My Dad passed this on to me today....had to share with all my "postal peeps"...lol

And today was the first day of the 2008 year and I wish much success and happiness to all of you. Sadly I'm beginning to realize that some changes must occur for me.  As some of you already know, my living situation is not ideal to say the least.  My ungrateful in-laws have all but ruined my life and my marriage.  Yet again, today in the spirit of the new year I decided to show a small yet sincere act of kindness....let by-gones be by-gones so to speak. 

Yet again, that small gesture was turned into a rebellion against me.  Wish I could reveal all the details but it would take just too long and to be honest, the stupid s**t that goes on around here has gotten to be rather embarrassing as well.  In a nutshell 90% of the arguments around here involve money.  Tonight was no different.  I'm kind of strapped for cash at the moment due to paying some huge bills all at once, plus it being after the holidays and all.  Anyway, to make a long story short, we're all waiting on a few checks to come in by the end of the week.  So I've taken it upon myself to support all of us by buying groceries, gas, etc. until that time.  (with the LITTLE cash I have on me)  In the meantime my husband drives his happy a** over to Barnes & Noble to buy a $20 book that's been on hold for him.  I suggest that he needs to wait a couple of days to buy the book.  Basically he comes home and refuses to eat the dinner I made (and bought), causes a huge scene whereas the father-in-law starts chirping in in the middle of our argument.  He then procedes to go "pout" in our room for the next hour or two.

I ask you.....where the HELL have all the MEN gone?  Today I realized I'm married to a BABY.  I don't need a third child.  I've been married twice now.  The first marriage failed because the SOB cheated on me and I kicked his ever-lovin' a** out.  I'm realizing that somehow...(and I have NO IDEA how) I'm going to have to get my kids and myself out of this situation.  The sad part is, I have NO IDEA how I can ever support myself on a newbie RCA's salary and what kind of job I could get that would go along with being a new RCA (schedule wise and all).  I don't even wanna think about the implications on my two boys.  I certainly have tried to stay in this marriage and do everything I can to keep their family lives as stable as possible in the middle of all of this chaos.  I cannot even fathom being in TWO failed marriages.  How depressing.  I just cannot deal with this.  I need a man....a stand up, working hard, "your word means everything" kind of guy.  I believe they're becoming extinct. :(

So, the day after Christmas I get the call.  Do you wanna come in and work at "the other office" on route such and such?  Uh....ok.  I'm still not sure whether we fall under the jurisdiction of "the other office" or not.  Our office has a "manager" and the other office has a postmaster.....but I digress....

Anyway.  So I get to the mysterious other office, where I'm NEVER worked before and ring the bell (because I don't know the code to get in)  Some guy (and I still don't know what his position is) answered and showed me where the route case was and I told him I'd never worked there before and didn't know where anything was....etc.  So he tells me somebody will be over shortly to show me around, etc.  No one ever shows up of course.  The route looks like total hell.....like one that's been in distress for a few days.  So I just put my nose down and get started.  Then the accountables clerk comes by later and tells me I have an express.  She then tells me that normally people who have never worked a route before go ahead and take the express out and then come back.  I'm totally baffled by this (as this is NOT how it's handled at my other office) so I ask her 2 more times, is she sure I should just leave then and take it?  She says yes.  So I grab a truck and head out the door with the letter.  The dude who answers the door sees me WITH the express and makes sure to write down the post office number for me just in case I have any problems.  

So I start to deliver the thing and it's WAYYYYYYYYYYYY far away.  I mean it must have taken me an HOUR to get there and back.  The lady basically lives in a shack "down by the river".  And there's NOTHING but land all around.  I mean NOTHING.  So I'm thinking "this is the route I'm going to carry today???"  At that point I really know I'm in trouble.  I get back to the office FINALLY and that same guy (who wrote the post office number down for me) says WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?  Uh...delievering the express.  Anyway, supposedly they thought I had went home or something....(very strange).

So, it's obvious by this point that I'm going to need some help doing this route.  The supervisor tells me that the other office will be sending help soon.   It never came.  I finally left the office at like 2:30 when the route is supposed to leave at 11am.  The whole time they're telling me they're sending this help and that help, etc.  Finally somebody from my own office comes out after 5pm. Thank God.  He takes some mail to deliver to the neighborhood I'm in and I'm to go back "down by the river".  

By this time it's dark and raining and I cannot see a THING!  There's nothing around, few streets, etc.  The map I have is WRONG on top of that.  So I call the post office and somebody else (whom I do not know) answers and I tell them I'm lost etc.  She proceeds to ask me 100 questions and then says "I gotta go count the case".  I'm like, WHY ARE YOU GOING TO COUNT THE CASE.....just send help and get me unlost!  Then she tells me that some other guy will be out as soon as he returns to the post office.  Meanwhile the case counter never calls me back.  This happened two or three times.....each time her leaving me with "I gotta go count the case".  I'm thinking, maybe this woman has OCD or something and cannot send help until she counts the case.  I finally call back and get the postmaster who tells me that NO help is coming.  A fact that would have been most helpful to know many times throughout the day.  

Meanwhile I'm doing my best to find ANY house to deliver the mail I have to.  I drive down this dirt winding wooded roads almost blind.  I get to one place where there's a fork in the road and a old faded state road sign.  Most of the letters are faded and I cannot make out what it says.  The interesting thing is that only SOME of the letters were reflective.  And even MORE interesting is that those letters that were reflective spelled out "KEEP OUT OR ELSE".   At that point, I'm basically done.  They finally tell me to just bring what I have back to the office.  

I worked over 12 hours yesterday, didn't leave the office til after 8pm and then they tell me to come back tomorrow at 7am and do it again.  

I was so pissed and scared all at the same time I was SHAKING.  All the while the help they sent out was mad as well because they waited so long to get me any help.  

Do I HAVE to work a route at a fellow office if they tell me to??  I don't mind working but would appreciate not being lied to. 

Although I'm still "new", thanks to this site, I'm not quite as "confused". I just want to thank EVERYONE for all their comments, advice and support since I've joined. I've gotten WAY more out of posting blogs on this site than I have anywhere else.

Since we're all only "virtual friends", I'm saddened by the fact that we can't all meet up and go out for a few beers and some lousy Karaoke. I can hear the music starting up now......(at first i was afraid, i was petrified....afraid that i could not live without you by my side....)....... As we all have now "SURVIVED" the Christmas mail...THANK GOD!

Anyway....best wishes to all. A very Merry Christmas to all.......and I raise my virtual beer in the karaoke club and toast to nothing but good things for us all in 2008.

Cheers.

I realize this has absolutely NOTHING to do with mail....but I've been a good blogger and posted only relevant blogs to this point (I think..lol)

I have to vent.  A LITTLE background.  My husband and I and my two boys moved to MO from NC about 4 years ago and moved in with my husband's parents.  The move WAS to be a temporary one (only 6 months)...but still here we are.  Can't go into all the details but basically our moving here was to help THEM out....NOT VICE VERSA.  Anywho.  There has been a lot of stress and strain over the 4 year period and things have just continued to deteriorate, relationship-wise.  (In the marriage and with the in-laws)

So the final straw (which brings me to this blog) is that I put my neck out on the line (yet AGAIN) financially for my in-law's.  In my mind, I was doing it as a favor to my  husband...not to them.  He believed, as did I, that they would "pay me back" so to speak.  So the deadline comes for them to pay and suddenly they (SHE) says that they don't believe they owe me any money because of BLAH BLAH BLAH.  Somehow they have it in their thick skulls that they are helping US!?  Bottom line is I've sacrificed WAYYYYYYYY too much and now I'm paying the price.  As a result of all of this "helping", my credit is going to be absolutely RUINED....especially if they're going to play this game.  

My husband could not even believe the actions of his own parents.  As for me, I will no longer speak to my mother or my father-in-law.  Uggh.  The hatred runs deep, believe me.  I wish I could go into more detail, but it would take FOREVER.  

In the meantime, dear old hubby, who at one point was able to bring in a very decent income from the internet has been unsuccessful in the venture for a couple of months now.  I've all but given him an ultimatum to look for a job....or else.  He's the type that supposedly can't picture himself working for somebody else.  I'm the type that would do anything that needed to be done to take care of my family.  I feel like I'm living on MARS....help!   #@!*#