BUZZURRO

This morning I had to go to the Post Office. Having lived in Italy for several years I have come to dread the Post Office.

I remember waiting many times for 1 hour plus to pay my bills (bills can be paid in the Post Office there) and waiting many minutes for a stamp or two only to be told that they ran out hours before (not that any postal employee would even think to make up a sign stating this fact for future customers)( and who ever heard of a Post Office without stamps anyway?) .

I remembered other Post Offices from my life’s past in the US that were usually efficient with short wait times so a visit to a Post Office and I was always comparing my Italian postal visits unfavorably. I missed the post offices in the US.
In 2006 when Buzzurro and I moved to New Jersey in the US we went to the Post Office. Say whatever bad thing you want about New Jersey, and many people do, but we never had to wait more than 10 minutes for any service there. “See” I told Buzzurro ” The Post Office doesn’t always have to be a place in your nightmares.” … Then we moved to New Mexico.

The Post Offices in New Mexico made me eat my words. It is like Italy all over again (maybe not quite as bad, but close).
There are many people waiting, having taken a number and three employees working while 4 other windows remain closed. The employees might work fast, but there are never ever enough of them. Buzzurro and I joke all the time that when one needs to go to the Post Office, one should bring a book with them, and a thick one at that, but I am backtracking.

This morning I went to the Post Office. I was a little perturbed because I did not bring a book or other reading material with me. I opened the door to the Post Office, expecting a long wait like usual but to my amazement found that every single window was occupied by a working employee. It was incredible. I was in shock. I picked my number from the number machine as usual. I picked number 54 and the counter said the Post Office was serving customer number 51. A lady walked up next to me and said that she has never seen so many employees working at one time in the Post Office. “Me either” I replied and then a postal employee called my number. I went to the counter and was served. I was out of there in less than 2 minutes.
What a pleasant surprise. Hope it lasts.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 24th, 2007 at 11:33 pm and is filed under Daily Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.