“What We Got Here’s Failure to Communicate.”

“What We Got Here’s

Failure to Communicate.”

 

I receive my mail thru a cluster arrangement of twelve boxes, (three rows of four) placed about twenty- five feet from my house. The letter carrier places a parcel in an adjacent large box and puts the key to the parcel box in the recipient’s mail box. Last week I received a package and try as I might, could not open the parcel box with their key. My neighbor Danny happened out and I enlisted his aid to open the box. After several tries, he too failed to open it.

I drove to the Post Office and explained my dilemma to the clerk.

“I can’t open this box,” I said and pushed the key toward her.

“”Here, fill this out,” she said and gave me a form and pen.

I filled out my name and address and returned it to the clerk.

“The locksmith will change the lock tomorrow,” she promised and gave the key back to me.

“Don’t you want this?”

“No. I have no use for it,” she answered.

I took the key home and put a note on it “I can’t open this,” and left it for the letter carrier.

The following day, the letter carrier delivered my package to my front door. When I went out to retrieve the rest of my mail, my key would not open my personal mailbox. They replace the wrong lock!

Again I drove to the Post Office and explained the problem to another clerk.

“Sorry about that; I’ll get the keys for your new box,” she said and disappeared to the back. After about five minutes, she returned. “The locksmith’s not back yet. Come back later.”

I returned later that afternoon and got my new keys. Now I have trouble opening my mailbox. The key seems to stick. I wouldn’t dare return to the Post Office and complain. I put soap on the key (a trick I learned from my mother) and it opens the box okay.

In the meantime, the lock on the parcel box never got changed.

--- Mary Fahey