Going Postal...
Yesterday I had to get cards off to a client and HAD to make a trip to the post office so I could have the package weighed in order to be assured it had the proper amount of postage on it.
Let me put this plainly... I HATE going to the Post Office... Not just our local Post Office... ANY Post Office... I've been to several and they're ALL the same. It's my impression that the folks who work in these facilities are cloned from one another. Either that or upon hiring they attend a mandatory course (or should I say 'coarse') on "Customer Relations." I'm sure the course involves lectures on such topics as:
- We gave you a uniform, Now act like a drill sargeant... ("Did I call on You?, Then STAY behind that line sir!")
- How to maintain that look of utter contempt for everybody you wait on.
- Postal Rage - 10 ways to let it fester.
And my favorite:
- If this job doesn't work out for you, there's probably an opening at the DMV.
I had 1 (one) thin envelope to mail... When I arrived I was the second person in line and the person in front of me was called up after just 2 minutes of my standing there. I thought, "This is gonna be GREAT!, I'll be outta here in NO time!"
I stood in line for (no kidding!) 25 minutes!!!
Out of the 3 employees I could see behind the counter I never once saw even a hint of a smile out of any of them. I guess I can understand why... As the minutes ticked by my smile was getting more and more difficult to maintain. To the point that when I made it to about the 23 minute mark I probably looked rather dimented.
Why did it take so long? Well, even though there were 3 (lovely) women behind the counter only 2 of them were actually waiting on people. #1 had a gal off to the side filling out paperwork, turns out the gal was getting a passport, understandably a rather time consuming process. At least employee #1 waited on the person in front of me while the gal took care of her paperwork. Employee #2 had a customer with a rather large box she was shipping to a foreign country. However, the lady with the large package
a) Couldn't see well enough to read the forms she needed to fill out.
b) Needed 'some' stamps (not a roll, not a book... She wasn't sure how many!?)
c) When she got the stamps she needed she decided they were printed too small for her vision and asked for a 'bigger' type of stamp.
d) Her oversized package needed to be measured and (Wouldn't you know it!) the postal employee DIDN'T have a tape measure on hand and had to go to the back and search for one!!! (insert virtual head smack here!) - Let's just take a moment and examine this one element of the whole event... Now, I can see why, when I'm at home and I need to measure something that I might have to go on a prolonged search for a tape measure... I don't have a need to measure items all that often... BUT!!! You'd THINK that in a Post Office they might need to measure a package say every now and again!!! SO, why don't they keep a damn tape measure at every booth?... It just boggles my mind.
On with the story... EVENTUALLY, the nearsighted lady in front of me finished her transaction (Hopefully heading off to a nearby 'LensCrafters')... And that's when you'd think I'd FINALLY be waited on... BUT NOooooo! Time for Postal Employee #2 to close out her station and I don't know... Go on break, Head home for the day, Take a bathroom break in order to reapply a fresh look of scorn. I was wise though, I knew not to step over the line until I was called (I'd been reprimanded at lesser Post Offices in the past for just such an offense... I still flinch at the memory... "Lady, YOU haven't been called on yet! - Stay BEHIND the line until you're called!") Finally employee #3 (not sure what she's been doing all alone down there at the end of the counter all this time) carried her little money box over to the empty station and spends roughly 4 minutes getting herself adjusted to her new position (much like a hen getting situated on a fresh nest.) and looks up at me with a bored attitude and says, "Next!"
Should I have maybe expected a "Sorry about the wait." ????... I didn't, because I know this is the Post Office, they don't engage in such pleasantries... Another question, Isn't it always the employees that 'Go Postal' on one another? I'm surprised there aren't more customers 'Going Postal'... Then again, maybe it's because they have to deal with so many near-sighted ladies sending large packages overseas? Of one thing I am certain... If I'm going to have to be mailing out cards to clients then maybe it's time to invest in a postal meter for my home?
Let me put this plainly... I HATE going to the Post Office... Not just our local Post Office... ANY Post Office... I've been to several and they're ALL the same. It's my impression that the folks who work in these facilities are cloned from one another. Either that or upon hiring they attend a mandatory course (or should I say 'coarse') on "Customer Relations." I'm sure the course involves lectures on such topics as:
- We gave you a uniform, Now act like a drill sargeant... ("Did I call on You?, Then STAY behind that line sir!")
- How to maintain that look of utter contempt for everybody you wait on.
- Postal Rage - 10 ways to let it fester.
And my favorite:
- If this job doesn't work out for you, there's probably an opening at the DMV.
I had 1 (one) thin envelope to mail... When I arrived I was the second person in line and the person in front of me was called up after just 2 minutes of my standing there. I thought, "This is gonna be GREAT!, I'll be outta here in NO time!"
I stood in line for (no kidding!) 25 minutes!!!
Out of the 3 employees I could see behind the counter I never once saw even a hint of a smile out of any of them. I guess I can understand why... As the minutes ticked by my smile was getting more and more difficult to maintain. To the point that when I made it to about the 23 minute mark I probably looked rather dimented.
Why did it take so long? Well, even though there were 3 (lovely) women behind the counter only 2 of them were actually waiting on people. #1 had a gal off to the side filling out paperwork, turns out the gal was getting a passport, understandably a rather time consuming process. At least employee #1 waited on the person in front of me while the gal took care of her paperwork. Employee #2 had a customer with a rather large box she was shipping to a foreign country. However, the lady with the large package
a) Couldn't see well enough to read the forms she needed to fill out.
b) Needed 'some' stamps (not a roll, not a book... She wasn't sure how many!?)
c) When she got the stamps she needed she decided they were printed too small for her vision and asked for a 'bigger' type of stamp.
d) Her oversized package needed to be measured and (Wouldn't you know it!) the postal employee DIDN'T have a tape measure on hand and had to go to the back and search for one!!! (insert virtual head smack here!) - Let's just take a moment and examine this one element of the whole event... Now, I can see why, when I'm at home and I need to measure something that I might have to go on a prolonged search for a tape measure... I don't have a need to measure items all that often... BUT!!! You'd THINK that in a Post Office they might need to measure a package say every now and again!!! SO, why don't they keep a damn tape measure at every booth?... It just boggles my mind.
On with the story... EVENTUALLY, the nearsighted lady in front of me finished her transaction (Hopefully heading off to a nearby 'LensCrafters')... And that's when you'd think I'd FINALLY be waited on... BUT NOooooo! Time for Postal Employee #2 to close out her station and I don't know... Go on break, Head home for the day, Take a bathroom break in order to reapply a fresh look of scorn. I was wise though, I knew not to step over the line until I was called (I'd been reprimanded at lesser Post Offices in the past for just such an offense... I still flinch at the memory... "Lady, YOU haven't been called on yet! - Stay BEHIND the line until you're called!") Finally employee #3 (not sure what she's been doing all alone down there at the end of the counter all this time) carried her little money box over to the empty station and spends roughly 4 minutes getting herself adjusted to her new position (much like a hen getting situated on a fresh nest.) and looks up at me with a bored attitude and says, "Next!"
Should I have maybe expected a "Sorry about the wait." ????... I didn't, because I know this is the Post Office, they don't engage in such pleasantries... Another question, Isn't it always the employees that 'Go Postal' on one another? I'm surprised there aren't more customers 'Going Postal'... Then again, maybe it's because they have to deal with so many near-sighted ladies sending large packages overseas? Of one thing I am certain... If I'm going to have to be mailing out cards to clients then maybe it's time to invest in a postal meter for my home?
posted by EmBee at 9:57 AM
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