postal

On a road trip the other day we drove by, and then U turned.  A tiny little post office.  Cute and creepy and far too unique to go undocumented.   

There was actually a holding area outside the back of the shed.  The office was so small that the post master would put the letters in the outgoing mail slot from inside of the post office and they would drop to the holding area out back.  Funny.  I guess there wasn’t even room for the envelopes to sit inside. 
Each year I wait in line for 20 minutes to mail out my Christmas cards.  Maybe I should come here next year.  Probably no line and even if there was, I could probably cut because the post master is probably not going to put up the people organizer ropes in the parking lot to keep the lines tidy.  Hmmmm… it’s a thought.  He also probably wouldn’t discriminate against tiny envelopes like the post master did the other day to me.  I was mailing a mail in rebate on some band aids and had grabbed a random envelope out of my drawer.  Once I filled out the envelope I realized I was out of stamps so I drove to the big post office and waited in line 10 minutes.  When it was my turn I handed over my small green envelope.  I was surprised when she weighed and weighed it again then went in the back to retrieve a special little measuring device.  From there, our conversation went something like this:

I’m gonna charge you extra on this one. 
What? 
Yeah, it’s too small. 
Too small for what? 
Too small to take a chance with.  I’ll have to charge you an extra handling fee. 
Are you kidding me?  Just put it in a larger envelope. 
I’ll have to charge you for that. 
Are you kidding me? 
I’m also going to charge you for it being extra heavy. 
It doesn’t appear to be over weight, are you sure? 
Well, it’s right at the cutoff.  Other people’s scales may read heavier, so I’m not going to take a chance.  That will be $2.19. 
$2.19 for this tiny little envelope?  Are you kidding me?  A tiny little slightly heavy envelope? 

I believe the band aids cost me $2.69.  I shook my head, paid the over zealous post office worker and walked out thinking how I could possibly avoid all post offices the rest of my life.  On the way out, I took an envelope that was on a display, the display that contains all the flat rate boxes and envelopes.  Not because I was interested in sending a flat rate envelope, but just to punish the stupid post office for discriminating against my tiny envelope.

Bet they don’t discriminate against tiny envelopes at the tiny post office.  Arrrrrrrrrggg...  That fire me up just replaying that interaction in my head.  I still haven't received my rebate either. 

 
I had to laugh at this sign though.  They seem to have rather relaxed hours at the tiny post office. 
Interesting that the office closes for lunch.  Where would the post master be going to eat his lunch, the cafeteria, the break room, the lounge? 

Peculiar, tiny and peculiar.