The Post Office is SOOOO not platinum...

So I went to the post office two days ago to mail something. No biggie, right? Wrong. Despite the fact that 1) Christmas has been going on for quite a while and 2) the U.S. Postal Service has a pretty good idea that this means a few more packages going out, the post office near me has the same two individuals working behind the counter. No extra help. No rearranging of schedules to increase workers. No anything. Just two incredibly slow and surly individuals who do not seem to be interested in working very hard.

For my accompanying friend and I, we each had relatively simply goals. We each needed to get stamps and mail some letters. Unfortunately, we needed the stamps so that we could mail our letters. When we walked in, the line to deal with the aforementioned super pleasant civil servants (Ironic Titles R Us called and wanted to give props to whoever came up with that one) stretched out the building. Looking to avoid the line, we went straight for the machines that dispensed the stamps. Wouldn't you know it, both machines were out of stamps/broken. Perfect.

My buddy and I stood in line, talking trash about the entire experience for the next 25 minutes. When we finally got to the front, my friend went up and asked for stamps. The lady, in her "I'm doing you a favor telling you this, even though I don't really need to" voice said, "We only have one kind left." She handed it to him, and he looked at me and chuckled. I walked up and asked for the same thing. She repeated the line and gave me the stamps. I quickly understood why he was chuckling.


Yes, that is the Virgin Mary and baby. How ironic that at this time of year, that's the one stamp they still have extras of. I mentioned to my friend how unamused my Jewish mother from New York would be if the same thing had happened to her (or if I sent her a card with one of those on the envelope). I couldn't help but laugh. The experience of witnessing, of all places, the Post Office, run low on stamps reminded me of when Milton Friedman said, "If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."