Eagerly anticipating a delivery, only for it to be an utter letdown on arrival, is one of the worst first-world feelings out there - and for one woman, a packing blunder by Kmart got her a bit bent out of shape.
After receiving her delivery, the Australian woman was shocked to discover that one of her purchases was completely unusable, having been bent out of shape by a staffer in order to fit inside the box.
Sharing the evidence to the Facebook group Kmart Hacks & Decor, the woman showcased how a hula hoop - which she had purchased for her children - had been folded in half to fit within the dimensions of the packaging.
"Ordered a hula hoop for my children at work and this is how it arrived. Maybe the poor packing person was having a hard day," the woman captioned the photos.
Alongside the broken $5 hula hoop were spools of ribbon, a packet of suspension files, a wooden storage container and a box of Mindfulness Stacking Stones.
In another snap, the mum held up the toy to illustrate the extent of the damage, showing how the hoop had been almost snapped in half at two points to fit inside the delivery box.
The blunder caused a bit of a hoopla in the comments, as many were unimpressed with the careless packing of the woman's order.
"I can't figure out the packer's mentality. This isn't even funny, tbh [to be honest]," one said, while a second wrote: "Holy shit, I've never laughed so hard at a parcel."
"Wow," another simply stated, with a fourth adding: "Work experience kid."
Others offered advice on how to possibly reshape the hula hoop.
"Heat it up with [your] hair dryer and try to reshape it, something fun for Saturday night's science class," one suggested, to which the woman replied: "Unfortunately I was not able to bend it back into shape - wasn't even remotely round."
Another woman said she had the same exact experience when she ordered a hula hoop from Kmart a few years ago.
To illustrate how the toys should be packed, another group member said her hula hoop - which she ordered from a different company - had been delivered in a flat-pack box.
Responding to the blunder in a statement to 7Life, a spokesperson for Kmart thanked the woman for "bringing this to our attention".
"At Kmart, we want everyone visiting us in-store or online to have an enjoyable shopping experience and we are disappointed to learn that on this occasion it did not occur," they said.
"We wish to thank the customer for bringing this to our attention so that we can work on improving these processes in the future.
"We encourage any customer who experiences an issue with their online order to reach out to our customer service team."
