afternoon at the post office

the last document finally arrived in the mail today to complete my set of tax materials to send to my accountant. i found it in the mail box at around 3p. so i immediately printed out my other finalized documents and organized what i needed to make copies of. i ran to kinko's down the block. then, i ran down a few more blocks to the post office.

when i arrived, there were two long lines of people, each at least ten deep. i quickly stuffed, labeled, and sealed a priority mail envelope and hopped in one of the lines. i picked the one being served by three open windows than the line for only two open windows. while i waited, i noticed that an elderly gentleman a couple of people ahead of me was extremely chatty. he was mostly commenting on the number of people in the post office today. it was around 4p on a friday so the lines were not a surprise. then, i realized he was talking to the guy with facial piercings in front of him specifically.

it turned out that guy with the piercings had to catch a flight and was getting antsy about the wait. the elderly man, in his eastern european accent, began to ask every person ahead of them in line if they would allow the guy with the piercings to cut in front of them. someone started chuckling as the elderly man was making the small scene. i thought it was very brave and thoughtful of elderly man to make the effort to help a stranger. everyone yielded.

the guy with the piercings received instructions from the postal worker at the window to package item appropriately and set off to do so. the elderly man kept watching over him and pointing out how he needed to put more tape on the box. it was as if he had taken on this stranger on as his own son. the guy with the piercings finally finished sending out his package and thanked the elderly man on his way out. the elderly man, then, took his turn at the window and started to chat up the postal worker at the window.

the guy ahead of me in line noticed that the elderly man was just chatting too. he waited until the elderly man had finished his transaction and impatiently walked up to the window to nudge him out of the way. the elderly man didn't take offense at all; he actually apologized for talking too much as he left.

as i waited my turn and witnessed this commotion, i realized that this post office is one of the few in the city that does not have the bullet-proof glass windows. you can hand the postal worker your package directly, not through a cage. the postal worker who helped me was a little annoyed at first when i did not know the amount of stamps i had place on the envelope. there was a set of first class stamps the post office sold that did not indicate their value so i could not tabulate the stamps. it turned out that i still owed a little bit more. as we tried to figure out how to make up for the difference, whether to add more stamps that i had with me or just pay, i made a comment that i will do which ever was the fastest because the people behind me in line were getting agitated. then, the postal worker actually laughed and said that you can never please those people. it was as if she melted from an icy postal worker into a warm human being. we exchanged a pleasant good bye, and as i left the window, i heard grumblings about the long lines. i want to say to these people, "this is new york on a friday afternoon. of course there will be long lines. everyone is doing their best, and there's nothing you can do. you might as well just make the best of it." but i didn't. i would just sound naive and annoyingly cheerful. so i exited the building and hurried back to my apartment.