Going postal at Christmas...

It was up to the postal worker (who probably couldn't care less) to explain to her that she should go to the end of the line. I would probably have said "Excuse me, but I believe I'm next in line" rather loudly if she walked up to the window in front of me. But since I'm guilty of doing stupid things on occasion, I try not to get too bent out of shape at other people's stupidity. ;)
Things like this are one more reason I love our little post office - the longest line I ever see there is three people!

Postal Clerks are fairly limited in what they can say to customers. There is a list of questions they have to ask, rules for what they can and cannot tell a customer, and the clerks never know when the rude person in line is just a postal customer or a "mystery shopper".

Is it possible....just possible...that the woman REALLY doesn't understand English well...nor North American customs and was well....confused? :confused: :confused: :confused:

I am very confrontational, and I would have raised a stink about it.

Ahh! Even if she didn't understand English, that still gave her no reason to cut. It seems like she did uderstand english, enough to claim she didnt! :o

I don't raise big things alot, but I would have confronted the lady working there about why she let her cut! Understanding English or not, she should still have to wait in line.

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Is it possible....just possible...that the woman REALLY doesn't understand English well...nor North American customs and was well....confused?

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Hardly. She certainly new how to fill out her slip in English and knew the meaning of "Next in line!!!"

Raise a stink all you want, there's not much (if anything) the postal clerk can do.

Remember, just like anyone else in a retail business, they have rules to go by, and mystery shoppers to contend with. They are very limited in what they can say to a customer.

I have been in situations here and abroad where I was confused and did not understand exactly the procedure.

I recall that happening to me last year at Kennedy airport when I didn't understand where the end of the cab line was. Fortunately, I understand English fairly well (even the way they speak it in NY!) and once I understood I went to the end of the line.

I was just wondering if a little compassion might not be in order?

(I go to a particular post office because the people who work there are always so nice. Lots of non-english speakers do business there and the personnel are always so patient and helpful with them as well as with all the other patrons. It makes me feel good to do my business there and I often tell the clerks that.)

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Originally Posted by CathyBogart

I am very confrontational, and I would have raised a stink about it.

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I'm the opposite. I am very non-confrontational. I just would not have seen any point in raising a stink over one person getting to go ahead of me for whatever reason and I would have understood the postal workers, especially at this time of year, being stressed and just wanting to move people along as peacefully and quickly as possible. I would have tended to give the woman the benefit of the doubt about not understanding or there possibly being a cultural difference, and if she was just being plain rude, I think those things can come back on a person, but so can patience and tolerance (in a good way).

Just my opinion, but I do understand the frustration of it. Everything is so stressful, rushed and hurried this time of year. I try to be one of the few to sit back and be calm and relaxed and patient as much as possible. It does me personally a lot of good.

http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/rolleyes.gif

Equally as frustrating as the Line Jumpers inside ...
there's the ever popular "Parking Lot Wars" ... an often almost violent confrontation
between armed (with multi-ton SUV's and Pick-Ups) contenders for the always scarce,
close to the mall entrance, Parking Spot! http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/tongue.gif

HOW many times have I patiently "circulated" in my mentally mapped limits out in the frozen
asphalt maze ... *waiting* for the package-toting shopper to come and claim thier Limo and
happily donate their Parking Space to ME??

ONLY to have a greedy and opportunistic Spot Grabber **SWOOP IN** at the
crucial instant when The Spot is vacant AND blocked by the departing tenant -
stealing "MY" spot right under my bumper.

http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/eek.gif
http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/mad.gif

Oh, Happie Whatever ... hope you can't find it when you're done shoppin!

http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/biggrin.gif

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I'm the opposite. I am very non-confrontational. I just would not have seen any point in raising a stink over one person getting to go ahead of me for whatever reason and I would have understood the postal workers, especially at this time of year, being stressed and just wanting to move people along as peacefully and quickly as possible. I would have tended to give the woman the benefit of the doubt about not understanding or there possibly being a cultural difference, and if she was just being plain rude, I think those things can come back on a person, but so can patience and tolerance (in a good way).

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Jess, I'm the exact same way. I would have stood back and said "Self, what the heck. Let her go. I'm in no hurry."

Same thing in a parking lot. I just swing around to the next aisle and low and behold there is another empty one. OK, put on blinker to show the world that spot is mine and here we go. Piece of cake.

Life is too short to get mad over those things. I'm really learning to live by the rule of "Don't sweat the small stuff" and you know what?? I feel much better for it.

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Originally Posted by Edwina's Secretary

Is it possible....just possible...that the woman REALLY doesn't understand English well...nor North American customs and was well....confused? :confused: :confused: :confused:

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2 thoughts on this situation....

1) Why would anyone need to learn English? We have idiot (picture) signs for just about everything, let alone most things are written in multiple languages (think of the last assemble-it-yourself project booklet). I actually have seen people at the Dept. of Motor Vehicles giving an ORAL test to people who couldn't read English, and I have seen several who used an INTERPERATOR for the driving test!! :eek:

2) As far as customs go...I don't think it's necessarily foreigners only, I've seen plenty of Americans who think that if they get into a line and have to step aside to fill out something, that they are automatically next as soon as they finish the form. :(

JMHO

In the post office I use, the postal clerks often tell the current customer to go fill out their paper work and return when they are done. That person would then appear to be cutting in line, but in actuality they were already AT the front of the line but needed to go fill out something they needed to PICK UP at the desk. So I try to assume that this is the case and let bygones be bygones. After all, I don't want to end up being even MORE rude than a person who will cut in line. :rolleyes:

Jen,

Good point. I just shrugged my shoulders and :rolleyes: I'm WAAAAY to fed up with people right now and their pushiness to even bother. I can't wait till the whole Christmas season is over with. This is my first holiday season in retail and I gotta tell you, it's VERY draining.

However, tonight when I was working, there were lines at all the registers (I was working Customer Service). A push *&^% ran up to CS and asked if we were cashing people out. I politely told her yes, and that there were other people who had been waiting in line longer that were ahead of her (she just came in, got what she wanted and figured she'd be out in a nano-second).

Ehhh.. been there, Donna....

I was 4th in line for a lottery ticket. A lady was at the counter on the side, making out her lottery slips. She casually stands right in front of me. You know me, I rarely lose my cool, but I had to bite my tongue on this one. I very politely but firmly told her, (as well as pointed) that the BACk of the line was thataway, not in front of me. She started getting very angry at ME and said she was there before me and that I was in her space....

The people in back of me got really PO'd too, but did she move? No. I told her that if it wasn't around the holidays and I was in a fairly festive mood, I'd ...well...I can't print what I said (another rarity for me) ..but let her be. It wasn't worth her getting me all upset.

Donna, I doubt it was a cultural/race, whatever issue. It was plain rude. Politeness and coutesy is universal and carries no language barrier. I travelled to remote places where people spoke no English and never had a problem.

I always say.. what goes around, comes around.