The feeling of waiting for a package can be as exciting and anxiety-inducing as the anticipation on Christmas Eve.
But one Dublin, California, man’s mail delivery stirred up the wrong kind of anxiety when a UPS driver accidentally trapped him inside his apartment after leaving a package propped up against the door, and completely blocking the handle.
After the incident, Jessie Lawrence took to Twitter to reveal how he had been accidentally imprisoned inside his own home, sharing an image of the makeshift barricade, while explaining that he had to call his building’s maintenance man to let him out.
Dumb delivery: A man named Jessie Lawrence has revealed he was trapped inside his own apartment after a UPS driver blocked his door handle with a package
Viral fire: The Dublin, California, man took to Twitter to share the delivery gaffe, where it quickly gained traction
Revenge plot: One user joked that the package placement was actually an evil neighbor’s trick
Jokes on you: Another wrote that the box might have held a door stopper
‘Hey @UPS, your driver left this package under our door knob like this and trapped us in our apartment,’ Lawrence tweeted on Sunday, along with a photo showing the incredibly unfortunate package placement.
The disgruntled customer went on to point out that, while it was ‘inconvenient’ for him to have to call someone to come and set him – and his unnamed companions – free, it would have been far more serious had there been an emergency like a fire, which required him to get out of his home quickly.
‘Sure, it’s inconvenient for us to call someone to get us out but if it were an emergency, we would have been screwed,’ he said. ‘We’re five floors up.’
His message quickly caught the attention of social media, racking up over 137,000 likes and over 53,000 retweets in a matter of days.
UPS refused to comment when DailyMail.com reached out, however a member of the company’s social media team responded to Jessie’s tweet on its official account.
‘I’m sorry your for this. I’ll be glad to assist you. Please click the link below to DM us the details of your concern,’ the company wrote, in what appears to be an automated response.
But while UPS weren’t too quick to get back to Jessie, plenty of other Twitter users were more than happy to respond to his tweet and the accompanying picture, which showed a tall, skinny package – which appears to be from Amazon – propped against the door.
Can’t escape: Thanks to a maintenance man, Jessie was able to leave his apartment, but he pointed out that things would have been more serious if he’d to get out in an emergency
UPS upset: After the tweet gained tracked the delivery company reached out for assistance – although it appeared to be an automated tweet
Tweet tweak: Users only laughed all the more at the company’s error-filled outreach
Lots of laughs: One user suggested that the delivery person was also controlling UPS Twitter
Placed directly underneath the swing door handle, it clearly prevents it from being turned downwards – the only way to open the door.
The tweet gained instant traction with commenters hilariously claiming the package blunder as a revenge plot.
One user wrote, ‘”I hear them inside and they don’t want to open the door? I got something for them” – Delivery Guy.’
‘No way the driver did that, your neighbor did that,’ another user wrote.
Then Twitter began to joke that the package might have been a door stopper itself, which left some social media users in stitches.
‘That made me laugh so fricken hard!! Nice work.’
One man posted a meme featuring Gandalf of Lord of The Rings with his famed phrase ‘You shall not pass.’
Another confessed he had committed the same entrapping gaffe when he worked for the delivery company.
‘When I worked for UPS I did this on accident once,’ he wrote.
Not alone! Jessie was comforted by other people who experienced similar blunders
What if: Online jokers laughed that the a door stopper purchase was to blame for this entry jam
Gandalf gaffe: ‘You shall not pass’ was the message Twitter users and package sent to Jessie
All’s well: At the end the ordeal was handled, when Jessie could finally control his door handle
The post was shared on other viral accounts with the clever caption, ‘Well played delivery man.’
Jessie followed the social media fire with a clarifying tweet saying his post wasn’t a stir for drama, rather the mistake could have led to a serious safety issue.
Some users poked fun at the grammatical error repeating the phrase, ‘I’m sorry your for this.’
Social media also gave Jessie an extensive questioning on how he opened the door and even took the photo. He put those questions to rest with a sarcastic, ‘I’m still trying to figure out how I took this photo, to be honest.’
At the end Jessie was safely rescued from his home and the package put in a more fitting location, far away from his door knob.
A cheeky Twitter user summarized the ordeal with, ‘Glad you handled the situation.’