Way back before working for the USPS was not-even a glimmer in The Pony's eye, an incident occurred that rattled my mom to her very core. No, I'm not talking about the drunk man who stood beside the road, leaning on our rural mailbox for several hours while Mom peeped out to see if he'd left yet. I'm talking about my mother's kindheartedness, and propensity for avoiding confrontation.
My mom's best friend, Irma, would often bring things to her and leave them on the porch. Perhaps a cinnamon roll in a bag, draped on the doorknob. Or some tabloids. Just little treats every couple of weeks or so, and the magazines every week. With the garage, you couldn't tell if Mom was home. Irma didn't want to ring the bell and have Mom come up from the family room to see who was there. She'd call later to see if Mom found the stuff.
They used to teach together, and ride to work in a carpool. No formal visit was necessary. They could talk on the phone for hours, sometimes giggling like schoolgirls until they cried. Irma had some knee trouble, and Mom didn't want her to walk up the porch steps, or make any extra effort just for her. She told Irma that she could just leave the magazines in the mailbox, instead of walking up on the porch.
Around the holidays Mom made cookies. She got a card to thank Irma, and put some cookies in a baggie. Left them in the mailbox for Irma to get when she dropped off the magazines.
A couple days later, Mom was surprised to find a card in the mailbox.
"Thank you for the nice card. It made my day. It means so much that somebody appreciates what I do. The cookies were delicious. I am so happy to be your mail lady!"
Well! That threw Mom for a loop! She didn't know what to do. She hadn't told Irma that she was leaving her anything. So she couldn't really apologize that Irma didn't get them. The mail lady was the mother of one of Genius's friends, from the next town over. Mom had never really met her, but the mail lady knew that Mom was Genius's grandma. Mom didn't want to make her feel bad by telling her that the card and cookies weren't meant for her. So she did nothing. Except tell me the story.
I think Mom handled it just right. She said nothing to the mail lady, and got another card, which she took with cookies to Irma's house.
That's a great story. I think I should leave something in the mailbox for my mail carrier for Christmas. I haven't ever done that before but last year was such a hard year due to the weather. I wanted to give him something for never complaining about how the the city plows piled snow so high in front of the mailbox and how he had to drive up onto the snow mound to get as close as he could to reach the mailbox from his truck.
ReplyDeleteThat would be so thoughtful, and I'm sure it would be greatly appreciated by the carrier. Even a snack cake or some cookies would be a nice gesture. I'd like to leave some Chex Mix, but that's hard to fit in our mailbox down on the county road.
DeleteThat really made the mail carrier's day!
ReplyDeleteIt DID! From what I gather, just a thank you note is appreciated, since they mostly just hear complaints when things go wrong. The Pony was thrilled when somebody gave him an ORANGE, even though he doesn't eat oranges! He got some homemade Christmas candy, and enjoyed that as well.
DeleteThat's a funny story, and handled right. Did she then have to repeat every year?
ReplyDeleteNo. Mom didn't feel THAT bad about it! From what I heard from Genius, that lady was really a nice person. She would have been mortified if she knew she took somebody else's cookies!
DeleteShe did handle it just right, there's no sense in mortifying the mail carrier over it.
ReplyDeleteYes. The card was not addressed to anybody. Just sealed in the envelope. So the mail lady had no idea it was meant for someone else.
DeleteAll turned out good. I think I will get a gift card fromMcDonalds for our mail carrier. You can always use a fresh drink! Then I won't worry that the treat would go stale if she didn't have mail for us a few days in a row.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your carrier will appreciate it! I have asked The Pony to find out our carrier's day off. So I can leave a treat for the regular, and then for the substitute on the day off.
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