Going Postal

A few weeks ago on a Tuesday I noticed we hadn't gotten mail for the past couple of days.  Normally we don't get a lot of mail because so much is sent electronically but to not get any mail for that many days was unusual.  Also unusual was the fact that there were flags in al of the yards on our block that didn't have mailboxes on the street.  So I called my aunt who works for the local paper to see if there had been any articles recently about people having to have boxes where the delivery person would be able to just drive and deposit.  She hadn't remembered anything but would look into it.

A few days passed and I saw I had a voicemail from her saying that no one at the post office would talk to her and if I would call to see what they said.  I did and talked to the post master.  She told me that they had issued letters to the people in our neighborhood a while ago saying there had been a dog issue and that if they couldn't resolve it they would hold mail until people put up mailboxes.  Apparently the issue hadn't been resolved and so they had resorted to holding mail.  She also told me that it was a loose rottweiler roaming the neighborhood.  She said that they would hold our mail for 10 days (at this point we were on day 7) and their business hours were M-F 8:30-4:30 and Friday 9-12.  This got me heated.  We had never received a letter stating there had been any issues number one.  Number two, there has never been a loose rottweiler in our neighborhood.  Not that I am a breed-hater but Leo is not a dog person.  And he likes to play outside.  So had I ever seen a loose rottweiler I would not have allowed Leo to play outside by himself.  And number 3 those business hours are RIDICULOUS!  I work 8-5 and thankfully I don't work weekends anymore or else I would have had to take off work to go get our mail!

So that weekend I went to pick it up and I filed a complaint with the department because lo and behold...the letter letting us know that they wouldn't be delivering mail was in our mail that was being held.  The reason why...because it would have been dangerous for the mailman to deliver our mail.  I also asked how I was supposed to have known and they said when we stopped receiving our mail we were supposed to call.   Ugh.  So that weekend we got our mailbox put up but they still didn't start delivering our mail until I called them.  So ridiculous.  And after talking to a neighbor she said that she was out when the mailman was supposedly accosted by the vicious rottweiler.  It apparently was a collie and the mailman had called animal control.  And that was the only time (according to police record...because I also have a police officer AND a city employee as neighbors) there had ever been a complaint about a loose dog.  So really our mailman was just being lazy because he didn't want to walk to deliver mail in the 100+ degree heat.

And now I understand how people go postal.  Rant over!