The Postal Service

United States Postal Service within Chicago is known to be bad. Within Wicker Park it is known to be perhaps worse. Whether you're hitting the regular stop or actually need to pick up a package/certified mail that they will pretend they attempted delivery on. I mean, I get it, a little bit. Take the winter we're having: it's cold enough outside I could see not wanting to walk about stuffing mailboxes. But it is your job, and if you're not going to do it, please don't pretend you did it so that I am forced to come down to a hole in the wall at unlisted hours and pray that I will be given what's been bought and paid for. Or, in the case of certified mail, when I'm finally able to get to the facility after guessing at their hours, I'm quite sure they'll tell me I need a slip designating my mail is there, which was never delivered in the first place and I'm only relying on the sender's tracking notification that it was in fact delivered. Delivered how, where, and in what capacity exactly?

It's like Catch-22 meets 1984 in some ways. All of these hoops are thrown at your to discourage and dishearten. This is why people are so angry at the post office. In turn, postal employees have to deal with already angry customers. But I have to say, they don't generally improve the situation. There's a lot of the "this is what is stated" type of speak, rather than any actual thought or questioning of the system, certainly not in any way that might assist a postal customer.

Comcast could give these guys a run for their money of course. I tried to cancel my Internet service—which is somehow something that cannot be done on the Internet—and had to call four different times with varying hold rates. Representatives told me they would see what they could do and yet, on the fourth call, the woman I dealt with was able to directly close my account. Same number, same phone tree, same bullshit. The first time I had the wrong 800 number (even though it was listed on their site to use for cancellation purposes) and when I asked to be transferred they said they couldn't do it and that I should just call the new number. Wait, a cable TV and Internet company doesn't have the ability to connect me to another part of their own business via telephone? Do these guys do phone service too? Lest it not be clear I am joking, I know they do phone service.

But these are all just minor aggravations, things put in your way to discourage you. Don't be discouraged. Take the hard line. Follow through. It's mail and Internet service today, but trust me, allowing three or so corporations to dominate an industry isn't doing us any favors. This is nothing new, but a reminder here or there never hurts.

Cheers.

Ma[i]licious Intent

For some reason when I choose to ship packages, I opt for the US Postal service. I'm not exactly sure why since I can ship for essentially the same cost at FedEx and UPS, and the dudes at the UPS store by me, in particular, are awesome. And of the three FedEx locations I've been to in my time in the city of wind, every employee has been a delight.

In general the USPS gets low reviews, but this location really takes it to a new level. It may even trump my local branch. I should know better by now, but even after being forced to buy an entire roll of tape just to use the tiniest amount (I get that they can't just give away packing tape completely free or some might taken advantage — which is why I asked if I could pay for just a small amount; this might even boost their revenues and would certainly reduce frustrations), I went right on rolling through with the rest of my transaction as the woman I dealt with treated me as if people generally did not ship packages from the post office. I should have taken her hint. Three weeks after my last attempt, I'd had my package returned to sender and they told me I'd have to wait in a long line to send again and pay, again, for shipping. If it can go all the way to its intended location and back to me for one fee, it seems that it can go back out for no additional cost. Still, at least my life frustrations are this simple.

For me, along with realizing I shouldn't use the post office for these types of things, it's about trying to get at just what it is that makes everyone who works there so ornery. I don't think it's a chicken or egg scenario. Are people annoyed to wait in long lines at the post office? Surely. But the fact that virtually everyone working there is rude, and treats all standard requests as if they are extremely unusual and unique special cases, blows my mind. Perhaps they are trying to discourage anyone from going there so they can just sit around. I don't really know what it is. Perhaps the next time I can just ask why they are so rude and ornery. Even when I hate waiting in line, I'm always calm and polite when I get there. Hell, once you arrive they'll generally tell you you're missing some integral information or form necessary to complete your transaction and they'll usually push your right back to the back of the line. It's not even simply my personal experience, it's observing all of the other transactions ahead of me.

The post office doesn't have to be Hell, but I can't see this trend being anything but perpetuated. Shitty experience and shitty delivery? Seems to be an unfortunate package deal.

As is generally the case when I write any of this stuff out, the moment the post is finished it drives home how little it matters. Boy I hope I find something interesting to blog about next time.

Stay fresh.

Olympic Fallout

Three weeks of Olympics just doesn't cut it. Despite my skepticism and cynicism about drug-use in all sports, it's still a joy to watch most every event at the Olympics.

I also must note that, when I was bitching about Snowboarding being in the Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics not having things like BMX (which I don't think it should), I turned on the TV to see BMX racing. Shows how much I know.

Inevitably some dopers are caught, and some are not, and some come up with the most fantastic excuses. Just a little EPO splashing up in the rainwater! There are plenty of rather hilarious excuses that athletes have been used over the years, and you can find several lists of these. One of my favorites was another distance runner, the German Dieter Baumann who claimed someone spiked his toothpaste. 

The thing is, I am sure there are some cases of sophisticated sabotage, but when they come at the same time as significant boosts in performance? Also, I don't exactly treat my body as a temple (depending on your definition of worship), but I'm pretty aware of what goes in there. Yeah, sure, maybe I don't know quite what Chicken McNuggets are made of, but close enough...Ignorance is diabetes and obesity...

Then there is the case of a certain Judo athlete testing positive for marijuana and being kicked out of the games. I guess Phelps never tested positive though there were shots of an enormous bong rip. Seems like some uneven jud[o]iciousness if you ask me. Such is life.

Before I roll on out of here, a quick shout out to my local post office. It's always pretty slow and interesting, not to mention aggravating, in there, but at least it's a shared misery. There's plenty more I could say, but I'd these Yelp reviews get it down pretty good. 

Au revoir.