Mt Royal Pain in the Ass

I don't normally fall back on demonic possession as a reason for bad behavior, at least not since I left the south. (Someday I'll tell you about the exorcism that my husband's cousin went through in Oklahoma when she was suffering from depression...no, I'm not kidding...), but there are a few people in this here town that I wonder about.

One of those people is an utterly charming woman that works at the Mt. Royal Post Office. Now, this is not my local post office. My local post office in Lakeside has one counter person who is the nicest postal employee that I've ever met. Once, a few months ago, I went into the post office and this guy wasn't working, he was out on sick leave. There was a replacement who was doing his best but I can only imagine how shattered his self esteem must have been by the end of the first day. Just imagine everyone coming in your door all cheerful and saying "Hello D..." and then they realize their favorite clerk isn't there and their smile fades and they get all sober..."Oh", they mutter, "You're new here..."

Well, I actually refuse to go to the main post office in western Duluth because I have been sneered at there, eyes have been rolled at me, and in no uncertain terms, I have been led to believe that making the clerks actually do the job that they are paid for IS NOT APPRECIATED!

I also have to steel myself to go to the Mt. Royal post office. When I walk in and see the woman whom I shall call "Cranky Bitch", all of the energy just drains out of me. She is a walking, talking black hole.

So, on my day off yesterday, I had a lot of mailing to do for Charitable Crafters. I had over fifty oversized envelopes to mail and all of them were different weights. When I got done getting them ready, I looked at the stack and thought three things:
1. I can't take this to a post office with only one clerk
2. I can't do this to my favorite postal clerk
3. Hey! This would really piss that cranky bitch off at Mt. Royal!

Woot! Woot! I jumped in my car at lunch time and headed out. When I walked into the post office, there were three counter people and no customers. Unfortunately, cranky bitch was nowhere to be seen. My dramatic entrance and approach to her counter was not happening.

I meekly set my envelopes on the counter and apologized to the clerk right off the bat. He was funny, charming, and said "Hey, it's my job, no need to apologize".

I almost fell over.

I told him that if I had taken it to the main post office, they would have called me in the back and beaten me with a sock of rocks.

Halfway through the twenty minute transaction, guess who walked up to my wonderful clerk? Cranky Bitch! Immediately she started spewing negative comments about my clerk's transaction, my clerk's postal scale/cash register machine-thingie, and the fact that I brought the transaction in at all. After all, how dare I actually bring postal business to the post office!

My clerk just kept on working, didn't even look her in the eye, and said "We'll get it done..."

After a minute of not getting a reaction from anyone, she went slinking off into the back room and didn't reappear.

After she left, I wanted to lean across the counter and whisper "Dude, you rock!"

But I didn't think he'd understand.