I see it every week when I pickup or ship out stuff at the courier my company uses. The guy at the desk is taking heat because somebody is there to pickup a package and its not there. Its out on delivery, scanned out from one warehouse, but not received at their warehouse yet, or it hasnt cleared customs yet.
You were not rude, most of the customers I see harrassing them are. I dont see a lot of damage complaints, but those are normally worse as the customer is bitching out the guy at the desk, just because he is the bearer of bad news. Accidents sometimes happen and the shipper must put in a claim for the damaged item and ship you a new one. Its crappy and thats unfortunately how it works, but I used to see it all the time in my summer job back in highschool
If all you did was ask her how it happened and she snapped, that isnt right. I would have just told you that "it looks like it got run over by a forklift, sorry for the inconvenience and the shipper will have to put in a claim against Purolator". I bet that still wouldnt make you feel better.
I'm a salesrep, I dont work in shipping. I just think that in general customer service people take too much crap in Calgary because everybody wants their stuff yesterday. I saw some lady bitch out somebody at Tim Hortons because it took her too long to get her coffee. Its crazy.
Good luck on your next shipment. Enjoy the speakers when the show up.
