Amazon Delivery Driver Follows Teen's Hilarious 'Additional Instructions' to a Tee

By Amanda Thomason June 27, 2020 at 9:06am

Pranks are a special language that some families speak. Practical jokers often target those closest to them, so entire families generally develop sneaky tactics to one-up other members while also trying to avoid becoming the butt of a joke themselves.

While some “jokes” can get wildly out of hand, and not everyone appreciates even the tamest of assaults, many families thrive — and even bond — over shared antics and good-natured “gotchas.”

The Staffieri family from Magnolia, Delaware, seems to fall into that camp, if recent footage is any indicator.

The particular prank in question was months in the making, but 13-year-old son Jacob was playing the long game, and it paid off.

Mom Lynn first realized the game was afoot when she received an Amazon delivery in early June. It was a mundane order: A playpen for some new foster kittens.

But when the driver dropped off the order, she knocked quickly three times, yelled “abracadabra!” and then ran back to her vehicle.

Odd behavior — and according to CNN, at first even Jacob was surprised by the incident. But then he remembered: He’d added a few special requests under the “additional instructions” for delivery on his mom’s Amazon account as a default setting a few months before.

Under “Do we need additional instructions to find this address?” he’d written, “No but knock on the door 3 times and scream abra cadabra as loud as you can and run super fast away.”

“(Jacob) was cracking up,” Lynn said. “He thought it was the funniest thing. He didn’t think that anyone would do that. I thought it was great. It gave us such a laugh.”

“It was just the first thing that came to mind, and I thought it would be funny to hear someone say that,” Jacob told CNN.

The whole thing was caught on video by their doorbell camera, so they decided to share their amusement and their driver’s willingness to play along by posting the video and story on Facebook.

“Thank you to this great Amazon delivery woman!” Lynn posted on June 14. “Apparently, my youngest son, had put some ‘additional instructions’ for delivery and she went along with it.”

“It made us smile even though my son should not have done that so I apologize for that. I do appreciate that the driver looked closely enough at the instructions though because I know a lot of people wouldn’t.”

“I’m sure that the jobs of essential workers have been so tough and people have been ordering a lot of stuff, so she must have been busy,” Staffieri said to CNN. “But for her to have the energy and attention to detail, it just put a smile on our faces.”

The video has been shared over 25,000 times and featured on many different news sites. Lynn has continued to share it in hopes that their friendly delivery driver will see it and know her efforts were greatly appreciated.

“Please share this!” Lynn wrote. “I would love to have this woman appreciated by as many people as possible! Maybe even Ellen would say thanks too!”

It’s nice to know that some delivery drivers take their humor seriously, and we can all use a little levity. And, if you’re a member of a pranky family, this could be an excellent addition to your arsenal.

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