AT THE POST OFFICE

"So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."  (Hebrews 13:6)

Yesterday afternoon, I walked the quarter of a mile (or so) from my office to the downtown Framingham post office.  The first odd sight was what appeared to be a liberal spreading of dirt, sand, and salt over the concrete stoop area in front of the exterior door.  I thought someone had kind of "gone crazy" applying sand and salt when it was covered with ice and then forgotten to clean it up.  The next odd sight was that when I went to use the stamp machine it had a message on the screen that you get when you've placed an order for stamps.  No one was around the machine.  I tried to clear the message out by pressing the "Clear" button, and then pressing other buttons, and absolutely nothing happened.  I really wanted to use the stamp machine rather than go to a live clerk because I needed to get rid of a bunch of change, including pennies.  (Those postal stamp machines will even take pennies!)  When you DO stand there feeding around 100 coins into the machine, well, YES, you do feel kind of stupid, but you feel far less stupid than you would if you had to tie up a clerk counting pennies and nickels.  I ended up having to give a bunch of coins to one of the clerks after all, because the machine was just plain frozen.

Just before "Diane" the clerk waited on me, she was on a conversation with one of her superiors on a cordless phone.  She was dramatically telling the story of a dog who had appeared at the post office that morning and (I'll try to clean this story up) done "number two" all over the stoop.  The employees tried to clean it up, but much of it FROZE to the concrete.   (So THAT'S why all the dirt, sand, and salt on the stoop!) Diane was asking the supervisor for instructions on what to do.  I really don't know what he told her.  

Once she was off the phone, I bought my five stamps with my bunch of coins.
I decided to inform her the stamp machine was broken.  I told her, "It's frozen."

I could tell she didn't believe me and thought I was just an unhandy geeky white collar guy.  Well, I AM an unhandy geeky white collar guy.  But that machine WAS frozen.  She left her position at the counter and proceeded to investigate the machine.  After about a minute of total frustration, she announced, "It's NEVER done anything like this before!"

I was pleasant, but I DID add, "I told you it was frozen...like a computer."

My kids hate when I do that "I told you so" thing, and especially when I do it in public to a clerk or waitress or someone like that.  I felt justified because I did not say it in an angry way nor did I say it in a sassy way.  But I DID say it.

Wow.  What a wild trip to the post office.  Now, it WAS as cold as Point Barrow, Alaska outside, but after the happenings inside the post office, I really didn't mind the cold on the way back.

You'd think that in 2007 a trip to the post office would be all "high tech" and "state of the art".  Well, in all fairness, at the MAIN post office on Route 30, things usually are pretty good, although they also have their moments...and because they ARE pretty good, they draw huge crowds from all over the MetroWest area, and waiting in line, well, kind of defeats the purpose, if you know what I mean.

The U.S. Postal Service is seriously considering raising the price of a first-class stamp to 41 cents before the end of 2007.  I think that's ridiculous.  In fact, I'd vote to drop it to at least 38 cents.  When they can truly get their act together, we'll maybe that will be different!

My maternal grandfather was a career postal employee and one of my best friends is a rural letter carrier in Texas, but, this piece about the stamp prices and the U.S. Postal Service is (after all) just MY opinion. I just  couldn’t resist telling you about yesterday's trip to the downtown Framingham post office!