I have encountered all kinds of ridiculousness in my time, but some things really frustrate me and I am not willing to just sit back and do nothing about it. This post is about what happened today.
I was going shopping with my Mum and we were in her car. I had to pick up a parcel at the Royal Mail pick-up place so we called there first.
The place you pick up your parcel is a little corridor with a window that the Postal staff pass the parcels through. I had the card they had left in my post box and some ID, as I knew they had changed the rules and that now everyone must provide ID to get their parcels.
When I got there a woman around my age was inside and someone else, but I couldn't see past her, I could hear her talking to someone else inside. I stood outside then they wouldn't have to push past me to get out. When the woman my age came out I went inside. An elderly lady was inside, I gave my card to the man in the window.
I noticed the lady was crying, she was a tiny little thing and very frail looking, and I was worried that she had been taken ill. I asked her what is wrong and she told me that she had walked there to get a parcel and she had forgotten her ID but they wouldn't give her the parcel.
I asked the man behind the window if he could make an exception for once, as she is clearly distressed. They were refusing, telling me that they are not allowed to and they were trying to get her to sit down inside another room through the door, but she was scared. I told her I would take her home and she seemed happy about that, I think she was worried about walking home. The manager then asked to talk to me privately and said she had been abusive to the staff because of the rules. After me saying they should just give it her and blow the rules for once, he then said that if I was taking her home they would give me the parcel, the parcel was big and heavy, she would have never have been able to carry the thing home anyway.
I came walking out with the little elderly lady and said to my Mum that we were dropping her off at home, and she didn't mind, so we took her and her big parcel home. When we got there luckily her son had just got there and so I told him to make her a cup of tea, as she was still shaking.
Is it any wonder though, that she got upset when she is clearly struggling even to walk, and has serious health issues? She was probably worried that she would have to walk all the way there and back again with ID to get it.
People are all too quick to say they can't do something, because it means breaking the rules. But when those rules are so strict that they are upsetting a frail old woman, to the point where she nearly collapsed, they are just going too far.
People are too scared to get involved with the problems of others, that woman who was in there before me with her, she knew what was going on but just walked away. If it wasn't for my insistence I don't know what might have happened to her. I didn't like seeing her suffer and wasn't prepared to just ignore the situation and walk away and do wish more people were like that.
I am thankful the manager at the Royal Mail office for finally agreeing to give her the parcel, he did the right thing in the end.
People come first, not rules.
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