My Trip to the Post Office

In December I posted something telling about some of the things I'd blog about in the near future. Now I'm making good on that promise.

One of the things I said I'd blog about was a recent trip to the post office. Here it is.

I'd been out of town for the second week of December and got a notice that there was a registered letter for me from the post office, an important legal document I'd been expecting. So the first full day I was home (a Thursday) I went by the post office at 11 AM. They were closed. I went again at 2 PM. They were still closed. On Friday again I went near 11 AM (they open at 9 AM). Still closed. I started wondering whether they're ever open.

That Friday I asked Awor if there's some holiday I didn't know about. He said it was someone's birthday (maybe a former freedom fighter) so the West Bengal government offices were closed. So I went back Monday morning at 9 AM. That's were the frustration started.

They open at 9. When I got there, there were 2 other customers there, sitting on a bench. There were 3 employees behind the counter, opening log books, booting up computers, sweeping the office and getting ready to start their day. I told them I needed to pick up a registered letter. They told me to have a seat. After about 20 minutes of doing the same stuff that they were doing when I arrived one of the employees called out to me.

He said, "We don't have those kind of envelopes here."

"Huh?," I thought. Then I repeated, "I came to pick up a registered letter that was sent for me. I was away and the postman came and left notice that I need to come here to pick it up."

"Oh," said the clerk, "then you need to sit and wait for your postman. He'll come in a few minutes."

So I sit patiently. After about 10 minutes, I ask, "When will my postman turn up?"

They say, "Near 10:00." 30 more minutes.

First of all, why bother opening at 9, if you're not really ready to serve anyone until 9:30?

Second, why do they make you wait 20 minutes to tell you that you need to go somewhere else to get what they think you need?

Third, when they finally understand what I need, why couldn't they say, "If you want to pick up your registered letter, you have to wait until or come back after 10 when your postman arrives."?

In the US we have all kinds of jokes about the inefficiency of the post office and poor service of the government servants. I'll never complain about them again.

I came back 30 minutes later and finally got my letter.