[Dx-qsl] Post Office Appreciation Day

Sat Aug 3 06:34:00 2002

I'm feeling pretty good about having done somebody a good turn today.
The US Postal Service in our region has been having "Customer Appreciation 
Day" at local post offices in our area, and today was the day for our local 
Temple Hills post office to set out a table full of cookies in the lobby 
and thank us for doing business with them. Since I was the editor of the 
IARU Region II magazine for nine years and now am a sorter for the W3 QSL 
Bureau, not to mention having a PO Box there and sending QSLs out all over 
the world all the time, I know the people in my PO pretty well.
I figured to turn the tables on them and use the opportunity to thank them 
for all they have done for me over the years. I figured that a couple of 
regional supervisors were probably running the operation and would be 
there, and I was right. I walked into the lobby at the appointed time and 
found a couple of people with notebooks writing up the details of 
complaints they were receiving from customers. I asked the cookie lady if 
there was some way I could register my appreciation for the excellent 
service I have received ever since I first rented a PO Box there in 
1975. She was delighted, and took me right over to one of the regional 
office ladies, who in turn involved another man next to her. They asked me 
if there was anyone in particular who had been helpful and I named the guy 
who always knows where there are more 80 cent stamps to be found, who knows 
what IRCs are and knows how to stamp them properly, and whose name I always 
use when I can't get satisfaction out of the clerk of the moment, as in: 
"Just ask Mr. Washington, he'll know how to do it."
Well they appeared not to know who Mr. Washington was, so I pointed him out 
and added: "I hear he may be retiring soon." They took me in hand and we 
all went over to Mr. Washington, wherein I said: "This guy knows 
everything" and gave a couple of examples. The supervisory fellow said 
jokingly: "I think Mr. Washington's retirement has just been put on hold" 
and then asked seriously: "You are passing all this knowledge on to others, 
aren't you?" Washington's smile was worth a thousand words, he didn't 
actually have to say very much.
So if customer appreciation day comes around to your area, maybe you could 
also use it to show appreciation to the guy or gal who has always come to 
your rescue when nobody else could solve your problem. As for me, I've 
been on cloud nine all day long...
73, Fred Laun, K3ZO