My love and hate relationship with the local post office

I went by the post office yesterday. I was actually getting stamps to send out our Christmas cards. In November! How about that!? I don't think we've ever been this early. Last year most people got our Christmas cards after New Year's...

Anyway, for some reason it's really tricky to get hold of international stamps (the 84c ones) but at the actual post office (the regular 39c - no problem you can get them at a place like Safeway for example (like ICA)), so I had to go there to send my international Christmas cards.

I have a love and hate relationship with our local postal office...

The real dedicated postal officers that take their assignment with huge responsibility... I've been gravely reprimanded for writing the sender's address on the back of the envelope (had to write it again, on the upper left corner on the front side) - a no no, and been seriously apologized to when they had to give me a 24c+39c stamp instead of a 63c ("would that work for you?")...

The fact that they installed a queue ticket system (yeah!) and them removed it and let people go back to standing in line... (what?!).

Or that they asked me if I wanted to pay $18 for a package to be sent by express mail to a close zip code and have it delivered by tomorrow or $4.20 to have it sent by priority mail and have it delivered tomorrow (??).

But still it's a real post office. You feel safe giving them your Christmas cards, knowing that they will be handled with care.

Which is more to say with the feeling you get in Sweden these days when you hand your letters to that bakery girl at the local Konsum who is posing as a postal worker in between selling cinnamon rolls...