A window into the life of a professional geek, wife and mother (and nonni), stitcher/designer, bibliophile, old-school gamer, and whatever other roles she finds herself in.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Expressing myself?

I freely confess that I hate waiting in line.

I'm not alone in this, and thus we have an ever-increasing range of convenience options to minimize the time wasted in this manner. Last weekend I had my first experience with the latest such express technology - the 'self-checkout'. I must admit, it's a great thing. No cashier, no line, just scan my items, pay, and go. Perfect when one only has a few items. Though I imagine the surveillance on it was quite intense.

The convenience option that has been my best friend recently, however, is the Automated Postal Center at the post offices around here. In order to go to the counter at the post office, I would need to take time away from work, and wait in line. But with the automated center, I can stop in at any time day or night, handle my own postage options, and I'm on my way. Works great for 95% of my mailing needs.

Except for this weekend. Friday I needed to mail a package, so I stopped at the post office along the route I was taking....to find the APC wasn't working. So I drove to the next-closest post office about 5 miles away (and the opposite direction from my house) in hopes of using the APC there....to find that it too was out of order. At which point I abandoned my quest for the day.

Cut to this morning. I dropped by a third post office, the one closest to my work...to discover that this APC was also out of order!. The counter was open, however, so I dutifully waited my turn in line, shaking my head at the absurdity of all three local APCs being on the fritz. The Great APC Conspiracy!

Conveniences are only so when they're actually working.

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