Ever had a situation when you just KNEW you were on Candid Camera?

[dianne]

Let me start by saying I hardly ever go to the post office. I get confused with all their copies and slips and what you fill out for this and that service. Goodness knows I wouldn''t attempt to use one of their machines, so, I tend to just go to the counter and tell them what I want and they help me.

So...I went on my lunch hour to the post office to mail a package for my bf. Very busy--14 people in front of me…really, I counted. Line was moving very slow. After 15 minutes, one of the managers asked if anyone was sending a package and paying with debit or credit. I raised my hand. He said, "You can use our automated machine. I''ll walk you through it." I told him I had a lot of questions about how to send the package and he assured me he would walk me through all my questions.

Ok...I get out of line, which is all the way out the front door by now, and walk over to the machine. The first thing I tell him is I need $10,000 worth of insurance on the package. He says sorry, he can''t do that with the automated machine. I fully expect him to say , "Ha Ha, just kidding!" Then I realize he is not kidding. I try to catch him on fire with only the glare of my eyes. I tell him I am so mad at him right now. He says he is sorry and I can get back in line. I look at the very long line and look back at him. He says he would put me back in my same spot...he would do that for me. I told him what he was going to do for me was make a lot of people in line very mad at me. I tell him I made it clear I had a lot of questions. He says he''s sorry and he should have found out what my questions were ahead of time. I agree with him. I tell him I just want to leave and will come back.
Although all this was done in a very calm, quiet tone I thought I would surely blow the barrette right out of my hair.

 

[Christa]

Grrr! I tried to use the APM or whatever they call it to mail an international package recently, and it give you that option on the screen, takes you through a couple of steps, and then says "sorry, international shipping is not available".

 

[dianne]

Guess that explains why everyone was in line to begin with and not using the machine....doesn''t do what you need done!!

 

[justjulia]

Yesterday: I''m trying to buy 2 packs of stamps to get my daughter''s hs graduation invitations out. I think, I''ll go over to the machines to avoid the line (same situation as you). I figure, ok, how hard could this be. So I put in a $20 bill and A KAZILLION of those Susan B Anthony one dollar gold coins begin falling down and out of the change box. It''s like high comedy and now EVERYONE in the line is STARING at me. Totally humiliating.

 

[FireGoddess]

Yeah, I only use those machines if I need postage and nothing else. I have been at the USPS several times where I just wanted to go ballistic...lines out the door, only 1 or 2 people at the desk and others milling around doing NOTHING instead of opening a line and helping more customers...that place drives me crazy.

 

[Finding_Neverland]

We have a great Post Office here, but it''s horrible to go there.

The employees are VERY friendly and helpful. They open up additional lanes when there''s lots of people in line. They have a person roaming the line to help people with small things. And the person makes sure you qualify before taking you out of line.

But our PO is always terribly busy. Around the holidays is the WORST. Some days you can''t even get a parking spot out in the lot. It''s awful.

 

[dianne]

Date: 4/5/2007 4:24:27 PM
Author: Finding_Neverland
We have a great Post Office here, but it''s horrible to go there.

The employees are VERY friendly and helpful. They open up additional lanes when there''s lots of people in line. They have a person roaming the line to help people with small things. And the person makes sure you qualify before taking you out of line.

But our PO is always terribly busy. Around the holidays is the WORST. Some days you can''t even get a parking spot out in the lot. It''s awful.

I love that you emphasized this point!

Wish I would have been at your post office. Hey!...It only makes sense to remove someone from a line if you are CERTAIN you can assist them, right?

Well, I went back around 3:00 and only 4 people in line, bam, bam, bam...my turn! Yippee! I''m on a roll....Well, I was asking to find out the cheapest way to mail the package and this elderly, but clearly spunky, lady just steps up beside me, interrupting, and says to the lady behind the counter, "Did the post office run out of money so your workers can''t afford uniforms anymore?! I just had my mail delivered by someone in camouflage pants and I''m sure that''s against the law! And don''t you tell me you don''t have uniforms because my usual postman wear one every single day! I just need to know if ya''ll have run out of money or something!"

Alan Funt...come out, come out, wherever you are...

I''m sure her point was that someone new delivered her mail and was not in uniform and she was concerned. Valid point...but she was a hateful one, whew!

 

[dianne]

Finding Neverland...I just love your avatar...It cracks me up everytime I see it.

 

[sumbride]

I love the Automatic Postage Machines! But they don''t do media mail either, and when I sell a used book on Amazon, that''s how I ship it. So I have the perfect technique! I say to my FI, "are you going to the post office today?" Since he does a lot of ebay selling, he usually is, so he takes it for me. Works every time.

Seriously, I HATE going to the post office!

We live in Baltimore, but I work in DC and FI works in Columbia, MD, about halfway to DC. Neither of us is ever home before 6. The post office opens at 8:30 and closes at 5!!! When someone sends a package to our house, we often have to wait until the weekend to pick it up, and heaven forbid we already have weekend plans! We rent a box at the UPS store for exactly that reason.

 

[luckystar112]

errr

I totally know how you feel. Let me tell you my story...

My grandmother is always sending me packages in the mail. Usually dishes and stuff that she doesn't use anymore. EVERY SINGLE TIME they arrive broken. So this last time, when my grandmother was going to send her ANTIQUE china from her wedding to me, I tell her to get insurance.
I get the package 4 days later, and despite the HUGE stickers all over it that say "fragile" and "glass" and "insured" and the PERMANENT BLACK MARKER also emphasizing the "fragile" part on every flap of the box....the china is crushed. And I....am devastated and SOOO pissed. My grandmother insured the box for $500 or something like that because it was too expensive to go any higher. So, I take the boxes to the post office, wait in line for 45 minutes and they tell me I need the receipts from when my grandmother got the insurance. So she goes to file a claim on her end instead and they say they need the boxes. I have the boxes, obviously, so they tell her to send me copies of the receipts from when she bought the insurance. I go to turn them in, they tell me I need the REAL copies of the receipts. Call my grandmother...get the real receipts...go BACK there. They tell me it's too late.
Un-believable.

They really put you through hell at the post office. I don't think there is anything I hate more than going there and dealing with those people. The lines...the everything. It is an AWFUL unorganized system with incompetant workers who are RUDE and can't handle people's personal belongings with care...and who obviously can't READ or else all of my packages would have gotten to me in better condition.

Another thing, when the packages are delivered to my house...even if I'm HOME...(and I've seen the lady do this) she gets out of her little truck, walks to my door, and drops the package down. We don't even USE that door. My car is in the DRIVEWAY. Why can't you knock? I don't get it. Doesn't leave a note either. Sometimes I wonder how long a package has been sitting there when I find it because there is nothing notifying me it's there not to mention anyone could just take it!

 

[luckystar112]

And now for one that has nothing to do with the P.O. but still made me feel like I was on candid camera.

My internet, for some reason, goes out all the time. Sometimes its only for an hour, sometimes for the whole day. Whenever I call they aren''t able to do anything for me, and they make me book an appointment between 8am and 8pm on some day that I obviously have other things to do like work or go to school.
So, my internet goes out. I give it a day...it doesn''t come back on. So I call Time Warner Cable and talk to some lady who tells me to unplug my modem and plug it back in. I always do that before calling them. She transfers me to some guy who tells me that there must be something wrong with my modem because it is initializing and then giving up. He says to go to the nearest TWC and ask them to switch out my modem.

The closest twc is 7 miles away. I drive there, because I''m desperate at this point. I walk in, tell the lady I need a new modem and she hands me one right on the spot. Didn''t even ask who I was or anything. I think to myself, "That was easy!!!!"
I drive home...go to hook it up, and it doesn''t work. So I call TWC again and talk to some lady who is obviously working from home because I can hear her kids screaming in the background and she keeps telling them to be quiet. She says that I need to make an appointment because she can''t even track my I.P. address on the new modem. So, I make an appointment.

Then I start thinking about it. Why can''t they find my I.P. address? All I did was switch out one piece of equipment with another. So I call TWC AGAIN and a new guy tells me that when I went to pick up the modem the lady was supposed to give me a USB cable and a driver installation CD. So I drive ALLLLLLLLL the way back to TWC, and the lady is like, "I didn''t give those to you?" No lady, you didn''t. I make the trip all the way back home, go to put the CD in the computer and guess what? SHE GAVE ME A BUSTED CD.

Oh my God....my blood was BOILLLLINGGG. I was SO mad. I realize now I''m going to have to make a THIRD trip to TWC in the middle of traffic and I am about to just....lose it on this lady. She is so lucky the traffic gave me a chance to calm down. I get there, and they are closing up shop. I walk in....sort of but not really slam the CD down on the counter in front of her and go, "Ma''am...you think you can give me a CD that isn''t busted?" Granted she probably had no idea that the CD was busted, but it WAS her fault that I was making the 3 trips when it should have only taken one. She didn''t even say sorry. She handed me a new CD...I inspected it in front of her, then looked her in the eyes with the biggest sarcastic smile I''ve ever had in my entire life and said, "THANK YOU SO MUCH!"

And then my internet STILL didn''t work and someone had to come out here anyway.

 

[monarch64]

Here''s another vote for "I can''t stand going to the P.O." My parents send packages to our house 4-5 times a year, and every single time I miss the mailman by about 15 minutes, long enough that he''s on to another block but I''m not about to go chasing him around the neighborhood. So the last time, around Valentine''s Day, I find a sticky note attached to our door saying to go pick up the package at the P.O. I really should''ve known better...I got there just in time to be told the mailman had tried to deliver it but he still hadn''t arrived back at the post office to drop off the missed deliveries. Argh. Of course this resulted in a trip back to the P.O. the next day and I had to wait in a very long line again. Heaven forbid my mother ever use UPS even though it''s cheaper. sheesh.