Yesterday morning I stopped by the post office on Arden Way. I had to pick up a package which meant going inside and waiting in line. It was 8:35 a.m. which I thought would be early enough to avoid the crowds. As it turned out, they *offer new hours*: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Mon – Fri. So I decided to wait. Like every red blooded American I pulled out my handheld and started pretending to be super into something in an effort to avoid social interaction of any kind.
The “waiting area” began to fill with all sorts of Sacramentans eager to get some mailin’ done. We could all see the employees inside the office fussing about preparing to open. “You are right there, what’s the hold up? OPEN already!” a man uttered breaking the silence.
Finally, after about 10 of us had gathered RIGHT in front of the door to the office, an older gentleman walked up. He didn’t say anything, but we all knew to clear a path. What was he trying to do? He can see us all huddled in front of the office with the blue sign that read “HOURS 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Mon – Fri” right? Perhaps not, because he proceeded to try and enter the office by pulling on the door handle. Assuming no one else would get the humor in that, I chuckle to myself thinking back to my college days when a professor was late and the students would stand outside the classroom waiting patiently until one last student would walk up and try the door thinking all of us must be idiots to be standing outside in the freezing cold with the wind howling and not wearing a sweatshirt because one of us always forgot to dress appropriately in the winter time thinking he would never be outside so why bother with a jacket! Ahem, yeah, so anywho…
After a pause a woman in her 60s steps up and speaks for us all:
“You didn’t actually think that door was going to open did you? Why do you think we are all standing here?”
Here’s to you woman at the post office, well played!
The Sac Rag 
Same thing happens with elevator buttons. I find myself pushing the button even though there is a crowd waiting.
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OK, here is a dilemma I keep having. There are certain crosswalks where you will not get a WALK sign unless you press the button to cross. When you come upon one of these crosswalks, and there is someone standing already there, and you have no idea whether or not he/she has pressed the button… Press? Don’t press and cross fingers? Overcome your American habits and actually ask the stranger if he/she pressed it? Don’t press the button, the button is bad? What do I do?!
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@adamant you are part of the problem. especially if it is illuminated already
@betty this is a very understandable scenario. I grant you permission to press the button. However, you must not be obvious about it. And you can’t press it over and over because you don’t feel it heard you the first 10 times.
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Why do people (myself included) get so agro at the post office?
Maybe they should pipe in something from Live at the Acropolis or put a small open tin of catnip at the entrance.
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Wait. You mean to tell me that it doesn’t make the light change faster if I press the button faster? I always thought it was like trying to recover from a knock down in an 80’s boxing game.
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