My Other Life

Welcome to my new follower for this blog. Glad you like my blog Jennifer and welcome. It was such a pleasure and honor to meet Jennifer, her husband Christopher and their three boys. The last Postmaster I worked for was Jennifer's sister, LaDonna Brown.

I admire LaDonna a lot. She is a person that is doing the very best she can in a very difficult job. I don't know just how many people are working at the Prospect Kentucky Post Office but there were 13 routes with 13 carriers and almost that many subs when I worked there three years ago. Plus there were 5 clerks and a Supervisor. That is a lot of people with that many personalities and more problems each than I could count. And then there was the customers. I could write a book about our customers.

There was a carrier that had to be on the floor constantly. She was the first one at work each morning, the last one out on the route and the last one to get in from mail delivery. She had a lot of difficulty staying focused to say the least. She had an issue with each and everything that went on in the office. She was definitely a busy body.

Then there was the drama queen. You know the type. Everything was high drama with her. She never had a simple problem. It was always complicated and it was all about her. Bet you know several like her. One day she encountered hunters out on her route. They were in an open field and had rifles. But she was sure they were going to shot at her. It was a complicated story to hear her version. It had all the little twists and turns and of course the obligatory high drama.

I also worked with a carrier with whom I still maintain contact. He is so much fun. He has a big male ego. He has a lot of big talk but he walks a more gentle walk around his wife. He adores his daughters and is so proud of them for their talents and accomplishments. My favorite story about this carrier is his run in with a dog out on the route.

It was during our window hours. There was a knock on the door and I went to answer it. This lady who was very upset wanted to talk to me about one of our carriers. She was nearly in tears as she relayed her story about the carrier that had sprayed her dog. I didn't really have to ask her where she lived. I already knew who her carrier was by the story she was telling. It seems this carrier had come into her yard to deliver a package to the door. Her dog was barking at the carrier and he sprayed the dog. It really upset her because her dog had cancer and the vet had removed one of his legs to stop the spread of the disease.

When Pat got back in that afternoon, I asked him about it. I told him he really shouldn't have sprayed a three legged dog. His reply was he still had all of his teeth and I should have seen how fast that three legged dog could run. Pat and I still laugh about that and with each telling of the story it gets better and better especially with the spin Pat puts on it.

Then there was a carrier that was forever pushing the envelop as some would say. This carrier was a very congenial sort but he always took every short cut he could to get finished as quickly as he could. He drove too fast and he didn't close the mail boxes which really made the customers angry. If it saved time you could count on him doing it. One day a customer called to complain about her carrier. It was on the route this particular carrier served. I asked what the problem seemed to be. We had a usual litany of complaints. Some carriers you could just count on what the complaint would be. We had a lot of complaints that a carrier didn't come to the door or didn't attempt to deliver an item and this carrier was no exception. But we often learned he really did just leave a notice or left a package out in the weather. ETC

This particular day the complaint was that the carrier didn't come to the door. I ask the usual questions to try to learn if he really didn't go to the door. Now the houses in that area are huge. I can imagine a person being in one part of the house and not seeing the carrier or not getting to the door in time. But this lady assured me he did not come to the door to deliver her parcel. I asked her how she could be so sure. I have heard a lot of stories but this one surprised even me. It seemed she was standing where she could see the carrier as he came up her driveway. She had a driveway that curved up by the door and without having to turn around one could go back down to the main road. She had seen our carrier come up the drive, throw her package which landed on the second floor balcony and drive away. I guess he really didn't go to the door.

My job was working the window. I was a "Sales and Service Associate" If you want to know what that means, I was a window clerk. I loved my customers. They seemed to like me as well. I had one who loved pineapple upside down cake. I found that out one day when I had made one to celebrate one of the carrier's birthdays. So I gave him a piece of the cake and he was thrilled. The whole neighborhood knew about my cakes by the time he got home. He was also acting mayor at one time and I made a cake for his birthday. The police department apparently got in on the cake too. I heard a lot about it and when I retired I got a bouquet of flowers from City Hall.

My customers also had the usual array of health problems and family problems. There were deaths in the family and new life being celebrated. I saw pictures of the new baby and often met one or the other of them. I grieved for those that lost loved ones and I often knew those people too. And they grieved with me when I lost my husband. Often one or more would come in and tell me they met my daughter when a wife or husband or other loved one was in the hospital. Mary Beth worked in oncology at Baptist East Hospital. They would tell me how wonderful she is and how caring. When she learned they were from the town I worked in she would always ask if they knew me.

The funniest answer she got was "Well everybody knows Mary" It was a sweet expression of the relationship we had at our post office.

I never thought that I had any thing special to offer our customers. I just treated them with respect and often admiration for their talents and abilities. I tried very hard to offer any help I could for those that needed it. I offered my God given talents to those who visited my window every day. I had a sincere interest in them and I did my best to show them the love that our Father in Heaven has for us. I wanted others to know my Jesus because they know me and in some small way I could introduce them to him through my actions.

I know I am not beautiful like a movie star. I don't have a figure that people envy. I have lines and wrinkles and gray hair. But more than a movie star figure, people value honesty and empathy. Most people don't want us to feel sorry for them. But they do want and desire respect.

God loved us before our parents even knew who we were. The Bible tells us that he knew us when we were formed in our mother's womb. Don't we have an obligation to spread the love he has for us to others we know and meet along the way. We are all strangers in a foreign land. Heaven is my real home. Life is awfully short and eternity is a long time.

May the God of peace and love and mercy bless and keep you in his loving care.

Regards,

Mary