ThinkingSkull.com

I don’t often send packages unless it’s around Christmas time or I’m returning a item I’ve ordered online. The video contest I recently entered required me to send in a DVD copy, so I found an old padded mailer, tapped over the old info, readdressed it, and off to the post office I went.

I get to the clerk, hand her the already-addressed and sealed envelope, and tell her I need postage for it. She points to a screen with five options on it, priced from 75 cents all the way up to $16 bucks, and asks me to choose. I chose the 75 cents, to which she says, “This isn’t a letter, it’s a padded envelope.”

Okay, so I pick the next one up, for $1. “You didn’t put it in a first-class mailer,” she smiles.

I say, “I just want the cheapest one that I can send this with.”

Again with the smile. “I’m a salesperson, sir. You have to choose. I’ll recommend the 16-dollar one, if you ask me.”

“Then why can’t I see just the options that apply to what I’m mailing?”

“We encourage you to do your own research of our products, sir,” was the stupid response I got. Fine. My “research” then consisted of me reading off every option from cheapest to costliest until she at last accepted it, much to the frustration of the person in line behind me. And she just kept on smiling.

I equate this to basically the same frustration of putting money into a soda machine and pushing buttons only to find out that the machine is empty and the little “choose again” lights are on the fritz. I have no idea what options apply to what I’m sending… that’s why I brought it in to the post office to begin with. I didn’t need a moonlighting school teacher; I was looking for a knowledgeable postal worker.

I think I liked the post office better when the workers were disgruntled and carried firearms.