Running Afoul of Some Sort of National Conspiracy
Somebody in the Federal Government must be very angry with me.Not only am I getting the classic red-tape run-around on Prince Charming's passport, but I was also just rebuffed at the post office.
I had three boxes to mail today. I went inside. I waited quietly and patiently for my turn with the clerk. Despite having known I was there and waiting, obviously to mail these boxes, he waited until I arrived at the front of the line to inform me that he couldn't help me.
Why, you ask?
It seems that the new rates didn't get downloaded into their computers, so he had "no way of figuring out" what my boxes would cost. So, I ask you, if I had gotten up to the counter and had three standard envelopes to mail, would he have honored the "old" rate because I was unaware of the change? No. He would not have. So, you see, now I'll have to give up part of tomorrow's lunch hour as well. "You can take them to Madison or Sun Prairie." Gee, is the USPS going to refund me the money for the gas? Somehow I think not.
Of course, I find it alarming that the local post office is so incapable of manual figuring. Are you telling me that there is no non-computer connected scale that will simply weigh packages? Are you also telling me that there is no place where the new rates are printed so that one could figure out a 3-lb box, sent first class, costs $X?
Either this is bullshit or the staff at the post office is incompetent.
I am now going to spend the rest of my day trying to reach someone at the National Passport Information Center. Lucky me...
Update: Good News and Bad News. Good News: I spoke to a real live human being at the NPIC. Bad News: Their "systems are down" and they can't help me. I should call again later.
Fuck!
