I had a pleasant experience at the post office today. No, really. I didn’t squirm and moan while I was standing in line. I didn’t roll my eyes at the inefficiency of the clerks, and I didn’t groan when they decided they had to offer every service available to every single customer. In fact, a couple of times I even laughed.

It would have been different if I’d had to stand in line to send a work-related package. I’ve complained so many times when the Boss has asked me to make a special trip to the post office that he doesn’t come out and ask me any more. Now he says, “I know you don’t want to stand in line at the post office,” and I volunteer to do just that. It’s a reflex. Then I complain.

But this trip today was personal. It was a birthday present for someone whose birthday I missed last year. I wasn’t about to let that happen again. The package I sent today will no doubt be late, but I mailed it (technically) on time, so I give myself extra credit for that. Besides, the line was short and seemed to be moving.

As it turns out, the line wasn’t as short as I thought it would be. There was a man filling out a form on a table to the side of the room, and apparently he had the impression that being in the room before me meant that he had a place reserved in line. His reservation must have been invisible, because I didn’t see it, but I didn’t press the issue. Maybe his boss made him go to the post office today.

Besides, the window-to-window banter of the postal clerks was entertaining. It was like watching a couple of long-married folks who know just how to tweak each other. I was suddenly standing in Frank and Marie Barone’s living room. Waiting in line for them to finish arguing and get on with it. But all in good fun, I swear.

If that fellow hadn’t stepped in front of me in line, I wouldn’t have got the woman clerk, and she wouldn’t have found a way to save me a dollar and a half with a quick repackaging. I think it was her way of letting me know she didn’t like the way I wrapped it, without coming out and saying so. I don’t get that kind of customer service often these days, at the post office or anywhere else.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful (not that a trip to the post office is much of an event). Payroll. All day. Just when my right hand was starting to feel better, I had to do the most handwriting-intensive task on my to-do list. But it gave me an excuse for frequent breaks, so it’s not all bad.