. I told my friend to call the office in New Rochelle and fax or email them permission for me to pick up the luggage. He said his sister hadn't gotten the number, and would I pick up her sister and drive her to New Rochelle, and back home. I said "I just don't have four hours to spare" this weekend.
Is he asking too much?
Wow. I could see picking up the items from the station, if it weren't too far away, but making a round trip to pick up the sister, then drop her back off? And she can't be bothered to look up the number of the station's customer service, or information desk? What??
I have a friend like that, though; she's brilliant in her field of work, but for some reason, she has a weird phobia or inability to cope with schedules, always has. I told her once, on a trip out to the NYC area, I could take a bus to the nearest station to her town. She asked me how would she know the arrival schedule? Um...call them? (I mean, we're talking Greyhound...)
So I don't know if the sister's apparent helplessness relating to locating the phone number of the station is the result of her just being a jerk, or if it's some kind of strange difficulty she has with logistical kinds of things. lol. People are weird.
Anyway, asking someone to do a favor that entails hours out of their day is too big a favor. What's a reasonable limit to such a favor? Oh, IDK...maybe 1 hr.? That's assuming you have the cooperation of the person who needs the favor (in this case--the sister).
Jeez. Anyway, you did the right thing, IMO, in view of the fact that the sister was unwilling (or unable? lol ) to arrange authorization for you to pick up the item. I suppose that if you'd arrived at the station and given the security desk her name, that might have worked, anyway? Because how would a scammer have known her name? But still....
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Um...call them? (I mean, we're talking Greyhound...)
Anyway, you did the right thing, IMO, in view of the fact that the sister was unwilling (or unable? lol ) to arrange authorization for you to pick up the item. I suppose that if you'd arrived at the station and given the security desk her name, that might have worked, anyway? Because how would a scammer have known her name? But still....
