My long-distance partner has a thing for a specific type of candy. She loves them so much that her entire apartment is full of artwork and tchotchkes related to said candy. Paintings, stuffies, figurines, pillows… you name it, and she has it. Even a lunchbox.

Or, at least, she had a lunchbox. She left it at her office one weekend, and even though it wasn’t fridge cleanout weekend, maintenance still threw it away.

She was pissed, and rightfully so. Not only was her property discarded, but she didn’t think she could ever replace it; there used to be a store in the northeast that was focused on her favorite candy, but it closed years ago, and anyway she doesn’t live in the northeast so even if it was still open it’s not like she could go there.

I felt bad for her; I know how I’d feel if something I cared about got thrown away. So I went over to eBay and searched to see if there might be lunchboxes that she’d like with said candy on it. I found several — the person selling them probably bought them when the store went out of business — so I picked the one I liked the best, ordered it, and didn’t tell her. I wanted it to be a surprise; I wanted her to get it, to text me and say “someone sent me a new lunchbox!”, and then I could tell her it was me.

Well, she was surprised, all right. I found a post on Facebook the day after eBay said the item was delivered showing two of the same lunchbox sitting on her kitchen table, and she was thanking a friend of hers who’d told her he was going to replace her lunchbox for her. Neither she nor the friend could figure out why two were delivered.

So much for my surprise.

Amusingly, both me and the friend had ordered the exact same lunchbox from the exact same eBay seller — she checked the documentation when I asked her to. So, on the bright side, if someone throws one of these away, she has a spare. And she was very appreciative that I thought of her. But as far as surprises go, it was a fail.

Oh well. I guess I’ll have to try again.

Besides, I know she’ll be surprised at what I found her for Christmas.