Surprising delivery at a fish store

**korith** · 03-11-2009, 05:38 AM

Kind of unbelievable, shocking, crazy, at what this fish store owner received instead of his fish delivery.

Link to story.
It's short so I'll just post it in full here.

PHILADELPHIA – Employees of a Pennsylvania pet store expecting a shipment of tropical fish and salt water got a man's dead body instead. Mark Arabia owns the Pets Plus store in northeast Philadelphia, where the mix-up was discovered Tuesday. He says he learned the body was that of a 65-year-old San Diego-area man who died of early onset Alzheimer's disease.

The body was supposed to go to a research laboratory in Allentown, a 70-mile drive away.

US Airways Inc. released a statement saying the air cargo problem was caused by a "verbal miscommunication between a delivery driver and the cargo representative." The Tempe, Ariz.-based airline said it's deeply sorry.

The fish were shipped in three boxes. The corpse was shipped in a wooden coffin wrapped in cardboard.

Arabia said the fish were left at the airport and probably died.

**Sharon** · 03-11-2009, 06:53 AM

Good Lord!!! That must have been a little upsetting!

**DragonWatch** · 03-11-2009, 07:20 AM

Terrible, but the dark side of me can't help but hear the conversation on the phone : "Hi, this is Mark from Pets Plus. Listen, that fish you sent me today...he just floats there in the tank..."

**invadertoast** · 03-11-2009, 11:19 AM

Yikes - I can't even imagine!

I once got a shipment of 5,000 mealworms that was supposed to go to a zoo in California by mistake. The zoo's name had Lindsay in it, and I, Lindsay, had ordered from the reptile supply company once before. I'm assuming that's where the mix up came from... I got to keep them but my 4 geckos couldn't eat 5000 mealies before they turned to beatles so I gave most away.

**fishlover49** · 03-11-2009, 12:41 PM

OMG!!

**Lady Hobbs** · 03-11-2009, 12:54 PM

They can't tell the difference between a coffin and fish boxes then they have a problem.

**toddnbecka** · 03-11-2009, 09:21 PM

Originally Posted by invadertoast

Yikes - I can't even imagine!

I once got a shipment of 5,000 mealworms that was supposed to go to a zoo in California by mistake. The zoo's name had Lindsay in it, and I, Lindsay, had ordered from the reptile supply company once before. I'm assuming that's where the mix up came from... I got to keep them but my 4 geckos couldn't eat 5000 mealies before they turned to beatles so I gave most away.

It's a good thing, they would have been the size of alligators after eating 5,000 mealies...

Employees of a Pennsylvania pet store expecting a shipment of tropical fish and salt water got a man's dead body instead.

I had to wonder whether there was a live arrival guarantee...

**HendersE** · 03-13-2009, 01:05 AM

I can't even imagine what the guy thought when he opened the box...

**korith** · 03-13-2009, 03:17 AM

Originally Posted by HendersE

I can't even imagine what the guy thought when he opened the box...

Well I've taken a few human anatomy dissection labs, and let me tell ya it is disturbing the first few times you go into the lab. I can't even imagine how shocking it would be to have shown to you w/o warning.

I suppose it could have been worse, they could have sent it to someone's house instead.