The 5th of January and Twelfth Night: a traditional feast of "cakes and ale" followed by the ritual dismantling and accidental demolition of your domestic Christmas decorations. That vaguely Sputnik-shaped 1950s ornament passed down from Grandma falls to the floor when being removed from the tree and is instantly crushed to smithereens by a clumsy foot. The inflatable front-yard Santa is carefully deflated but subsequently punctured during an unskilled folding and storage operation. Joining in the so-called fun, the over-excited dog foolishly swallows six-feet of silvery tinsel. A string of multicolored twinkle lights becomes a treacherous bird's nest of flashing bulbs over which the man of the house manages to trip, landing awkwardly on his left knee and right wrist which necessitates a lengthy period of recovery on the couch. And finally, the death rattle of the vacuum cleaner is heard as it fatally chokes on a forest's worth of fallen pine needles coating the carpet. Thus the spirit of the holiday season departs every house.
Of course, this year the holidays are extended by several weeks, courtesy of the United States Postal Service. The logistical problems experienced by this mail delivery service mean many Christmas cards and gifts posted in late December have not even arrived by now, the twelfth day of Christmas. Consequently, any Partridge mailed on the first day of Christmas would probably have suffocated to death in its packaging by now; its Pear Tree undoubtedly snapped in half by overworked mailmen cramming the delicate branches into a mail truck. Even the Ten Leaping Lords would suffer from the delayed exhibition of their united aerial gymnastics, exhausted by a lengthier than usual period of non-stop leaping thanks to the dysfunctional Post Office. So if you did not receive a personal greeting from me, now you know why and who to blame.
Late December? An artist in Germany mailed me her 2021 Calendar on 12/07. Still didn't arrive to US, if I'm to believe the message stuck on the Tracking page of USPS...
Posted by: ETat | January 06, 2021 at 12:13
I'm sorry. That's terrible. If it's any consolation, perhaps you will appreciate it even more when it does arrive. It has been an awful situation for artists and small businesses who rely on the US mail. I'm sure it's not that great for the overworked mail employees either.
Posted by: stephenesque | January 07, 2021 at 18:54
Interesting that the only category you didn't feel sorry for is he customer.
Yep, that hapless person who
a) spent time researching for product to buy
b) contacted the artist/small business, offered to pay hard-earned money for their product (note, the artist didn't advertise, didn't in any way ask the customer to buy their product)
c) paid thru paypal, thus giving money for the transaction to a 3rd party, another business owner
d) paid USPS, thru the involuntary tax system
e) in case the customer decides to cancel, (s)he still not get neither their time, effort, or 100% of their money back.
As to poor USPS employees: pff. We are 10 times more overworked than they are. And 10 times less compensated.
Posted by: Tatyana | January 08, 2021 at 08:29
I long ago learned that is customer is only always right if the customer isn’t me. I had hoped my sympathy was implicit.
Posted by: Stephenesque | January 08, 2021 at 09:14
Yes: to poor overworked USPS drones.
Forgive me, I am really. Really. cranky today.
Posted by: Tatyana | January 08, 2021 at 17:59
Of course. Everyone is cranky. With good reason.
Posted by: Stephenesque | January 08, 2021 at 20:04