Postal Disaster

I hate the post office.

Really.

Never have I been there, gotten what I needed to get or mailed what I needed to mail without some sort of ridiculous debacle. When I mailed hubby’s first “care package” to him last month, what should have been a quick in and out type thing, turned into a 45 minute deal because the man that was behind the counter kept trying to tell me that I was purchasing the wrong box. Seriously. I’m the one paying for it so just mail my crap.

Today was no different.

I went in with the intention of simply mailing hubby another box of stuff. I had everything all nice and neat. I even knew which stupid box I needed-thanks to the 45 minute lecture I had received in said post office the last time. Little Man was with me and he was cooperating very well. Aside from the fact that he kept trying to “play” with the Buzz Lightyear that was on one of the shipping displays.

I get to the counter with my box all packed up. Set little man up on the counter beside me and give him something to occupy him while I’m paying. Let me state, for the record, that my son [fortunately for me] does very, very well in public places. I don’t know if he always will, but right now, he does. I can take him almost anywhere and not have to worry about too many major freak-outs. So setting him up on the counter is no concern for me. Because he understands and knows that he has to be still. And he does.

For starters the postal worker tells me I can ship hubby’s package Priority Mail for $4.95. Okay, fine. The cheaper I could mail the box, the better. Especially considering I had to buy stamps, too. {Don’t even get me started on the outrageous price of stamps.} So I fill out the stupid little priority mailing label. All 8 Lines of hubby’s address…when the moron behind the desk tells me, “Oh no ma’am. I’m sorry it’s going to cost $28.50 to mail this package priority. So you need to stop filling that out.” Ok…and this is when things got bad.

Suddenly, Mr. Rude, Obnoxious, I think I’m cool because I work in a post office guy, shoves the box of stuff toward me and knocks Little Man off of the counter…onto the FLOOR. I dropped everything on the floor and tried to turn real fast and catch him, but I didn’t. Fortunately he landed on his feet first and then toppled over and hit his head on the floor. He cried for about .5 seconds because it scared him more than anything. He has a little knot on his forehead where he bumped it, but nothing serious.

So here I stand with a crying child and a big box of stuff to mail and the guy that just knocked my child off the counter just looks at me like I have 3 heads. I had already paid for my box and the shipping charges…and then he looks at me and says, “Well, are you planning on taping up this box? You can’t mail in until you do…” And I ask him, while trying to calm the child he just pushed off the counter down, if he has some tape he can use. The last time I went in they taped it for me. Never have I ever had to provide my own effing tape to mail a box. Ever.

He tells me no, that I have to buy my own tape. My OWN freaking tape. After he knocks my son off the counter. And he wants me to pay for a $5.00 roll of packing tape. Seriously?! I looked at him with a very serious, you have got to be kidding me face. And he says, “Well you’ve already paid for the shipping and the box…you may as well give me some money for tape.”

That was the point I lost it. Little Man was still whining, and my blood pressure was up. And I said, quite simply, “Are you freakin’ kidding me? You want me to buy a $5.00 roll of tape to use one time? Forget it…I’ll just take my crap home and mail it.” I have a huge roll of packing tape at home from where we moved. I wasn’t paying for tape. That’s ridiculous. Again, not after the counter incident. He should have been offering to pay the shipping or something. Or at least asking if Little Man was ok…not badgering me about tape.

So I had a meltdown. Started talking about how ridiculous that it was that they expected me to buy tape after what had just happened. And told the man just to give me a refund and I would take my stuff to UPS or FedEx and mail it.

I’m the kind of person, when I get really mad, I cry. It has nothing to do with me being upset. I’m just ticked off. I get that from my mom. Growing up I always knew when she was really mad, because she cried. And I do too. And at this point, the waterworks were flowing. Then some sweet little old lady, I’ll call my guardian angel, stepped up to the counter and bought that effing roll of tape for me. So she bought the tape, we taped up hubby’s package and the guy behind the counter kindly addressed it for me.

Then the lady came over and talked to me, told me how much she appreciated my husbands service and told me that she would be writing a letter to the post-master about how inappropriately the situation was handled.

It was awful. Dramatic, it was. And I admit I was slightly embarrassed for losing it the way that I did. But that guy was such a jerk. So unbelievably rude. Couldn’t believe it. Next time I have to mail something to hubby, I’ll either find another post office, or take it to UPS. Won’t be using that post office anymore. I can’t afford it.  LOL