Customer Service

Today is my birthday. As usual, this means I run around like crazy taking care of things I should've done before. It's more like New Years to me, in the sense that I have a mental schedule and I use today to catch up. Unfortunately, the "to do" list this time was the "to done" list. That is, various things that I have already paid for that don't work, didn't get done, or need to be done again. These things in particular really piss me off on the one hand, and yet get really backlogged because I don't like the confrontation it takes to get them done. Once the dam is broken, however, look out. Then I just go through the list and make it clear that I would really prefer to not have to be talking to these people.
One such is my post office. For some reason, even though I work from home, it's easier for the carrier to fill out a little slip and put it in my mailbox than it is to park in front of my house and deliver my mail. Sometimes I get that little slip for things that fit in my mailbox. Sometimes I get it for Express mail. Those in particular kind of frost me.
In this new house, I also get an incredible amount of junk mail. It's really quite overwhelming. Everyweek I get two pieces in particular. Local "newspaper" A and local "newspaper" B. You know, the fishwrappers that interview local high school atheletes so that they can sent you something to wrap the ads in. Ugh.
So I called A to ask them to cease and desist. They informed me that I would have to go to the PO and make a specific request since they mailed to everybody in the zip code. Oh, crap. I really don't think I could go back there today. I just put 10 $.39 stamps on my tax return rather than face those people and get it weighed for the correct price.
I called B and they cheerfully agreed to do this. All it would take is an email to the editor and he would call the post office.
Now, why is B so much better than A? Because while both put this unwanted burden on me (it really pains me that every week I have an entire garbage bin filled with paper I've never read, while at the same time I can see the clear cuts from my porch), A was not even willing to consider helping me remove it. It's like if a fat guy stood on your foot, and when you pointed it out to him, shrugged his shoulders. But B is a polite fat guy. B is going to take care of it.
It also pressed another button of mine: people who lie to you about procedures. A lied to me. They told me flat out that the situation was out of their control. B didn't even think about shirking the responsibility. That's probably the rarest thing these days: people who will go out of their way to do their job. Just ask my postal carrier.
This so impressed me, I called A back to explain to them how superior their competition is and ask if perhaps they might reconsider. Like magic, they offered to take care of it for me.
We'll see.