Hoo boy. I just waited in line for 45 minutes at the post office. Now, the PO in the part of town where I work is very nice, so it was much better than waiting for 45 minutes in the part of town where I live. But there were only 2 clerks working, and the line was to the door. Everything is moving slowly, but the people in line are basically chill.

Until, about 25 minutes into it, a family of 6 shows up and goes to the front of the line because they have an apointment for passports, thus taking us down to only 1 clerk for mailing stuff, b/c the other clerk is doing the passports for the Swiss Family Robinson.

First -- they take appointments for passports? Huh.

Second -- I thought that that family was going to be ripped limb from limb by the very genteel Older Ladies in line with me. Under the very pointed glares and grumbling, the mom of the family got all defensive (justifiably) and said, "We HAVE an appointment!"

Which led to the genteel Older Ladies saying things like, "Well, maybe the POST OFFICE needs to not make passport appointments DURING CHRISTMAS!" and "Maybe the POST OFFICE should have anticipated this and actually SCHEDULED ENOUGH WORKERS!" and "Maybe the POST OFFICE should hire more employees -- there are plenty of people LOOKING FOR A JOB!"

(The ASSCAPS indicate where they really were raising their voices and glaring, alternately, at the clerks and then the family.)

I just kept playing Sudoku on my phone.

Oh, dog. My sister wants me to mail a package for her. I hope the line for the automated system isn't too long. Because my phone doesn't do Sudoku. And I need to get an envelope for the book.

eta: Post more, people. I have work that I need to think about in the back of my head, not the front.

Just got complimented again by the boss. Apparently feedback on me from the user team I work with continues to be positive. No merit increases or bonuses for me, but it all helps with the chances of me getting picked up when my contract expires, so it's good stuff.

Nice!

For the record, the recruiter gave me some bio on the people I'll be meeting with, made sure I knew how to get there, and that was about it. (Turns out the "relatively new" person has been there almost three years!) I was (as usual) afraid I didn't have enough questions, but I was trying to save something for tomorrow!

"Well, maybe the POST OFFICE needs to not make passport appointments DURING CHRISTMAS!" and "Maybe the POST OFFICE should have anticipated this and actually SCHEDULED ENOUGH WORKERS!" and "Maybe the POST OFFICE should hire more employees -- there are plenty of people LOOKING FOR A JOB!"

Hee.

The PO is trying not to hire holiday workers this year -- according to the USPS friend of my UPS driver. She was very jealous that my driver got a temp helper!

I hope the line for the automated system isn't too long.

I was going to use the automated system, but they have a big sign on the drop box that you put packages in (after getting the postage) that says that only packages weighing less than 16 oz. could be put in that drop box; anything heavier has to go to the counter clerk. And since I was mailing 3 large books (1 hardcover), it was a safe assumption that it was more than 16 oz. So I was doomed to the counter.

The PO is trying not to hire holiday workers this year

Heh. I can attest to that.

The automated machine always mocked me at my old post office -- there would be a huge line of people mailing internationally, picking up packages (usually me), or buying money orders.

anything heavier has to go to the counter clerk.

Yeah, but you can usually just drop it on the counter, rather than waiting in line. At least, in my post office, which doesn't normally have genteel old ladies yelling at people.

Thank dog I have a post office in the building so I can scope out when the lines are bad. The p.o. in my neighborhood is a freaking nightmare.

The PO is trying not to hire holiday workers this year

Oh good grief. Note to self: don't wait until the last minute to mail stuff this year.