Just to follow up for those who are interested, I checked the tracking number today and there's movement on my package! HOORAY!!!
It now has a "Destination Scan" as of yesterday morning and has an estimated delivery date of tomorrow! Needless to say, I'm very excited to have my package delivered to my parents. It's the outcome I definitely preferred.
UPSNewbie, BigBrownSanta, UpstateNYUPSer, SteveTheUPSGuy, Trplnkl, Highwayman, thanks for encouraging me to wait. It's folks like you who keep the company going by remembering that UPS strives to have great customer experiences.
New Englander, I hope all goes well with your mother and your family is comforted no matter what happens. Stay strong.
With that said, I will no longer bother you guys anymore. It's very clear that customers who have trouble and ask for help aren't terribly welcome by everyone here (not everyone, though - again, I appreciate those who gave me the info I needed). I know that if I treated customers the way that I've been treated by some of you here, even off the clock, I'd be pounding concrete looking for a new job.
Even though you guys are off work and chatting amongst yourselves, keep in mind that what's written here is broadcast on the internet, readily searchable by Google, Yahoo, or Live Search. You're still representing your company as this is a specifically UPS forum, though apparently not affiliated with the company itself.
Think about it this way...you're off work, but still in your brown uniform and go out into a public park to chat and blow off steam with some coworkers. While you're there, someone walks up to you and says "hey, I need a little advice about UPS. Can you help me?"
If you take the 5 minutes to listen to the person and tell them what path they should go down, that creates a positive customer experience and a customer will remember that and choose to bring business there. Again, several of you did just that for which I thank you.
If you take those same 5 minutes and say "Piss off, I don't like your attitude." you've created a negative customer experience and the customer will remember that and choose to bring business elsewhere. Also, studies have shown that an upset customer will tell significantly more people that they're upset with a company than a satisfied customer will tell people about their great experiences.
Anyway, enough with the soapbox. I'm outta here...I won't let the door hit me on the way out.