My Journey in Writing, Ranting, and Woodworking

Across town he drove.  It had been a week since he last checked his mail, as he hated the long drive to the post office.  The traffic in Martelle can be killer.  Once on his 3 tenths of a mile journey, there were 2 cars he had to wait for at the stop sign!

Today though, our hero had put it on his list, and he was determined to cross it off.  He also had another motivations, truth be told.  It had slipped his mind, but a gentleman had mentioned something about sending him some old woodworking magazines.  How this could have slipped his mind, it a discussion for another day, but it had.

He put the key into box 71, turned it, and the tiny door popped open.  There were the expected bills and advertisements, and a notice from the postmaster that a package was waiting behind the counter.  “Yippee”, he thought to himself.

He was pleased there wasn’t a line, as he could step right up and present his claim for his package.  The postmaster looked at the little card and said, “You aren’t going to like me very much.”

“That is an odd thing to say.”  He thought, and then she handed him the box.  It was very light, and one end was torn open.  All the contents had been removed before it made it to the post office.  There was a little form letter note from William J. Herrmann, Senior Plant Manager.  It said they were sorry that my package was damaged and that they regret it and hope that this incident didn’t cause any inconvenience to me.

(Note:  I became weary of writing in the 3rd person and I have decided to abandon it for the remainder of the post.  Sometimes that happens.  I think that you all knew I was talking about myself, so who was I fooling anyway?  Nobody!  So now back to your regularly scheduled blog.)

It had not caused any inconvenience, but it made me a little bit sad.  Not because I didn’t get some great woodworking magazines, but that someone would be so mean as to take them.  It was obvious that the box had been opened along one seem and the magazines removed.

There is an old saying about it being the thought that counts, and in this instance, I think that couldn’t be more true.  I am really touched that the gentleman from NY would take the time to box up and send me some of his old magazines.  Even though the box was empty, it really did make me feel good.  So I say Thanks!

As for the post office, they suck, but we all knew that.  It is a bloated bureaucracy which is really bad at their job.  I don’t care if they go to 5 days delivery, I don’t care if they raise their prices, as I will use FedEx to send anything that needs to be sent.

Maybe one day, the person who stole my wonderful and thoughtful gift, will find this blog, read about the magazines and feel bad.  Perhaps the next day, as they lay in a pool of blood, slowing dying from the gunshot would given them by a fellow worker, during the annual ‘bring your gun into work’ day at the post office, they will be clutching one of the magazines and they will realize that Karma was watching!