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I love my mailman!
I love my mailman In Scotland at New Year have a quaint old tradition called “first footing”. A tall dark stranger comes to the door bearing gifts and we open the front door to welcome him in along with the good spirits and open the back door to release the bad spirits. The man is our honored guest. His status is in stark contrast to our gift bearers in the US Our lowly, unappreciated mailmen and women deserve some Scottish treatment. There’s even the phrase “Going postal” to sully their reputation. We should usher it out the back door. It shouldn’t follow us into the 21st century. Spending too much time in line at the Post Office this holiday, I got a new perspective on the life of our much maligned Postal workers. Their job is relentless. They face an endless stream of people full of holiday jitters with a myriad of packages and frustrating questions. My local post office in San Jose has three regular postal clerks: paragons of patience. I’ve heard them recite the subtle differences between registered, certified, and insured mail dozens of times; tell people that they simply can’t send a package wrapped in silver foil, and patiently explain that customs declarations slips are not optional. They bite their tongues and smile indulgently when kids call them Mr. Stupid, or adults rant about a lost item. I’ve even had Dennis correct the zip code on my tax returns. Sherri happily takes the time to stamp my toddlers’ hands with the red alert: “small package” on a good day, “spoiled” on a bad one. She even lets my kids sit on the counter, the height of indulgence in this litigious society. Unlike workers in other service industries they have no vested interest in being nice, no tips to garner. Their good nature comes from the heart. I think we should scrap “go postal” from our vocabulary this Millennium. We ought to consider the Scottish expression of encouragement, often used in soccer games, “go on yersel’ big man!” So, to all the postal workers out there, I say, “go on yersel’ Mister or Missus Postie and a Braw New Year tae ye!” © Alison van Diggelen, Siliconmom
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