Today i went to the post office to mail some letters, and another intern needed to mail a package. I thought that i had the post office routine down (i remembered to bring a glue stick, since you have to put glue on your stamps,and the vat of rubber cement they leave out, and you have to use your fingers with, is sometimes empty...and i'd heard stories about mailing packages so i brought tape and scissors).
In the past when i've mailed letters they cost 15 Rs to mail to the US (about 30 cents). Today they said it was 25 Rs (55 cents). I was confused about why, and they told me it was because i'd sealed my envelopes. i'd sealed all the other envelopes i'd mailed and this never came up. At first i thought it was some security measure, and that it cost more cause i sealed them before coming ot the post office - but i was wrong. just cause its sealed, period, 10 rs extra. So, apparently there is a fee for wanting to keep everything in your envelope, or for not wanting anyone to read your letter. Now to me it seems like it would be more convenient for all envelopes to be sealed...less chance of losing things and all but i guess logic does not apply in all situations. nearly doubling the postage to seal an envelope...It's so ridiculous its funny!
Then it was time to mail the package. The box was thoroughly wrapped in duct tape. i mean pretty much covered. The employee looked at it and said, "oh, you need the white cloth" - i'd heard about this white cloth. i guess packages get wrapped in the cloth and then sewn shut. He said that the package wasn't secure without the white cloth, we needed it. We told him our tape was very strong, and the box would not open...pretty much we were willing to risk mailing the package without the magic white cloth.
We were referred to another guy who looked at the package and finally came to the conclusion that our package just might make it without the white cloth, but in order to be fully secure our box would need some scotch tape (of all things). Luckily i was prepared. he pointed to different spots and i put the scotch tape on. Not all the way around the box, just random spots. i used the tape liberally to help convince him that our package was not going to pop open. Never mind the fact that i didn't put the tape anywhere that would actually keep the box closed. after awhile of putting scotch tape OVER duct tape he finally declared, "Now its secure." i had to work really hard not to laugh at that one! yup...i think there was a real chance of this box coming apart, but then i decorated the box with scotch tape, and now its fine...
Oh, and to top it all off there was a kitten meowing in the post office somewhere....never a dull moment - not even at the post office!
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4 comments:
i couldn't stop laughing. good story, friend. it's a good thing you were prepared with the scotch tape.
too bad you didn't get pictures of the secure box so the rest of us would know how to make a box secure for shipping:)
Reading this post about the P.O. just makes me laugh and reminds me of so many situations we dealt with while living in Asia. It's so good you can laugh about it--because some of it just makes no sense (when sifted through our cultural filter)and you'll live in perpetual frustration if you take it too seriously. Way to go with the good attitude!
shut up. your life is so... amusing. our post office, while fun, is not nearly as exciting! good thing you had that tape with ya. =)
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