I visited the local Post Office to open a Post Office box for an organization to which I belong. This should have been a simple process, but the people at the Post Office succeeded in making it as difficult as possible.
To start off, I first called the Post Office to ensure that they had boxes available. I was told that they did, and in every size. The woman I spoke with was very friendly and extremely helpful; or so I thought.
When I arrived at the Post Office I stood patiently in line and finally arrived at the window and made my request. I was handed a form to complete and told I would need two forms of picture identification and a utility bill. I asked why I needed the utility bill and I was told it was to verify my current address.
But my address wasn't the issue since I was opening this for a nonprofit organization. When I told her this, she left to get her supervisor. He came out a few minutes later, and looked to be barely out of high school. He didn't have any clue what I was talking about, and so he went in the back and came back with Mack. I wasn't told what Mack's title was, but he's apparently the man who runs this particular branch.
Mack explained that the reason for the utility bill was so that the Post Office could ensure that the address I had given as a contact address was, in fact, a valid address. Probably something to do with Homeland Security or one of the other useless laws that we must endure under the current administration. I don't know why Mack had to come out to explain this, as it seemed simple enough that either the person at the window or the supervisor should have been able to help, but there you have it.
I returned home and gathered up the necessary documents and returned to the Post Office. I again waited in line and this time came to the window of a different worker. She looked at my driver's license and my passport and told me that these wouldn't work as they were both from the same list. Then she produced a letter from Mack that listed forms of identification divided into two groups. The first group were valid forms of photo IDs; driver's licenses, passports, military ID cards and so on. The second group were other forms of ID that did not have photographs, such as paperwork showing citizenship.
The woman working the window couldn't understand that two forms of ID were needed, not one form from each section. She went back for the same supervisor. This time he was even less helpful. He took the documents to the back, then came out and said that his manager was in a meeting and the best he could do was show him the form later that day, and mail the completed form to me so that I could return a third time to finally get the box.
I told him no. I told him that he was to go in the back and get the manager out here. He said the manager was in a meeting. I said I didn't care. "Tell him that he has a customer out here waiting," I instructed the supervisor. The supervisor refused. I refused to leave until I saw the manager. In a battle of wills, I don't lose.
A few minutes later Phil came out. Phil was the manager (Mack was at lunch). He asked me what the problem was. I said, "You tell me." He looked at my information and my documents and said, "These are fine." I said, "Tell her!" and pointed to the woman at the window.
She still refused to issue the box until Phil had signed off on the form so that if Mack had a problem with the transaction, it would be Phil's responsibility. Phil signed the form and I finally got the box. By this time, I had spent well over an hour working on something that should have taken less than 15 minutes.
She told me afterwards that she needed to make sure the rules were followed properly. I told her she was misreading the instructions, as Phil had already proven. "No," she said, "I've been working here for 14 years now. I know what I'm doing."
Apparently, she's been screwing up the works for 14 years. It's no wonder our mail delivery is so horrible in this country.
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