Do
you remember my post about Mike the Malicious Mailman? Today's post
will help you understand my history of frustration with the USPS if
you read that first, and I promise that what I'm adding today will
make this post a reasonable length so that you have time to
read about Mike. Let me know when you're back.
It
seems postal stupidity knows no end. The Engineer runs a thriving
eBay business in his “spare” time, so almost every day I have to
mail something for him. The hot selling product right now fits in
manilla envelope and can be dropped in any mailbox since it's under
the 13 oz rule.
The
mailbox I most often use is behind my grocery store, but it's in such
a ridiculous place. It has one of those “reach out of the car
slots” so one can (theoretically) not have to get out of the car.
But it's on the right hand side of the street. So you either have
your passenger (which isn't often when I'm out running errands while
the boys are at school) or drive on the wrong side, or park, walk
over, drop your mail. Stupid. Here's what it looks like.
It's in the alley behind a Safeway shopping center/strip mall type place.
Yesterday,
as I'm pulling in (driving the big ole' prison van) there's a mail
truck there emptying the mailbox, a grandma who is parked next to the
mail truck, so all I can do is pull up behind grandma. The mailwoman
is arguing with grandma and won't take the letters she's holding out
to her. A person, whose job it is to collect the mail, won't TAKE
the mail. She instructs her park and walk back over. So I pull up
to her next.
“You
won't take my package?”
“NO,
we got a call that this mailbox was overflowing, I'm just here to
empty it. The other guy comes at 4 to empty it.” (It's 3:48 or so
at this time.)
“So
I can't hand it to you? To put in that bin right there with all the
other mail that was in this mailbox?”
“No.
But you can park over there, and come back and put it in the mailbox.”
I'm
so ridiculously incensed that this woman, who is standing at my car
window, to whom I'm holding out a package WON'T TAKE IT.” However,
it has to be mailed. So I park next to Grandma, who is also
incensed, and we walk over to the mailbox to put our mail in it and
the mailwoman says, “You can just hand those to me.” WTF?
It's
no wonder they're thinking about closing the post offices.
P.S Yes - I did drive out in our not as spectacular as they'd said snow storm to bring you these visual aids. You're welcome.
