kahunaburger

After all the good experiences over the last few weeks it was bound to happen: one of the service providers is seriously disappointing me. I’m talking about disappointing to the extent that I want to crush myself with a big rock in the back-yard. Luckily there are no big rocks, otherwise you would not read this post right now.

There are few things you need when you move to a new location: phone service? check! internet connection? check! waste management? check! mail services? uhhh - wait a second - wait one more minute - wait one more week …

For the past two weeks I’ve been calling the main USPS number here in Santa Fe. The question is simple: DO I GET MAIL SERVICES AT MY NEW ADDRESS? AND WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO SIGN UP?

Turns out that the question is not so simple. It involves something called a “supervisor” and those things are rare, rare to the extent that it wants me to go in the back-yard and use one of the big (non-existent) rocks.
Two weeks ago I had my virgin experience with 988-2239. I punched in the number, a friendly lady picked up, I told her what I was looking for and I was transferred to one of those “supervisors”. “Supervisors” are a special species: they don’t have voice-mail-boxes like mere mortals, they are entities in the ether and only if they are immediately available, they will pick up the phone. No pick-up for me that time. I leave my name, number and reason for the call and I am promised a call-back in no time. Emphasis is on “no time”. I wait 2 days before I call back, only to experience the same thing again.

Since then it’s been deja-vu all over. When I call the number above I catch myself actually reciting the responses from the remote end in my mind and it’s frightening how close I match the real conversation.

10 mins ago I placed the last call with the USPS and again the superior being called “supervisor” is not available (makes you wonder if they really exist). I tell the lady that it has been about ten times since I called and she says “what’s your name - I want to verify that you really called ten times” - I give her my name and she says I don’t see any track record of you calling. “Look it up by phone number!” - “No can do.” - sigh again.

To sum it all up: it’s been two weeks since I moved. I have no idea if there’s mail service out here and the USPS is obviously not able to answer this basic, simple question. While on hold I listen to all those great ads for great services, but I need a friggin postal address to take advantage of those. Ending this post to make another phone call … to the USPS!