Friday, February 12, 2010

St. Valentine's Day Card Blues

I've got the St. Valentine's Day card blues. Note I placed 'St.', aka: SAINT, before 'Valentine's' because it is actually a holy day named after a saint in the Christian religion. I am not blue because barely anyone remembers this is a day meant to celebrate a saint, I am not all that religious. I don't have the blues because I have been suckered in, for years now, by the likes of Hallmark and feel compelled to buy my sweetheart a nice card and gift for this day. I certainly am not blue because I already received a nice card from my lovely wife for this occasion. Nor am I blue because I bought a card for her last week that I then lost and did not find until today - only 2 days before the day.

I am not blue because when I got to the post office today, the one I found only because it was listed in my GPS, there was a sign in the window that tried to explain that they do not sell stamps. Now, though we are getting closer to why I am blue that is not the reason but it compels me to ask: Why have a post office if it does not sell stamps? Yet, that was not too bad. I could always find another Post Office nearby, one that did sell stamps.

So why have the blues? I am blue because this is what I saw when I walked up to the front door of the post office at which I had hoped to buy stamps today. Yes folks, I kid you not! The United States Post office located on E. McDowell Road in Phoenix, AZ had this sign, pictured to the right, in its front window. It was prominently displayed so that all could see that the U.S. Post Office is run by morons. Maybe the reason for their long standing inability to turn a profit is apparent in the wording of said notice. If they don't SALE stamps that could explain a lot. Please note that said notification is signed: McDowell Management. Can you imagine that the management of that particular branch of the Post Office approved that message for placement in the front window. I cannot.

So why be blue over bad grammar? After all, it was only one little mistake, wasn't it? I work for Uncle Sam, thankfully not for the Post Office. That sign exemplifies, for me, the fact that our government is run, in great part, by idiotic boobs. Other things like it are evident throughout the current administration, one that seems to be one based upon mistakes because of incompetent federal workers, management, appointees, and elected officials. I once had great pride in our federal government but as of late it has been shaken to the bedrock. The Post Office is a prime example of why I have lost that confidence. Branches that do not sale stamps when that is one of the main reasons for the existence of the Post Office, in which the management approves of notices with bad grammar and employees who obviously have less than good command of the English language are allowed to officially place such on display for all to see, just make me feel miserable because such is a sign of how our whole government is failing from the bottom to the top (or would that be from the top to the bottom). I also have the blues because after seeing that I decided to wait until tomorrow to send the card - maybe not a good move but I already sent my love a nice PajamaGram.

Of course, I am not a grammar expert. I make grammatical mistakes too - you surely have seen them here in my blog; I probably made a few in this post. The thing is though, if I wrote something like - with such a glaring mistake as that - in an official document, my supervisor would correct me. He also would laugh at me if I thought it would get finalized without correction. If he did not catch it and correct it then that would be a shame. It would be even worse had it been some sort of public notice we needed to post and it had been posted with the mistake included, then left that way for all to see, and left long enough for it to begin to curl at the edges. As a matter of fact, my fifth grade teacher probably would have slammed me upside my head (as they say) had I handed in a project with a grammatical error like that one. That sign is a disgrace and it is indicative of what we are becoming, or maybe what we have already become, which is a Third World Nation. That is why I have the blues and I only noticed it because of a St. Valentine's Day card that I am overdue in sending!


All the best,
Glenn B