Computer Savvy

Oh, to be 8-years-old today and understand the instructions issued by the United States Postal Service via the Internet.

I know if I had grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews or even nearby neighbors who were in the age range of 6 to 10 years, I would not be so bumfuzzled,. Or is it dumbfuzzled?

I received a message via text, which is a challenge to open, telling me a package is waiting in a warehouse somewhere for me but can’t be delivered because the USPS doesn’t have the correct address.

You see, I’m attempting to have something shipped in my name to my step-daughter’s address in the U.S. since I will be there in a few weeks. In the mailing instructions I gave them my billing address with a note to send the merchandise to her street address, but apparently the street address didn’t work.

Then I received a terse, well maybe just a short, message suggesting I type in the letter Y, and exit the text message, immediately open the text message again and follow instructions. And this is when things went downhill.

I’ve always thought I was of average intelligence. After all, I got through grade school understanding, most of the time, what my teachers wrote on the blackboard, if I could read their writing.

Anyway, by the time I got back to the text message and clicked on the link suggested in the instructions, I was led to a confusing, if not downright irritating chaos of pages.

I was able to change the street address to a box number with the announcement the new address was acceptable, but nothing gave me any indication if my warehoused merchandise would be sent to the new address.

Confused, as I am lots of the time, I tried the ‘contact us’ button, and was assured I would hear back before 2026, that is the year, not the time.

I sit here wondering if perhaps the 8-year-old me would believe a message coming from the email address michaelg4mw@ shakebom.monster might be a scam. Really?

If so, I would have saved an hour of time trying to follow made-up directions from ‘michaelg4mw.’ What is shakebom. monster anyway, the new email address of the US Postal Service?