Post office etiquette

[blantyre]

So I am walking to the post office (actually to mail a BK12 that I just sold on BST) and there is an older woman walking ahead of me. I walk fast and can easily overtake her near the door and get one place up in the queue.

Should I:

1. politely open the door for her and dawdle behind her, or
2. speed up and claim my place ahead of her?

As a practical matter, she is probably retired and does not have much time pressure, I am always in a hurry.

 

[AndrewWiggin]

There are no rules in the post office.

 

[Navig8tor]

What would you want someone to do it she was your mother or grandmother? You gotta hold the door for her. Unless you are late for heart surgery or some other life and death emergency it will wait for a minute or two.

 

[RichGem]

What would you want someone to do it she was your mother or grandmother? You gotta hold the door for her. Unless you are late for heart surgery or some other life and death emergency it will wait for a minute or two.

Hold the door for her! (With a "let me get that for you" just before you reach for the door so she doesn't think you're about to attack her.)

 

[dbconlin]

Get ahead of her and open/hold the door. If she is nice and truly has all the time in the world, she will recognize your less-relaxed schedule/pace and offer to let you go ahead in line.

 

[redgrandam]

Hold the door, or just slow down and stay behind a few feet if you are that close to the door. People are always in a rush, all the time everywhere. In all likely hood the extra minute or two isn't going to make much difference in your day, and if you just take a few minutes to slow down I bet you days would be less stressful

 

[texbilly]

You have to ask?

 

[GFlanagan3]

hold the door for her! (with a "let me get that for you" just before you reach for the door so she doesn't think you're about to attack her.)

+1

 

[gaseousclay]

the rule is, when you're at the post office it's like Beyond Thunderdome

 

[Zonian]

Open the door for her.

 

[AndrewWiggin]

the rule is, when you're at the post office it's like Beyond Thunderdome

+1

 

[Topgumby]

Open the door, then say:

"Hi, I'm Williams Shatner, captiain of the USS Shavingsoap. My five year mission - to seek out new brushes, to explore strange new scents, to boldly lather where no wet shaver has gone before!"

Then start in on a falsetto version of the Star Trek theme.

You get to be ahead of her in line every time, and without cutting in front of her!

 

[redgrandam]

I'm curious too if you did one of the two options and had some kind of interesting result come from it, or did you ask her to wait there while you consult about what you should do, and expect to go back and open the door for her? lol

 

[Miles]

I would suggest laying down on the sidewalk in front of the post office to buy time. The best technique is to lay on your side and use your feet to spin around in a circle with your head at the center whilst making loud "Whoop! Whoop!" noises. This will set the elderly woman at ease, letting her feel secure in the knowledge that you have let her take the lead on the postal entry conundrum.

 

[GFlanagan3]

now...if it were a Postal employee..they ALWAYS have the right of way....if you know what I mean

 

[DSB]

Open the door, then say:

"Hi, I'm Williams Shatner, captiain of the USS Shavingsoap. My five year mission - to seek out new brushes, to explore strange new scents, to boldly lather where no wet shaver has gone before!"

Then start in on a falsetto version of the Star Trek theme.

You get to be ahead of her in line every time, and without cutting in front of her!

Thanks for the laugh!

 

[13ALPHA]

I would suggest laying down on the sidewalk in front of the post office to buy time. The best technique is to lay on your side and use your feet to spin around in a circle with your head at the center whilst making loud "Whoop! Whoop!" noises. This will set the elderly woman at ease, letting her feel secure in the knowledge that you have let her take the lead on the postal entry conundrum.

Oh man, cracks me up picturing this....

 

[Commander Quan]

The Post Office is the most frustrating, ridiculous, alternate universe, ever. It's the closest thing anyone will ever get to being in a Douglas Adams story. The normal laws of time and space have no relevance inside the walls of the Post Office, and things that would seam asinine any other place, seam to be not only accepted but the norm.

 

[lamina]

The Post Office is the most frustrating, ridiculous, alternate universe, ever. It's the closest thing anyone will ever get to being in a Douglas Adams story. The normal laws of time and space have no relevance inside the walls of the Post Office, and things that would seam asinine any other place, seam to be not only accepted but the norm.

Thanks man...I thought it was only me feeling that!!So it means i'm normal and there is some quantum leap or twilight zone corridor between your Postal Office and mine here...Indeed asinine is the word and anyone begining by equus

About old ladies, some can do nasty things...After waiting 2 hr the old lady in front of me began chit-chating with the counter's girl...Did you already tried the chicken gizzard recipe i gave you!? Just add a pinch of paprika...

I heard Darth Vader breath and the Dark Side of the Force arising...If i had my light saber some heads will roll!!

 

[JECIII]

Open the door for her and ask if she has any old razors she want to get rid of!