Going Postal at the Post Office

The holidays have officially arrived when everyone starts acting out like Far Side characters at the post office. Good-ness!

I walk in and stand in the obvious line. Of course, there is a little lady over at the side booth helping someone with special envelopes and such, but I don't go there. If no one else is going there it typically means they are pulling us all from the main line when our turn comes.

Is this obvious to anyone but me? No, it is not obvious.

Mrs. Postal Worker had to yell it to every new patron that started walking that direction. Most didn't hesitate and migrated over to the other line. Others decided to make a scene. One older gentleman barked back "We can't even get the Christmas spirit at the post office?" Of course, "Christmas spirit" by his definition meant that only he would receive special treatment. He could be seen a few minutes later getting in his car without getting any service.

A nice even older man (looked about 95 years old) came in a few minutes later. He was basically clueless as to what the lady was saying and kept walking closer to her as she got louder. Our entire line motioned to take care of him first. So, we heard her yelling at him every step of the way until his purchase was completed...which took forever because she ran out of bills and had to yell to him that he had to wait to get his three dollars.

Another woman had apparently come to get all kinds of old mail from a post office mailbox and then proceeded to stuff it all into three boxes and address them all at the service counter. All of this while we waited. I love process and logistical smartness and this kind of stuff drives me insane, but today I was just taking it all in feeling like this would be a good version of the postal system "The Office" sitcom.

I ended up with the lady at the side booth and she proceeded to spout off everything that had preceeded when I asked if it had been "An interesting day?"

It is amazing how the wonderful giving is often accompanied by stress, anxiety, and rush. Hopefully that won't overtake most of us this year and we can just slowly go about getting gifts and/or notes out to those we love and enjoy the response.

Happy Shipping!