Kate’s Escapades – My Mailman Hates Me: Part 2

Ahhh…the mail wars were just beginning. (If you are lost right now and have no idea what I’m talking about, take a look at My Mailman Hates Me: Part 1.)  So, as I was saying…the war was just beginning.  The kids all knew not to park in front of the mail boxes, but sometimes they’d forget and of course, NO mail.  He would park his truck, get out and walk to the car parked next to the empty mailbox and leave a scribbled  note, thus  exerting more energy than it would take to just give me my stupid mail. And then he would feel the need to show us who’s boss by also skipping us the next day, as some sort of extra punishment, I suppose.

Whenever friends  would come to visit and I would see them pulling their car into the “forbidden zone”, I would run out like a crazy woman waving my arms and yelling, “Don’t park there or we won’t get our mail!”  And sometimes it would be the neighbor’s visitor parking there, but did he get punished with no mail, absolutely not, we did.  I began peering out my window like an obsessed psychotic person, trying to keep that spot clear.

Then the mailman stepped it up a notch.  Did you know it’s also against postal policy to deliver the mail if the walk is not shoveled or there’s ice near it in the road?   In the middle of a snow storm, he walked up to my box to leave me a note (which he put INSIDE the box) telling me he couldn’t give me my mail unless the snow and ice was cleared.  Huh?  Did my neighbors all get mail on the snowy day with uncleared walks? Yep, sure did.

So once I got the parking situation under control, and the snow problem resolved, my mailman must have decided he needed to find a new reason to torture me.  Did you know that apparently it’s also grounds for no mail delivery if your trash cans are out near the box on garbage day.  I even pull them froward enough so the mail truck can slip right in next to the curb.  Obviously not good enough, because I got a note taped to my trash cans as well.   Usually this is not a problem if the garbage truck is running on schedule, because the trash is in the morning , and the mail in the afternoon.

Ah…but just this past Monday the trash man was running late – it was mid afternoon before he got here and the cans were still in the road.  My 9 year old son was out front playing when he saw the mailman going down the other side of the street.  He was then faced with a dilemma – run and hide (which is what he usually does due to an unfortunate mailman/snowball incident last year) or move the cans so we could get our mail.  To his credit he made a mad dash to move the cans, two to be exact.  He was just grabbing the second can to pull it out of the road as the mailman was approaching, and instead of stopping, the evil mailman grinned, sped up and drove right by.

And for your grand finale, readers, here is the incident which makes me the most angry.  It happened a month ago.  I was sitting out front on a porch swing reading a magazine.  There were two cars parked in the driveway, and one parked in front of the house.  I couldn’t see the mailbox from my swing, but I could hear the mail truck stop at my box and open it to deliver the mail.   He then pulled forward and looked over towards my house and we locked eyes.  I could tell he was shocked to see me siting there.  He put his truck into reverse, went back to my box,  pulled out the mail and walked up to me with mail in hand and a smile on his face.  Here’s the deal, he had a registered letter for me, you know, the kind you have to sign for. (A letter I was waiting for.)  Instead of walking up to my door to have me sign for it like he was supposed to,  he put one of those “Sorry we missed you – you’ll have to come down to the post office to pick it up” notes in with the regular mail.   He knew he was caught and his explanation was that he thought no one was home…three cars out front AND me sitting there, and he THOUGHT no one was home!  He was just too much of a lazy jerk to walk up to my door to have me sign for the letter.
I am mad.  I’m done jumping through hoops and playing his sick mailman games.  But I’m also scared to file an official complaint.  He has the control and power.  He could easily just “lose” my important mail, and no one would ever know the difference.

Mailman update: More on the ongoing saga of my mailman hates me

Dear readers..any advice?

~Kate

Enjoy your Coffee Break!