Dec
23
2009
Our Postmaster Lends An Ear To Everyone
Author: siggyOur Postmaster, Sonya, lends an ear to everyone in our small town of less than a thousand. Everyone has to get their mail or buy stamps.
She hears every body’s stories. She knows who is ill, most people by their first name and even where they live.
She is the local “psychiatrist” although she does not dispense too much advice or any pills. When someone is dying, she hears about it from the nearby relative.
Sonya lives nearby and given enough time she meets just about every resident unless you are a hermit and never leave your house. Every person need stamps or eventually has to weigh a package.
The post office is the focal point of this town. There is the local diner where all the old fogies congregate every morning and share the latest gossip. The diner (and our supermarket) are only a distant second place to meet locals.
Sonya has the pulse of our small town. There is very little she does not know about its residents. She is usually very discreet about the gossip she hears every day.
The postmaster of our small town knows almost everything about almost every body. She just has to know when to shut up. Sometimes that is hard for her to do but most of the time she does a good job. Everyone knows Sonya.
Tags: buy stamps, hermit, latest gossip, lend an ear, local diner, local psychiatrist, mail, old fogies, post office, postmaster, small town, stamps, weigh a package
December 23rd, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Well… I order my stamps from the internet, I weigh my packages on my home scale (it can cover up to 300 lbs.), For larger packages I purchase my labels online and print them at my printer. I then (again online) put in a request to have the local mail man ring my doorbell with the next delivery and I hand him the labeled package which he ships.
But… that’s because of two things.
I’m getting more and more agoraphobic, and I’m a Geek. Just call me Virtual Brother John.
But Siggy, your way sounds so wonderfully retro! 🙂
Brother John
Lansdowne, Pennsylvania USA
December 24th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Dear Brother John,
You do not live in a small town. I do. Although I did not go to the local post office regularly until I started misting their two Boston ferns that were not doing too well. I even brought both plants home and my wife repotted them. One did not make it: In the process I got friendly with the postmaster(really “acting”) and even the other clerk: He was a real grump. We would have a running conversation about the progress of the plants. Sonya said,”I broke him down” referring to her fellow clerk .Anyway, after I started watering the plants I would go to the post office almost every day. We do have a box in town although we get our mail delivered.