Such a glorious day to walk to the Post Office and get a money order for my yearly police whatever-it-is donation (we don’t want cops in the rear view when we’re going 50 in a 35 zone, but we’re not long in looking for them when there’s a crack dealer standing outside our kids’ school, right?) This is a small town and even during the busiest times, it’s never a long wait. When I walked in and there was only one woman ahead of me, I thought I’d be out of there and back here, doing water changes in no time flat. I was wrong because the woman in front of me was still wet after having stepped into the P.O. right out of the shallow end of the gene pool. I stood and waited while Alan patiently explained and re-explained to this idiot that if she wanted her mail forwarded or held, she should have filled out a form to tell them so. She seemed to think that they’d somehow “figure out” that she’d moved to Chicago with her boyfriend and that they’d just hang onto her child support cheque until she had a chance to get down here to pick it up. Alan told her that they held undeliverable mail for no more than ten days, after which it was returned to sender, which sounds reasonable, or at least it does to me. Not to her. When she realised that he was serious and that the cheque from her ex-husband had been returned to him, she insisted that Alan tell the letter carrier responsible for the area where she used to live to “hang onto it” when her ex resent it, as she was sure he would. She didn’t tell her ex she’d moved, she didn’t tell the Post Office that she’d moved and yet somehow, she still expects to get her child support on time. Alan offered her a change of address form, but by then she was pissed off and refused to fill one out; she wanted her cheque and dammit, she wanted it NOW. I’m standing there, waiting to pay cash for one little money order and that utter fool is shouting at a postal clerk because she wants to see the letter carrier NOW, since she KNOWS he’ll hold her mail for her. Incidentally, that would be the letter carrier whose name she does not know, going about his appointed rounds in an area where she no longer lives. Yessir, federal employees can entirely ignore regulations because she does not want to fill out a form because she does not want to tell her ex that she’s living with her boyfriend in Chicago, but dammit, she wants that child support on time. Of course! She left in a huff, and I’d be willing to bet she went back to her old neighborhood in search of the guy who used to bring her mail. For his sake, I hope she doesn’t find him. I also hope her kids took after their father–he’s at least (apparently) bright enough to send a child support cheque on time.