Postal defenses
Feb. 8th, 2006 03:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vvvexationLesson of the day:
When you attempt to buy stamps from a post-office vending machine, and it takes your money and you make your selection and it makes a whirring noise and says THANK YOU but nothing actually drops into the little tray, you may be tempted to thump on the machine in case the stamps got stuck halfway down or something.
DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU VALUE YOUR EARDRUMS.
Evidently, the USPS takes potential vending-machine vandalism very seriously. As an institution, that is; the individual employees don't seem to take it seriously at all, judging from the truly impressive job they did of ignoring the EARSPLITTING ELECTRONIC SHRIEKS on this occasion. Then again, perhaps that was simply due to their knowledge that it would stop in a few minutes. I, having no such knowledge, was slightly more distressed--plus I wanted my eight bucks back, which evidently required me to stand in line at the counter just to get anyone's attention, and then fill out a form that asked for such things as my nine-digit ZIP code (who the hell knows the last four digits off the top of their head?) and the six-digit serial number of the machine (I looked, and the machine didn't have one. It did have a "#19" on it, so I wrote that down along with the name of the post office branch and hoped for the best.)
If I don't get my refund I am gonna be very upset. I might even vandalize a stamp machine for real next time.
When you attempt to buy stamps from a post-office vending machine, and it takes your money and you make your selection and it makes a whirring noise and says THANK YOU but nothing actually drops into the little tray, you may be tempted to thump on the machine in case the stamps got stuck halfway down or something.
DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU VALUE YOUR EARDRUMS.
Evidently, the USPS takes potential vending-machine vandalism very seriously. As an institution, that is; the individual employees don't seem to take it seriously at all, judging from the truly impressive job they did of ignoring the EARSPLITTING ELECTRONIC SHRIEKS on this occasion. Then again, perhaps that was simply due to their knowledge that it would stop in a few minutes. I, having no such knowledge, was slightly more distressed--plus I wanted my eight bucks back, which evidently required me to stand in line at the counter just to get anyone's attention, and then fill out a form that asked for such things as my nine-digit ZIP code (who the hell knows the last four digits off the top of their head?) and the six-digit serial number of the machine (I looked, and the machine didn't have one. It did have a "#19" on it, so I wrote that down along with the name of the post office branch and hoped for the best.)
If I don't get my refund I am gonna be very upset. I might even vandalize a stamp machine for real next time.
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no subject
Date: 2006-02-09 12:16 am (UTC)I used to go buy stamps en masse just to get my change in Susan B. Anthony dollars. Ar.
just avoid the post office at all costs
Date: 2006-02-13 07:56 am (UTC)Just get yourself a fedex account number. It's a wonderful thing. When you have to ship something you can just write a number down on a shipping form and stick it on a box of any size, and drop it in a fedex drop box. It saves you quite a bit from paying cash or using a credit card for fedex shipping. Anyway not to sound like a commercial...
I can totally understand why postal employees go postal. I think the design of the postal vending machines reflects quite well the USPS management as a whole.
-Zig