I have to admit, I was taken aback by the stern wording, all-caps and highlighter used. I even checked in with my even-tempered spouse and he thought it a bit much. This seems more appropriate for a third or fourth notice. But this was the first time I was being made aware of the concern.
I will admit, I have been ruthlessly clearing out my house of things we do not need. And anything that is big and bulky is difficult for me to fit in my car to bring to Goodwill so have been putting it at the end of my driveway with a "free" sign. So the concerns are valid. But really?! I think this was an over reaction. My first wave of emotion was annoyance which mutated into embarrassment. Both of these emotions made me want to respond in inappropriate, somewhat passive aggressive ways. I talked myself down from these responses, and naturally figured I would just do nothing and comply. However, a really neat thing transpired. "One kind deed" came to mind. So I decided, somewhat artificially, that I needed to do more. So I wrote this brief note and attached a little bar of wonderful dark chocolate (which I always have on hand, thanks to the amazing, affordable 5 pack at Aldi's...) to put in the mail box.
Here's the exciting part. As I was doing this kind deed, even though I didn't really want to, I started thinking about the mail person. I realized that USPS is going through a lot of struggles, there are many post offices closing and perhaps this person is under more stress as a result of concern over being laid off or increased workload because of a smaller workforce. And the nastygram they wrote was just an over reaction to an admittedly annoying obstacle. I had an internal shift and I WAS NO LONGER ANNOYED! ( I typically never use all-caps, but this is how exciting this internal shift was for me. picture me saying this with wide eyes, raised eyebrows and a breathy excited voice). I just can't believe how wonderful for me this "one kind deed" perspective is.
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