Yesterday morning we wired our house payment to Diane and all was well. I half expected hear that our check to arrive in her afternoon mail, but it didn't.
Late in the day, I received a phone call from our local postmaster. She's a big city sort who replaced our long time beloved postmaster about a year ago. This woman hasn't quite mastered how to deal with the folks in our small town and no one likes her. In fact, she's so unpopular that a group of locals picketed the office last month in an effort to get the regional directors to pay attention to the problems she's caused. This picket line was populated by elderly people. Who says there's no life after sixty?
She'd clearly been given an assignment by someone to search for our missing letter. "Mrs. Paddock, we've looked high and low in our office and your package isn't here," she said.
"I know that. It was last seen in Springfield and it wasn't a package it was a letter."
"When were you expecting it to arrive?"
"I was expecting the woman I sent it to to get it five days ago."
"Well the package isn't here. I'll call you if we find it. It's probably just delayed. I'm sure it will be here soon."
"It's not a package, it's a letter and I'm assuming that it's somewhere between Springfield and Green Bay, Wisconsin."
"Wait, it's a letter?"
Our United States Postal Service is on the job. Reassuring, in't it?
This evening, just for fun, I checked the tracking number on our letter. It seems it left Milwaukee early this morning and is on the way to Green Bay, four days after it was suppose to arrive.
Milwaukee. I can only assume the letter decided to take a detour because it had never seen a brewery before. I hope it took pictures.
4 comments:
Everybody loves beer, Mary, I wouldn've gone to Milwaukee too.
Oh yay - it is still in America then.
Love Jeanie's comment! Mary, I know only too well about the missing payment thing.
More than 30 years ago, we were buying a piece of land the owner financed and had a similar experience. We'd been so faithful in making our regular payments (Is there some reason NOT to do that?)and she called me!!! I was shocked. It was more than two weeks after the check was supposed to be in her hands to say she felt it must have been lost in the caverns (or bat caves, as it might have been???) between her mailbox and ours.
Well, we put a stop payment on the check (It did NOT cost more than the amount of the check like it would now.) and sent another.
So, I can't remember if she called or sent a letter, but A YEAR later, she had our OLD check hand delivered to her. It was crumpled and barely recognizable, but the missing check, nonetheless. The explanation from the PO was: When they were cleaning out some of their machinery, it was found stuck in the works at the back, (perhaps under a rock...hopefully not under a pile of guano). Anyway, nice to know things stay the same??? (Ha, ha!)
Still, I'm sorry you have to go through all that mess. And, have you thought to suggest to your lovely Post Mistress that she might need hormone or drug therapy? (Just wondering. Have met a few women like this one. Ooops! I'm realted to one!)
My husband suggested that he might have stopped to take in a football game too.
Yes, Jeanie, so far. :)
PW--What a story. One for post office archives. Loved the bat guano image. Kind of makes you wonder if some aspect of the Men in Black movie was correct, doesn't it?
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