Chapter 4

The neighbors around Carmen and Mrs. Parker quickly joined in. "Exactly! Everyone trusts you, so do the job properly. You should learn a thing or two from Hilary!"

Another commented, "Actions speak louder than words. Pay attention next time. We can't have this happen again."

"Since you took over the job, do it right. Don't let us down."

Carmen stood there, humiliated and seething with resentment. Yet, she didn't dare argue anymore.

She'd thought it would be an easy way to win people over. However, by the very next day, she'd already taken a loss and was getting lectured by everyone.

However, there was no backing out now. Carmen had no choice but to grit her teeth and go along with it.

What she never expected was that this was only the beginning of her troubles.

…

Soon, the evening crowd came flooding in to get their packages.

Every day, hundreds of packages piled up outside Carmen's apartment. Boxes of every size were tossed together into one heap with no sorting.

Residents trying to find their deliveries had no choice but to dig through the pile, wasting both time and effort.

In just one day, three packages went missing.

An elderly man's blood pressure medication vanished without a trace. A mother couldn't find the underwear she had ordered for her child, and another person's important documents simply disappeared.

The residents whose packages had gone missing confronted Carmen and demanded an explanation.

There was no way she could cover everyone's losses, so she insisted she was just helping as a favor and wasn't responsible for anything that went missing.

The neighbors grew increasingly resentful, yet no one was willing to walk a few extra minutes to pick up their own packages from the nearest pickup point.

They continued to complain about Carmen's incompetence while having all their deliveries sent to her apartment. In the end, it became a vicious cycle.

As the days went by, the problems just kept piling up.

Whenever large furniture or appliances were delivered, Carmen refused to help carry them up. She complained that they were too heavy and a pain to move, so the items just sat there in the hallway, blocking the way for everyone.

Cardboard boxes and plastic bags were just thrown around. Garbage piled up at her door, and the janitor came to complain more than once.

Sometimes, a neighbor would ask Carmen to watch their kid at the last minute. The noise and chaos drove her crazy, and she got nastier every time.

Eventually, she started shoving the kids out the door.

More and more neighbors started complaining. After just one week, Carmen was on the verge of a breakdown.

She had tried to get the situation under control, but there were too many packages. Even after spending a couple of hours sorting them, she still couldn't make sense of the mess. It didn't take long for her to throw in the towel.

Carmen had also tried to take proper care of the children, but patience had never been one of her strengths.

She even approached the delivery drivers, hoping they would redirect all future packages to the neighborhood parcel pickup point instead. However, as soon as word got out, every resident in the building objected.

"The pickup point is too far away! It's a pain to make the trip back and forth," someone whined. "You volunteered to accept our deliveries, so you can't just quit halfway through."

"You were the one who insisted on taking this on in the first place. Now that things have gone wrong, you want to walk away. That's incredibly irresponsible!"

The barrage of accusations left Carmen speechless, and all she felt was utter exhaustion.

After days of frustration, resentment, and pressure, a new idea began to form in Carmen's mind. Instead of continuing to shoulder this mess herself, why not get everyone to pressure me into taking over again?

Once she made up her mind, she began approaching the neighbors. She went door to door, talking to the neighbors who'd complained the most.

Carmen hinted that only I really knew how everything worked and could keep them from losing more.

Mrs. Thompson was already furious because no one was willing to help her carry heavy deliveries upstairs.

Douglas was always stressing over who'd watch his kid. With packages going missing and groceries spoiling, he had plenty to complain about, too.

At that point, everyone was fed up. So, with a little prodding from Carmen, the group quickly reached an agreement.

…

That very evening, Carmen led a crowd of neighbors right up to my door.

She stood at the front, knocked on the door, and shouted, "Open up! Everyone's here. We need to have a word with you."