ajm

I hate post offices with a passion.

1) They symbolise everything that is wrong with excess beaurocracy and inefficiency: endless paper forms that should all be on the internet, certificates, taxes and dusty old jobsworths behind the counter

2) There is always a huge queue, the longer the queue the slower the jobsworths work, glancing up every now and then to revel in the snaking queue they have created round the shop and out the door.

3) Blue rinses congregate for no reason other to natter with other blue rinses or to perform functions that can be done by other means, like paying bills. Go to a pub, use the phone, learn to use the fricking internet!!!! They all arrive at lunchtime too, to make sure people working 9-5 are inconvenienced the most during the only hour they can make it to the post office

4) I just want to mail a parcel. What on EARTH do the two people being served infront of me want? They have been there for AGES!!!! They are surrounded in reams of paper and forms and there is no end in sight!!!!

Close down all post offices apart from the postal functions. OAP's pay your bills by cheque or online. Pay giros direct to their accounts. Put all the damn forms on the internet and FIRE the dusty unhelpful jobsworths.

andrewdelvard

I'm sure you will find this most helpful.

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm

Dr Nick

I bet you are glad you got that off your chest

But if this sort of thing bothers you dont ever think about going to a foreign embassy for a visa.

hawkthescoobslayer

and then to top it all you find nancy fecking drew stood cashing in her benefits for her 65 illigitimate children (all different fathers of course) and trying to paying ALL her bills there and then. The kids are screaming and playing with all those NAFF toys they try and palm you off with. The little snot baggers then cause the old biddy in front of you to DROP all her paperwork, thus ensues, groaning, tutting, eyes watering, hearing aid whining, creaking, farting,"ooh dear" remarks and general other functions associated with old gimmers leading eventually to one counter being closed because it's lunchtime and guess who's counter.





Mine ............... grrrrrrrrrrrrr

DBY

ajm, makes plenty of work for the jobsworth brigade, still when they shut them all down we will see them all re employed at your local bank!!

tiggers

Good God ajm, common ground twice in two days - agree with you 100%!

Regards,

tiggers.

chaos.

lol I agree..

said jobsworth are miserble tw@ts usually

I could also go on about women going on planes and trains, they make a big frikkin deal bout it, like make a fikkin 3 course meal, gallons of water, goin to pish every 5 minutes cos they've drank too much

they don't do this when they spend a few hours in a car do they, whats wrong with um

zoog

The queues for the Post Office and for National Lottery tickets are remarkably similar demographically: scum, peppered with the occasional decent bloke basically.

edit typo

paul-s

dont u always feel superior in these queues. your the person doin better in life than these retards

andrewdelvard

Nope I just look around for any vaguely interesting local talent. If there isn't any in the queue I look to the staff and if there is someone interesting there I try and work out, by counting the people in front of me, If they'll be the one who serves me.
Makes the visit a little more interesting.

ajm

Sounds like you're a bit of a PO veteran Andrew. Personally I fix my gaze on the jobsworth/customer that is causing the most backlog, hoping that I might be able to envoke even the tiniest pang of guilt for wasting our lives in a queue.

There are games to be had with PO jobsworths too! When I get my road tax I always hold back one of the documents. For example, I will hand over the insurance schedule instead of the certificate. The look of delight on their face as they shove it all back at me and tell me I have insufficient documentation, followed by the crushed, humiliated look of disappointment as I produce said document with a big smile goes some way towards repaying me for my life wasted in their godforsaken queue!

OllyK

Ahh so your one of the dreaded time wasters then!!?? Shoot ajm

ajm

No, no! Those jobsworths involved with timewasting always look smug! You'll be able to tell its me being served because the jobsworth will look gutted!

OllyK

I mean YOU are wasting other people's time by not passing the correct paperwork over to start with. You are guilty of the same incompetence that you acuse others of! Think about it

Leslie

The people who work in my local post office are particularly helpful and efficient. They really know their job and do their best to help as much as they can.

The real timewasters are those who arrive with barrows full of parcels to be posted, usually from their firms and those with requests which require paperwork and who never seem to get the necessary bits of information right first time. Thats the sort of thing which holds up the queue and gets everyone else irritated.

I notice that it is pretty quick to hand out the cash to the pensioners these days as well.

Les

ajm

It only takes a second, and the pleasure is worth it. Try it!

I don't begrudge a customer infront of me a few seconds to pull that trick, that's not time wasting, that's entertainment as far as I'm concerned!

Tentenths

Don't worry AJM, 'King Tony and his puppets are already on the case

I have to say that I'm a bit surprised to see this coming from someone who is usually such a staunch supporter of all things rural. Pubs and/or Post Office stores are often the only remaining services in many villages - and even these are already disappearing at an alarming rate.

Rural Post Office stores struggle to survive anyway. Remove everything but the postal functions would surely be the death knell for those that remain?

paul-s

this scenario also extends to banks. and supermarket queues. who wants to chat to the muppet in the queue. certainly not the cashier

ajm

That's my point though, some of the services they are providing can be provided by other means, freeing up the post office to be just that, a POST office!

Some rural post offices have set up some genuinely useful schemes, such as combining a small bus service with the mail delivery. This is the sort of thing they should be concentrating on, not paying bills, handing out giros, application forms, collecting council tax etc. If that burden was lifted maybe they could afford to continue to operate useful services!

Hammy Hamster

Like online payment for car tax, for instance.

gsm1

Once more and more pensioners/ Income support claimants etc get their money by DD the less waiting hopefully.

I arrive with parcels, I thought that was a primary business of the PO! I'm always ready with all filled in forms etc though and very quick. Plus I give them loads of cash for it!

Tentenths

Chortle, chortle


But, in fairness to AJM, the online payment facility has only been introduced recently

ajm

Is the rodent trying to imply that my points are not valid because he has managed to find a PO service that is already online?

What about the blue rinses????

Hammy Hamster

<nods>

There was a link to it in here a while back, but I can't find it.

FASTER MIKE!!

ajm i take it you expereiance was at a crown office where the staff get paid regardless of how much work they do. if you go to a local sub-post office which is privatly owned, they'll probably more bothered about clearing a cue, because they get a lunch/tea break as and when they can. also we get paid of each individual transaction, and its not much i can tell you. for example i get paid 55p for every car tax that i do regardless off wether its £15 moped or £8000 wagon and car tax is one the best paid transactions . what does anoy me about the job is the powers that be expect us to sell our new products by asking customers to fill in data capture forms, so thay can sent junk mail when there car/house insurance is due. i myself i don't want to be bothered filling in forms when all i want is 1st class stamp, and i certenly don't want anymore junk mail, so i don't force these onto my customers, they are there on the counter, if they want one, or any information then i'll be happy to help them. the only problem is the retail line maganger comes round and twines about how few forms i've set back

micky the post master

StickyMicky

post offices have to look like there busy or they run the risk of being closed down, the one i do my daily banking at, looks like its close to ruins.

there more then happy when i arrive with the weekends 1k plus takings

the main one in northshields is a nitemare for most of the day tho.

ajm

Why do you do your daily banking at the post office though?

StickyMicky

because i have to give the car wash owners there daily cut

ajm

Not sure what type of office it is actually, how do I tell? Their attitude would certainly seem to suggest that the jobsworths behind the counter are on a fixed wage!

Despite my ranting I do sympathise with your position, I know someone who is a local postmaster, but I thought he had a fixed annual wage to run the post office in his local shop?

As you can see, I'm fairly ignorant of how they are run, my diatribe was based purely on my experiences from "behind the yellow line" as it were, where we must wait our turn amongst the blue rinses!

FASTER MIKE!!

lol ajm we all have bad days . postmasters are paid a basic wage and i mean basic they then get paid x amount for each product they sell be it one stamp one car tax, tv licence etc. so the more products we sell the better pay we get. but there is still the usuall rent, tax and staff etc to pay out of what you get. the plus point is i'm my own boss so i can't complain too much even if the cash is'nt that good
if it was a large city centre office then it was probably was a crown office.

mike