IN THE POST OFFICE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 338, 14 December 1945, Page 13

IN THE POST OFFICE

Written for "The Listener" by

DUKIE

HAVE, at times, heard hard things said about post office officials. I have even said a few myself, when, having waited in a long queue, I am sent back to start all over again because I failed to dot an "i," At least, that is how I feel about it. My brother-in-law, who is a post office employee, calls it "educating the public," but at the same time insists that he would not notice an undotted "i." "JT have been sent back for things that were just as trivial," I stoutly declare. "Well, just imagine," he tells me severely, "what would happen if we filled in details for every person who brings a form uncompleted." "They would all say, ‘What a nice young man.’" "Not at all! Next time: they'd bring the form along and expect us to do the whole thing for them. We are not paid to do that, and we’d have to keep those at the back waiting all the longer if we did each person’s job-and they would not like that!" "But if I just forget one teeny weeny little thing ... ." : "You should not forget. The public should examine their forms carefully before presenting them. If you are sent back to fill in even a minor detail it will make ‘you more careful and save time next time." "Somehow it doesn’t," I sighed. A Question of Rudeness "That’s the trouble. You think the onus is all on us. It isn’t. You must do your part." "But sometimes you people are so rude." "RUDE!" he snorted, "It’s the public who are rude. Why, one man told me in a loud voice the other day, ‘Hurry up, young man! What do you think I pay your wages for?’ ‘You pay my wages?’ I asked in some astonishment. ‘Yes, J

pay your wages,’ he insisted. ‘After all I pay taxes and your wages are paid from the taxes.’ ‘In that case I must pay my-_ self,’ I told him.: Then an elderly lady | _ came along. ‘And to think my son went away to fight for the likes of these!’ she said in an audible voice to her neighbour in the queue-just because she did not get immediate attention. ge "Yes, I know. I had my R.S.A. badge on, but she didn’t bother to look for that. Because I was in civvies she decided that I had been behind the counter-all through the war. No, don’t talk to me about the public! It’s a wonder we don’t lose our tempers oftener. The majority just treat us like lower-class servants." "Well, you are supposed to be civil servants!" "That’s feeble," he replied. "But seriously, if they would use their brains and try to co-operate. Do you know that when I was in the mail room I saw black-currants come through posted in a cardboard box? And, of course, every person who received a parcel stained with black-currant juice blamed the post office!" "But couldn’t you-well-sort of come off your perches sometimes and be a little more friendly — a little less haughty?" "We don’t dare be! Don’t you seecan’t you understand? In that case the public would impose. Why, we have to make them keep their distance or we’d simply have them wiping their boots on us. We have to fight every inch of the way to preserve our dignity and our ideritity as it is. Be friendly with the public! It couldn’t be done. The next thing you’d have them telling you all about grandmother’s illness and baby’s new tooth, and we simply haven’t got time. I tell you we are busy people, with a tremendous amount of work to do. And we bring in a huge revenue. Don’t you realise that we bring in the biggest revenue of all government departments? No one need think they pay our salaries. We earn them-every penny of them!" A Troublesome Type "Oh, I think some of you do very well," I told him. "But post office officials | usually make me feel like a worm!" "You aren’t one of those assertive people, They are what we have to guard against. Some of them would wipe us off our stools if they could. ‘I’m afraid [ll have to report you to the Chief Postmaster,’ they say very haughtily, thinking to put the fear of death into us, and waiting to see us tremble. You’ve no idea how many people have an_ assertive streak in them. People who ordinarily are quite mild and well-behaved become most aggressive when they are dealing with government employees, They think we are the servants of all and sundryto be bullied and ordered about and brow-beaten." , "Bullied?" "Yes," "Oh, I wouldn’t dare do that," I said. "You wouldn’t, but many try." "Goodness! Do they really?" "Absolutely! So now you see what I mean about the whole position, don’t you? We have to behave as we do. The public force us to by their own conduct." "Perhaps," I doubtfully surrendered, feeling painfully aware that I was one of "the public."