Do The Post Office Boogie With Pete And Anne

Bloggers' Note: before we continue moving forward and taking our blog to the next level, it's necessary to rewind the clock just over a year, to May 2019; the good old days when you could still travel and didn't have bossy little females watching every move you make, to make sure you're wearing a mask and staying six feet away from everyone else. 

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 We went out of town last month and weren't sure when we'd be back. So: we put our mail on hold, on-line, selected May 30 as a random return date, and the "customer will pick up accumulated mail" option. We get a lot of mail and thought our mail carrier's work day would go a little easier with one less plastic tub of mail to keep track of. 

On May 30 (a Thursday) I drove to the Port Huron PO and no one could find our mail. Our carrier wasn't answering her phone ("voice mailbox not set up," I could hear the recording all the way out at the counter). I asked the delivery supervisor ("Jennifer"), politely but firmly: where's our mail? Why can't you find our mail? We asked to hold it here and I would come and get it. I want our mail. Can't your people follow instructions?

"Jennifer's" response was: "You can't talk to me like that, I'm a person too."

So apparently, two weeks worth of mail that no one can find, that's lost thanks to someone's inability to follow simple instructions, and answer her phone, isn't as important as the bosses' feelings. 

I should have stayed home and waited. Here's what was in our mailbox:

The red arrow points to a copy of our hold mail request confirmation, printed from email, pictured below, that indicates "Customer will pick up accumulated mail at Post Office."

I called the PO the next day, a Friday, around noon, pretty sure of what I'd hear. Yes, "Jennifer" had already left for the day. Like any good postal service management employee, she got a head start on the weekend.

Now the fun starts. On Monday I called them back, got Jen on the line, and told her that cutting out early on Friday was a great idea, that she should do it more often, and spend more time at home being useful by baking cookies and washing clothes. They don't like to hear that. Jen hung up on me. How inconsiderate, someone from a generation of young people that places such a high value on being polite to everyone clicking her phone off.

Then I thought: wouldn't it be something if more folks called out there (nine eight nine forty eight thirty, they're in the book) got Jen on the horn, and suggested that she do the public AND the postal service a favor by staying home and reading the cookbook? I'm not encouraging anyone to do that, or suggest chocolate chip cookies from scratch (more challenging than frozen sugar cookies, but not so tough that a PO supervisor couldn't make them). But it's fun to daydream about it.

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