Wednesday, August 1, 2007

I'm just a girl that can't say ..BYE-BYE!!!!

So, I've got this customer.Nice guy. Kind of slow. Rumor is he had a brain injury. He saw me on TV and now comes to the mailbox everyday to chat. Chatting is not a bad thing, necessarily, but there is a time and PLACE for it. And his mailbox is NOT the place. Let me explain. His mailbox is what we at the PO call a rural box. The kind of box that is mounted on a post that you drive up to to deliver . His street is very busy and his box is located frighteningly close to an equally busy intersection . The road widens somewhat eventually, but in front of his house it is really narrow. It's the kind of situation where every day you want to make it through that stetch as quickly as possible. Early in my career I saw a carrier's jeep get mangled there...the carrier got thrown from his vehicle..it was nasty. That image has stayed with me VIVIDLY all these years.
Yesterday Mr. K came out for his chat. He was particularily long winded. I learned all about the history of Kodak, and many, many details about his children, and his grandchildren..especially the messed up one. With each new story I became more and more nervous about being rear ended. I had been there too long. I was pushing my luck. I wanted to tell him that I really had to go, but he seemed so lonely. He kept talking. I kept envisioning my ambulance ride to Strong Memorial hospital..bravely trying to joke with the EMT's as blood gushed from my eyes. It looked like he was winding down the conversation when suddenly he hit upon a brand new topic. The topic was ..how strange it was that so many people in his family had been REAR ENDED lately.
Sometimes I just can't believe this stuff actually happens to me.

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