Ok, people, now this war is directly affecting ME.
July 26th, 2007 by Mr. TMOLAfter standing in line at the post office for longer than I should have had to, I finally got to the front of the line and realized the flap of one of the envelopes I wanted to mail was not sticking, so I asked the clerk for a small piece of tape. (I was only standing in line because I didn’t know the postage because they have raised their rates so many times I lost track of what it costs to mail something.)
Anyway, in response to my request for a small piece of tape, and despite the fact that she had a HUGE ROLL OF TAPE inches from her left elbow, the postal clerk said the United States Postal Service has a new policy which is that because they SELL tape they no longer GIVE IT AWAY.
I told the clerk I cannot understand how come MY government can afford to spend billions for the people of a country like Iraq, none of whose citizens I ever met or expect to meet in this lifetime*, but cannot afford to give me - a taxpayer and, by the way, a damn good and long-time postal service CUSTOMER - one little piece of scotch tape.
*BTW, I don’t expect to meet anybody from Iraq in either this lifetime or the hereafter because I think they have a different Heaven than we have. OK, I feel better now, but I’m still miffed.
July 26th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Are you certain of her reason? Maybe she was afraid that if you got access to that roll of tape, you might be a terrorist who might throw that roll of tape at someone and hurt them.
Or maybe they don’t want you sealing your envelopes too well because that makes it difficult for Bush’s spy program workers to open up your envelopes to check out what you are writing.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
erich, i didn’t ask for the whole roll, which admittedly could have been a danger to myself and others. only asked for about an inch. BUT, they would have sold me a whole roll.
go figure.
July 27th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
TMOL. I’d recommend the following experiment. Next time this happens, just reach over and grab a tiny piece of tape. See what happens. It would be a federal case if they prosecuted you. But they’re firing the competent federal prosecutors–because they are competent. I’d like to attend your trial where you argue that the tiny piece of tape is yours because you are a taxpaying American citizen and you therefore own the post office. What do you think the fine would be on stealing a tiny piece of adhesive tape? .00000003 cents?
Let me know how it goes. Then again, this comment might make me a co-conspirator and I’ll end up being tried along with you.
July 28th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
I don’t understand why they worry about scotch tape. Now, duct tape I could understand — a clever person could probably build an ICBM with a bit of duct tape and a mailing envelope, but scotch tape has pretty mimimal terrorism potential.
July 29th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Back when the Post Office was “reorganized”, I think it was about ‘73, the constitutional United States Post Office ceased to exist and was replaced with the United States Postal Service. This is a private entity run by a Board of Nine Governers.
The purpose was to do away with the constitutional mandates and turn it into a for profit organization. Raising the postage rate required an Act of Congress {which is good}. Like Bush they hated the Consitution.
A lot of us got involved in mailing our 1 ounce letters at the rate of 6c, which is the last time Congress raised it. Don’t try this at home, you will have nasty postal inspectors chasing you. The other problem is you can’t get 6c stamps anymore. They just have a number, no cent sign.
It is a waste of time to ask the employees about any of this, especially the inspectors. They are all ignorant of the law. I used to ask them about the sign out front that says “United States Post Office” to show that I was attempting to exercise my constitutional rights to “post roads” and such. As it turns out we all had bigger problems coming on the horizon.