It's that age old concept of "karma"... and my experience at the post office this morning definitely confirms that it's legit.
Now before I get into my story telling session, let me preface things by stating that I 100% support the United States Postal Service and their employees. I truly appreciate the hard work and organization that goes into the process of shipping a package from one end of our country to the other.
With that being said, I thought I'd share my recent trek through the post office line.
Nope. The thing I hated the most were the ridiculously long lines of customers waiting to get their 35¢ scoops of chocolate malted crunch.
I'm not sure if you have ever experienced the wait in one of those lines, but let me tell you something. It's nothing compared to standing behind the counter and dealing with customers who had to wait in that line. It was not one of my favorite memories.
Outside of my parents, it was probably the main source of motivation to earn good grades and graduate with a degree.
Anyways... back to the story. Some days the lines were so long that they went out into the parking lot. Today's line at the post office took me on a trip down memory lane and back to Thrifty's.
Sometimes the lines at Thrifty's were so long that I literally stopped trying to be the best ice cream scooper on the West Coast and actually gave up in trying to please everyone. Instead of letting the lines stress me out, I'd get into a relaxing pace and drown out the customers by listening to the Muzak the manager played in the store. I'm embarrassed to say this... but a part of me actually hoped people would get tired of waiting and leave.
Now, I know what you're thinking... that seems awfully immature and you should have been fired. I'm not going to argue with you. As an adult, I realize I didn't handle the situation in a professional manner. I was raised to always try my best and I should have given Thrifty's and their customers my best effort.
These days... I'm in the exact opposite position. I love my job and I'm proud to say I give my students and my administrators nothing short of 100%.
Unfortunately... that's not good enough for "karma". She made sure to teach me a lesson this morning at the post office.
That's where I shipped out packages to Comatoad, Zippy Zappy, Jacobmrley, Spiegel, and Schwood (CCW Member). It's also where I stood in line for nearly an hour as two tellers tried to help thirty to forty customers.
As soon as I got towards the front of the line, that's when I knew this was payback for the years at Thrifty's. Both employees were in no hurry to help us, because they knew it didn't matter how fast they worked. That line wasn't going anywhere. If anything, it got shorter because five to ten customers eventually walked out.
How do I know that they weren't in a hurry? I could tell by the way they taped packages and applied the postage stickers. It was as if they were going out of their way to be slow. And while customer were making rude comments and exasperated sighs, I just stood there with a grin on my face. Payback is a female dog.
Who knows... maybe they were my customers from twenty-five years ago who recognized me and decided to even the score.
That's why I'm not taking anymore chances. I'm making sure to pay off all of my cardboard debt to fellow bloggers. I'd hate to have "karma" come back to haunt me again.
If you feel that I owe you some cardboard and your name wasn't mentioned above, please email me or leave me a message below. It's a brand new year and I want to start things off on a positive note.
Happy Thursday and sayonara!
18 comments:
Does you PO have one of those Automated Postage Center machines? If they do, those are available 24/7 and you never have to wait in line, unless you need to ship something out of the country. Waiting in line is for chumps!
I second what Dennis says. Barring a shipment to Jereon on anyone in Canada, I don't venture into the post office until after 6 and hit the automated machine. LOVE IT!
None of the P.O.'s in my area have an automated machine, but the local Staples now has postal services, so now I can go at night or on Sunday's if needed.
I was foolish enough to hit the post office today during lunch hour (though I took the day off work). And yes, I made a b-line to the automated machine. But unfortunately there was a fat old lady who had never used it before.. trying to figure it out.. ug. Thankfully the person in from of me was nice enough to help her out.. still took longer than it should have, but oh well.
I wish my post office had one of those automatic machines...or at the very least I wish they wouldn't lose/ruin packages both to and from me!
My first job was scooping ice cream. At the San Ramon Thrifty's in 1989. Good times. good times.
Yeah... they do. Two problems:
1. I don't know how to use it.
2. There was a line for that too... although it definitely moved faster than my line.
One of these days I'll have to stand in front of it and figure out how to use it. Until then... I'm one of the chumps.
Okay... now I really need to man up and figure this magical machine known as the Automated Postage Center.
Hmmm... I have a Staples near my place. I might have to check them out. Thanks for sharing.
Lol... that would have been me holding up the line today... pressing buttons and experimenting with the machine.
I've gotta hand it to my local post office... they're pretty on top of things. I've lost one or two packages over the years. But for the most part, I'd give them a solid A. Hopefully your post office turns things around in 2014.
I'm glad one of us considered them "good times". I've got to admit... they had great ice cream. Probably one of the reasons I gained so much weight my junior and senior year in high school.
I try to empathize with the PO employees, but you can almost FEEL the lack of effort sometimes.
You could try Office Depot, if there's one near you.
It was definitely FELT yesterday, but usually it's never like that. It's the first time in 30+ years that I had that feeling.
Office Depot offers that service too? I have one one my way home from work.
There actually pretty easy to use Fuji, I bypass that insane line all the time. It's literally 4 to 5 yes or no questions and sliding a credit card.
Like Dennis said. If I have to use the PO for anything I go to ones that have the automated teller. Most of the time the line for the teller is out the door but there is no one at the machine. Hell those machines even sell stamps! I do remember one time standing in line when I lived in a town with only one post office and spent a good half hour or longer just to mail a small package and went home and looked into a stamps.com account. Didn't open one just looked. I will say that I love using ebay shipping though when I sell on ebay. Then I just drop the packages off at my work outgoing mail bin.
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