2917: Postal
To preface this, I know there's virtually nothing in the course of the average day-to-day business that's life-or-death, where every second counts. A minute late to work? Boss prolly won't even notice [unless you have the misfortune of working for Clock King]. You may get shuffled out of a closing businessplace--as I did just now 9_9 --but businesses will open again.* As such, it is Not Worth It to get angry over every minute delay in your plans with nonfatal consequences for tardiness, and life will be easier just accepting that someone, for instance, wants to cut you off in order to keep you from turning right on red at the light when s/he wants to go straight.
*except the ones going out of business, obviously, but I'm trying to make a point here
That said, I am aggravated at the ballooning of my carbon footprint in trying to get this last bit of mail out today, since the buyer [in Germany] took until after my very late lunch break to respond. I really should've just assumed* that, when offered a free Priority Mail upgrade, no sane person would turn it down--I'd have saved at least forty-five minutes in doing so, considering I got home a half-hour late and will now have to go back tomorrow to ship this jank since the ONE post office I can find that's open after five was so crowded that there wasn't even parking.
*I made another mistake in this selling biz, reading "Standard Delivery" as "whatever cheap-ass rate" and assuming the buyer overpaid for cheap-ass rate--a subsequent comparison with another international sale that actually paid for cheap-ass rate [First Class International] and an eBay check clued me in that the buyer perhaps intended to buy Priority Mail International, and eBay/PayPal just decided that was "standard" and would call it that X( ...after I already sent a refund for the presumed overcharge, naturally 9_9 [but mistakes are how we learn, so I ROLL WITH IT 'KAY]
Which brings me to my point: Why do post offices and banks have normal business hours, basically? Like, I have to use my lunch hour as "errand hour," because the post office doesn't open until I'm [supposed to be] at work and closes when I['m supposed to] leave. That means if for what reason I can't get there during errand hour, I can't mail/do in-person banking. Further, why abbreviated hours on Saturdays, when most people are actually off work and able to go?? In some cases, they aren't open at ALL on Saturdays! |=b
I mean, the counterargument is that they can't afford extra hours to have windows open when no one's there because most people use usps.com/.gov, but of COURSE no one's going to show up when they're closed and can't make it there when it's open XB~~ It's a bit inane to use "no one's there" as justification for shortened, inconveniently-scheduled hours. It's like what Yogi Berra said: "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
Relatedly, two of the women behind me in Postal Run #1 commented on how long the lines were, even after the lunch hour rush, when there wasn't any holiday in particular for there to be a line. I should have said, "Well, yesterday was Columbus Day Observed, so there's a whole day of mail backed up." I don't really enjoy small talk, though.
Reminder to self to change my passwords again. Current scheme theme is cool and memorable, but it's still worrisome having used them on public computers, basically, besides generally not having changed them in a while.
All I know is that I tried, and I tried to make it alright...
*except the ones going out of business, obviously, but I'm trying to make a point here
That said, I am aggravated at the ballooning of my carbon footprint in trying to get this last bit of mail out today, since the buyer [in Germany] took until after my very late lunch break to respond. I really should've just assumed* that, when offered a free Priority Mail upgrade, no sane person would turn it down--I'd have saved at least forty-five minutes in doing so, considering I got home a half-hour late and will now have to go back tomorrow to ship this jank since the ONE post office I can find that's open after five was so crowded that there wasn't even parking.
*I made another mistake in this selling biz, reading "Standard Delivery" as "whatever cheap-ass rate" and assuming the buyer overpaid for cheap-ass rate--a subsequent comparison with another international sale that actually paid for cheap-ass rate [First Class International] and an eBay check clued me in that the buyer perhaps intended to buy Priority Mail International, and eBay/PayPal just decided that was "standard" and would call it that X( ...after I already sent a refund for the presumed overcharge, naturally 9_9 [but mistakes are how we learn, so I ROLL WITH IT 'KAY]
Which brings me to my point: Why do post offices and banks have normal business hours, basically? Like, I have to use my lunch hour as "errand hour," because the post office doesn't open until I'm [supposed to be] at work and closes when I['m supposed to] leave. That means if for what reason I can't get there during errand hour, I can't mail/do in-person banking. Further, why abbreviated hours on Saturdays, when most people are actually off work and able to go?? In some cases, they aren't open at ALL on Saturdays! |=b
I mean, the counterargument is that they can't afford extra hours to have windows open when no one's there because most people use usps.com/.gov, but of COURSE no one's going to show up when they're closed and can't make it there when it's open XB~~ It's a bit inane to use "no one's there" as justification for shortened, inconveniently-scheduled hours. It's like what Yogi Berra said: "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
Relatedly, two of the women behind me in Postal Run #1 commented on how long the lines were, even after the lunch hour rush, when there wasn't any holiday in particular for there to be a line. I should have said, "Well, yesterday was Columbus Day Observed, so there's a whole day of mail backed up." I don't really enjoy small talk, though.
Reminder to self to change my passwords again. Current scheme theme is cool and memorable, but it's still worrisome having used them on public computers, basically, besides generally not having changed them in a while.
All I know is that I tried, and I tried to make it alright...