The Post Office Experience

To me the post office in the photo looks like any normal government facility....if the time period was in the 1880's and you were living in Tombstone Arizona. And if it looks cold inside, it was! You had to park in the rear of the building but walk through unshoveled snow around to the front to enter, even though there were five doors in the back. Once in, you waited in one of three lines. Of course I had a few sizeable boxes that would only be received by one of the windows which I didn't determine until the line ahead of me dwindled. I thought, these boxes are not going through those little 'mail slots' so asking the young lady in front of me she said "Nie", meaning 'no' and pointing to the other end of the building to window #3. So, down to my new 'window' where larger package could be received only to find about 8 people in front of me while all the time trying to figure out what is going to go wrong next. After another 1/2 hour I found out. You had to fill out a Polish form for each package and have it on top of the box when the window guard opened up to take your package, before quickly closing it with a 'slam' as if to say ....only one box at a time! (I immediately thought of the Jerry Seinfeld episode of the soup kitchen when Elaine walked up to the counter and asked for her soup but somehow managed to tick the soup nazi off, and she heard the words,"no soup for you....") I finally found the forms and began filling them out when the person in front of me saw what I was doing and once again I heard that term that I was becoming familiar with, "Nie"! So, she is at 'wardens window' #3 now and asks the marshall if she had the correct forms for me,(international shippments) which she said Nie, again! I am now an hour and a half into this drill when I finally get the right forms which I couldn't fill out for you see we have a language difference over here. Anyway. I got them done with the help of three people behind me who only lent a hand as they were getting real upset with this American with the funny Church tag on his coat. All the while, all throughout the building you are hearing this huge noise which sounded like a hammer hitting a piece of plywood. When my boxes finally got to the "window" each one had to be weighed of course and then she sat back down and had this form in 3 copies and I learned where the hammer noise was coming from. It was a stamp on each form and a couple of her documents as well. Each stamp action was like shot in the night and this was going on at all three windows all day long. You should have seen the muscles in their right arms. I finally finished after over 2 hours but of course not before I tried to pay and didn't have enough cash. Will you take my credit card......Nie! "lLet me see your license" she said. I showed her my international DL and she said "what's this?" I knew that I was in for yet more problems. Now I've got the other patrons about ready to make a snowman out of me when the postal nazi came to the desk to see what was wrong. He said, in his worst english that they don't take C. cards because it takes too long , (it was one of those hand slide type card devices which I hadn't seen since the 70's). I said, do you see this line of 15 people behind me, one of us is not going to be leaving here as healthly as we were when we came in if we don't solve this problem and I have been here way too long to start over. Finally after about five more "nie's" he took my card and I headed for the door, watching my backside all the way out. All I could say as a departing gesture to my linemates was "przepraszam, przeprasam"! I'm sorry, I'm sorry.............Next time to the post office will be done by the office Elders, do you think?