The Tale Of Getting Our Held Mail Upon Return From Vacay

/ Ally Bean

I DID NOT START THIS.  I want to be clear on this point.

I inherited this feud from some women who used to live on this street when all the houses were new, and the street wasn’t finished yet.  Women who moved to the midwest from big sophisticated cities.

Women who had never dealt with a small town misogynistic resentful male postal clerk who grumbled loudly about doing his job, poorly.

For reasons never fully explained to me they hated him, and being who they were, they launched a letter-writing + email-sending campaign to get him fired.  They found the names of everyone in the U.S. Postal Service who might be influential enough to get this resentful male postal clerk axed from his job– and set about trying to make it so.

Their campaign, organized and relentless as it was, did not work.

THEN they moved away leaving me the only woman on this street who knows what they did– and still suffers for it because he remembers which part of our street was out to get him.

The block I live on.

# # #

# # #

SO KNOWING WHAT I KNOW, I went over to our local post office branch to get our mail that had been held while we were on vacation.

As usual he was the only clerk working behind the counter and I had to stand in a long line.  No big deal.  Totally expected.

What I did not expect, however, was our resentful male postal clerk getting into a prolonged shouting match with a male customer who was trying to decide which box to use to send something somewhere.

Our resentful male postal clerk had strong opinions on what this customer guy should be doing– and the customer guy was. not. buying. it. at. all.

I found this tense conversation fascinating because this is my first experience with our resentful male postal clerk turning vicious on a man.

He’s branched out.  [pun intended]

# # #

# # #

EVENTUALLY I GET TO THE COUNTER.  With a sense of foreboding I hand my driver’s license to our resentful male postal clerk, and I wait for the inevitable hateful glare.

The snarl.

The shout.

“Greenwood Street, huh?”

But this time, my gentle readers, I was ready.  I put on what might be my best dramatic performance ever, playing the part of a contrite suburbanite.  When he squinted his eyes and glared at me, I slouched, I looked down at the floor, and I hung my head in shame for living on the street that I do.

Oddly, this performance seemed to light a fire under his heretofore slow-moving butt and he went into the back of the post office branch to retrieve my mail.  Lickety-split-like.  Without whining.

# # #

# # #

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE.  As if this story could get more exciting and amazing, when our resentful male postal clerk returned from the back with our mail, that included 31 catalogues + many letters, he had it in an official U.S. Post Office rectangular white plastic toter that he handed to me.

This is unprecedented.

Never before has this resentful male postal clerk NOT dumped all of our mail on the counter for me to grasp, as best I can, in my arms.  He has previously enjoyed making me look like a klutz as I scramble to not drop anything while skedaddling out of his post office branch.

But this time, he was, for him, in his own way, almost kind to me.

And I gotta tell ‘ya, I find this a bit disturbing.  It’s just not normal– like he’s playing some new game with me that I have yet to figure out.

51 thoughts on “The Tale Of Getting Our Held Mail Upon Return From Vacay”

  1. If you bring him a batch of cookies/brownies when you bring the tote back to the post office, you’ll have him eating out of your hand for the rest of your continued residence on Greenwood Street.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Sure hope he doesn’t stalk your house to get his tote back. Many years ago, when I worked for a company, we were getting something printed and needed to know the size allowed for normal postage. I called our local post office (not known for good customer service). I was passed to three different employees. The last one complained (to me) that they give him all the stupid calls (that would be my call) and he was sick of it. Yes, I did get the sizes but not without listening to a barrage of crap. Locally we have a lot of small post office stations in grocery stores and it’s so much better. People are actually nice. There is a reason that saying “go postal” got started.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Kate, your story rings true to me. I have no doubt that the unhappy postal clerk was pleased with himself for slyly insulting you. I just roll with stuff like that, but these women who used to live on this street took if very personally. *sigh*

      I’ve never heard of post office stations in grocery stores, but I love the idea. Beyond having pleasant clerks in them, the parking would be easier.

      Liked by 1 person

      • It’s fabulous. The old post office was downtown (no parking except meter on street which you could never get). The lines were outrageous (waits of 45 minutes to an hour) and the people cranky.

        Liked by 1 person

        • What a good solution to an ongoing problem. However, I suspect that having a post office in a grocery would be too progressive for this area. Change is something to be fought against, not embraced. ‘Ya know? 😉

          Liked by 1 person

    • Blair, this guy never shuts up. He’s always got something to say, generally unhelpful. I grew up in a small town so I figure this kind of self-important bureaucrat is par for the course, but his behavior can and does shock some people. I thought the customer man he was hassling was going to jump over the counter and ring the postal clerk’s neck. There were words. 👀

      Liked by 2 people

  4. I want to comment, but none of what I would say would be helpful. It would be a feminist rant for sure, but not helpful in this case, so let me simply say: Glad you got the multitude of catalogs to peruse through, cause what’s better than looking at crap that you really don’t need, but do need to consider buying anyway.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Oh, Deb– I know! I only deal with this guy about once a year, so I let it go. He’s a jerk, enjoys his power, and gets off on making women suffer. [Or now, it seems, he’s starting to hassle men, too.] It all seems so silly to me, but I’m emotionally stable… so what do I know?

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Gah! Two themes here that I hate – to be unfairly judged, and abusive/obnoxious public servants.

    I get your surprised reaction when he managed to be courteous and helpful by bringing your mail in a tote. Back at my old town, the MTO (your DMV) was run (by which I mean RULED with a a condescending snarl) by two sisters. I hated to have to go in – once a year! to renew my licence. So, you can imagine my surprise when on my last visit, I was treated like a long lost pal. I dunno. Maybe she mellowed with age?

    All I can say is: it’s too soon to let down your guard, but maybe you can teach old posties new tricks!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Maggie, what a great line: maybe you can teach old posties new tricks! I dunno that I can change him, but this last experience was different. I think he likes subservient women, so I played the part, thinking to myself: “whatever, jackweasel.”

      I get what you’re saying about your MTO. I remember how surprised we were 20 years ago when we moved to this area and encountered PLEASANT DMV employees. I was gobsmacked by their kindness because that had never happened before. But of course this rude postal clerk is the flip side of moving here.

      It’s always something [or someone]…

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Hmmm – Maybe he was just exhausted from his fight with the other customer? Or, your oscar-worthy performance of already being beaten made him magnanimous in victory? Whatever the reason, you probably shouldn’t count on it lasting.

    Liked by 1 person

    • bobcabking, yes, I’m reluctant to believe that this postal clerk has turned over a new leaf. I’m happy to have gotten our mail without incident, but am still wary of this guy. Of course, I go into the Post Office maybe once a year, so he’s off my radar for a long while.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Sigh. I positively detest clerks/receptionists/office help who act like they are The Sacred Gatekeepers Of The Realm at any establishment and treat customers/clients/patients like riffraff. Hey, snot! WE ARE YOUR JOB SECURITY.

    Certainly anyone is allowed his or her occasional Bad Day; I am sympathetic to that. But routine terrible treatment is inexcusable. They are Customer Service–what part of that term do they not understand?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hey, snot! WE ARE YOUR JOB SECURITY.

      Well said, my dear. I can’t answer your question about what they don’t understand, but I do know that they understand the Power they have in their Small Realms– and it makes them happy to use it. *sigh*

      Like

    • Janis, in our post office it’s only this one man who’s mean-spirited. There are other employees but I never seem to be there when they are working. I hope that you get your smile. It could happen. 👍

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Sadly we are never on vacation long enough to need anyone to hold our mail. Our local carrier is now a friend, since my husband is home, retired and talks to everyone. We have self-service kiosks in our post office so that if I need to mail a package I can do it myself. There are also signs all over the place that the post office is hiring. I’ve considered applying for the job 🙂

    Like

    • Janet, our local carriers change every few months, so I have no idea who’s delivering our mail. I’d be happy with a self-serve kiosk, but this is an old-fashioned post office… stand in line, wait your turn. You’d be a good postal clerk, your smile & kindness would make you popular. A novelty, even.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. I am now wondering if any of your former neighbors decided to move down south to my neighborhood as there seems to be a similar campaign being waged against our local post office (and has been for years now). To be fair, some of it is deserved – the office made some ‘regretful’ hiring decisions during one of the holiday rushes – but still, my mailbox continues to be filled with junk and bills, so they must still be doing something.

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    • Allie P, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that these particular woman had moved your way and were upset about your post office. They were accustomed to getting their way all the time, so this guy really bugged them. Me, not so much.

      Our mail delivery is great around here, so I think that the trouble is with this one guy at the counter– and not the carriers. Like you said, the junk and bills keep coming so someone must be doing something right.

      Like

  11. He’d vented his spleen on that guy and/or that guy and his street are the new ‘target’ for the worker’s ill will. Either way, you got lucky. How wonderful for YOU! 😀

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    • Embeecee, you’re onto something with this idea. I like how you think. I got lucky, for sure. But will this luck continue…? I keep thinking that this postal worker should be nearing retirement any month now. That’d be nice.

      Like

  13. We always had the most pleasant and helpful letter carriers. We didn’t see them often. When I started working in an office, I saw them face to face every day. They were wonderful. I figure the gods of un-civil service piled up all the evil that could have happened to us in the post office and unleashed it through one DMV tyrant. We had moved to the South and went for new drivers’ licenses. Expecting pleasant service, we were chewed up and spit out by this hateful woman. She did not say a single curse word, but we couldn’t have felt worse if a whole dictionary of curses were unleashed on us. We crawled out of the building like beaten dogs. We returned the next day with great trepidation. Surprise! Surprise! We were approved by a wonderful man who made everything delightfully easy.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Anne, what a story! From what I can tell you either get pleasant DMV or pleasant post office, but never both in the same community. I’m glad that you finally got your licenses, but don’t you just wonder why it had to be so difficult? Some people live for their small power trips, I guess.

      Liked by 1 person

  15. I deal very little with post offices and the ones I do have super nice employees, so I am GRATEFUL. 🙂 Who knew that they could make life so miserable?

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    • Margaret, you’re lucky to have a pleasant post office. Fortunately I rarely need to go into the post office and considering the whole backstory, when I do go into ours, I just wait for something weird to happen. Like this.

      Like

  16. I understand this so completely, that I am compelled to one day share my own experiences. Like a series. I’m so sorry.
    May I just say that at ‘not my post office’ the clerks are super sweet and kind? I have EARNED that experience.

    Liked by 1 person

    • joey, please do write about your post office experiences. I think almost everyone has had something weird happen in the post office, so your series would be well-received. And for those fortunate few people who have always lived with nice post offices, your series would be an eye-opener. 👀

      Liked by 1 person

  17. This whole post made me laugh. I’m glad he was nice to you, but I’m bummed that it came at the expense of the customer before you and that it was such an anomaly.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Akilah, this whole situation was/is ridiculous. I mean, I don’t go looking for trouble when it comes to the post office, but this postal clerk brings it to work every day. Happy that this time I dodged the trouble, but I do feel sorry for the customer guy who got the brunt of it. *smh*

      Like

  18. I’m with Nancy. “Cookie” him with kindness on your next visit. I’d love to read that post as well! (Actually, I believe that this theme could become a great mini-series!!)

    Liked by 1 person

    • Donna, I think you both are onto something good. I’ll be super duper sweet the next time I see him. Of course, considering how infrequently I go to the post office, my follow-up post could be a year from now. Or more.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Susan, you ask a question as old as time itself! The odd thing is that the few times I’ve ever dealt with the other postal clerks in this branch, they were nice as can be. But this guy didn’t get that memo.

      As for the toter, I’ve already decided that Zen-Den can return it on Saturday. Having used up all of my good karma over there, I’m steering clear of the post office for a while.

      Like

    • evil, they were an idealistic group of women who truly thought they could get this postal clerk fired. The whole thing, including the misogynistic postal clerk… STUPID. ‘Ya know?

      Like

  22. I hate the USPO. Thekept my mail for a month, after I had it forwarded. They took my money for the empty post office box and took an extra three month after I cancelled and closed the box. They blamed it all on the online website, but I still hate all of them.

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    • teachinglife2016, I’m sorry to read about your experiences, but can’t say that I’m surprised. I’ve never done a thing with the USPO website. I don’t trust it, as your experiences have proved.

      At least when I go into an actual post office branch I have a name + face to associate with the problem they’ll cause. Don’t know what good that does me, but it does give me more comfort than interacting with a website.

      Like

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