Wednesday, October 19, 2011

It's no wonder...

I sent my daughter a care package today.  'Cuz I care.  And because she needs care.  At least a big box' worth.

So... I carried my box into the post office and was fortunate enough to get helped right away.  And I just had the nicest, smartest man helping me.  He nearly helped me into the poor house.  How sweet of him.

He asked me how I wanted it to be sent.  I gave my standard answer... cheap.  And after clicking away on his calculater/computer/machine, he slapped a postage sticker for $12.55 on my box.

I was a bit surprised at the price but I know that postal rates are high right now.

"How long will it take to get there at that rate?"
"Seven to ten days."
"Too long.  There's chocolate in there and I don't want it to melt... you know, should it be left in the sun."

Mr. Postman seemed ticked off at me... because it was a lot of work slapping that little sticker on my box.  The postman's machine began to whirr and click... and suddenly his machine began to show some new numbers... new amounts of money I could pay.  I had the option of $20.55 or $58.75.  I didn't like either of them.

"Well?" Mr. Postman said in his most irritated voice.
"How long does the $20.55 take to get there?"
"Three to five days."
"Gosh that's high."
"Well you could always pay the $58 rate."

Huh?  I think it was obvious that I didn't even like the $12.55 rate.

"No, I'll stay where I'm at.  I'm just worried about the length of time it'll take to get there."

And the machine whirred again... and out popped another postage label that Mr. Postman smacked onto my box.

"Wait!  What are you doing?"
"Giving you the $20.55 rate."
"I don't want that!  I said I'd stay where I'm at!"

And did Mr. Postman ever grumble about that!  In fact, he huffed and puffed while he oh-so-noticeably scrapped that new label off of my box.  And then he had to make his little machine work some more while he recalculated and credited and debited and fixed his numbers.

He made me feel so welcome.  So warm.  So, so listened to.

And I began to wonder why the post office was having trouble.  I mean, if all of the postal workers are as sweet as him... well, I foresee the post office being in business for a long time. 

At least another month or so.
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