cluttered desktops and the postal service

hello world.

i hate looking at my laptop's desktop because it is so cluttered. it is a mix of the most useful icons: computer drive, intronet, short cuts to necessary softwares or files, and recycle bin; with the most unuseful icons: short cuts to random ass programs and folders of random files and the files mis-titled and saved directly onto the desktop in dire convenience. people should swap desktops with their friends just to their friends can organize them; kind of like passing around a rough draft to get extra pairs of eyes to edit.

anyway, i was forced to go to the post office today to send my roommate's recording device. i almost forgot the sluggishness and frustration of waiting in line at places like the post office and the department of motor vehicles. it is painful and unbearable. had i not equipped myself with my ipod, i would've melted in sheer impatience. and i wished that i had smoked/drank prior to coming.

at the post office (and the dmv--'mva' in maryland), there is always a line of at least eight people waiting for at most two open windows. and the workers behind those windows are always the sassiest black women ever, who are more interested in their colored nails than they are about helping you. why are these services so damn slow? the government workers don't care about their productivity levels, hate their jobs just as much as we do, and are probably fucked up on some drug(s). and it sucks because we are kind of forced to use the postal service (granted, there is fedex and DHL): i cannot send packages via e-mail (not yet), i am too lazy to move a package halfway across the country/world, and i am willing to shell out a few bucks to have these people take care of it for me.

the worst part about walking through the doors of the post office is that you are confronted with such a confusing assortment of necessary information for post office shit: there are two or three lines meandering through the small lobby (lobby and line size based on location of post office; i'm basing this description off the post office on 165 st/amsterdam ave), a counter with several different forms, another counter with several different sizes of packaging boxes, signs hanging on the wall in both english and spanish about the kind of shipping service you would like, etc. the first thing i do is get in line, following my 'why i need to get into this line logic'--holy shit, a line! if i don't get in it now, regardless of what the line is for, it will get longer and longer. i will get in the line now and ask later (which is why i think every line in america needs a large sign that distinguishes it from the unpopular lines, such as the line to get your balls chopped off or the line that sends you off a cliff, to name a few). so i get into line, carefully inspecting the hands of other line-waiters searching for clues to help ensure a clean, quick, and painless encounter with the post office worker.

of course, none of the clues help me at all. i show up to the window and tell the worker what my deal is: 'i have to send these three machines (MOTU recording devices and two microphone boxes, if you want to get technical) to this address' (holds up address hastily scribbled on the back of an envelope). so we slowly go through all the possible options, their costs, their pros and cons, of sending the damn package. and it nearly takes twenty minutes because of their slow ass computers and their need to restart their query every time we change one thing in the shipment information (the software they use requires the weight and measurement of each item, the appraised value, etc). eventually we decide that global express is the best way to go. she gives me a few large bags and two forms to fill out. nice.

i also want to take this time to note that post offices should have a large sign with instructions so people won't blindingly jump into the line using the 'line-logic'. a large sign that also helps people prepare their shit before talking to one of the workers, so people don't get all the way to the front of the line to realize that they need to get out of the line due to a missing form or document. another irrelevant instance that irritates me is when people get to the front of the line at a fast food joint and spend five minutes thinking verbally about what to buy. you should know what you will get before you get into the line, bitch. yeah, irrelevant.

anyway, i take the form to the nearest counter and begin reading it over. some of the form items are ridiculous: name of object, object description, units, unit of measurement. i put down 'monitor' (the sassy black woman working with me already suggested monitor because i was too indifferent to correct her), 'it monitors', 'one', 'monitors'. such useless, meaningless, mindless shit.

lastly, i get back in line, wait another twenty or so minutes, and finally shipped off the damn package. finally.

lessons learned:
> smoke a fat, fat doobie before going to the post office. if you go sober, the thick headed-ness and unnecessary sass of the workers will make you want to kill yourself in frustration.
> ...yeah, i think thats it.

-andy