Hubby came home for lunch the other day and as is our routine, I walked him out when he was leaving and walked down to grab the mail. That’s when I noticed…between the time he had arrived home and left, our mailbox had been mushed. The mail was hanging out of it in all directions. Thinking it was probably the mail carrier that hit it, but not certain, I had the local police come by to write it up for vandalism. The officer took pictures, pulled a curled up piece of postal red pinstripe from the corner edge of the box, and said, ” He needs to admit it.” Having now narrowed it down to a ten minute time frame…..there was only one conclusion to draw. The carrier’s boss told me that since he did not report it right when it happened, he would be fired now if he admits it. I don’t want him to lose his job. I want honesty. I want him to do what I did when I backed into my sister’s red and grey Mercury Bobcat……TWICE. And when I broke the neighbors vacuum I’d borrowed when we first got married. And when I sucked up my son’s favorite hotwheels car in the car wash vacuum. Walk to the door. Tell me.
The UPS man has come to my door on two occasions since we moved here, apologizing for stepping on my solar lights in the flowerbed. He offered to pay. I just thanked him and told him, “No worries…it happens.” Then I stuck the broken light back in the ground for next time. 🙂 Bless his heart for telling me, though!
I went to Lowes, bought a replacement mailbox and address numbers. Hubby said he was pretty certain he could straighten the metal pole without having to replace it. Moments later it came to me. The Tell-Tale Heart. Pondering on the echo of the beating heart and the insanity that followed….I told hubby, “No, I think I want to just leave my broken mailbox that way for a while.” He smiled. He has read Poe, too.
Moral of the story? Mistakes happen to everyone! We all have momentary stupidness. I could write weeks of blogs on mine! 🙂 But a silly mailbox has now placed a giant distrust in my gut. I’m guessing Poe never thought he’d get a mailbox gig?!
Have a great weekend….and be careful in reverse!
stuff i tell my sister 
As hard as it can get, I always feel better when I own up to my mistakes and more often than not, I am reassured with gentleness and understanding.
Exactly, Diana……live and learn ♥
Silly chap but guess all the parcel delivery people are overworked at this time of year 😉
Hmmmm….a thought….but it was before T-day here, so I’m thinking I must just frighten him. 🙂
When I was just learning how to drive (when we still had gear shifts back in the 1940’s), I mistakenly put the car into reverse and did a similar number on a mail box…and the worst part of it was, I had ditched school and my boyfriend was letting me drive his car to practice. So not only did I have to own up to ruining the mailbox, but I had to admit to my parents that I had ditched school. Maybe you should plant a chair out by the mailbox and wait for the guilty person (mailman?) to return, and give him the “evil eye” until he begs for forgiveness….or don’t bake any Christmas cookies for him this year. How could he not have heard or felt the crunch?
That one had to be hard to own up to Delores!
Maybe I SHOULD make him some cookies….he’d be afraid to eat them! 🙂 Thump, thump…. 🙂
I had mine mowed down a couple of months ago by paramedics. The squad driver was lost and used the drive across from mine to pull into to back up. After the call was taken care of he left me a note. The Fire Chief made the guy fix it himself – he messed it up twice, but was good natured about it on the phone. He kept trying to beat the box back into shape 🙂 When I finally met him I saw that he was about 22 years old and was in college – I bought a box and fixed it myself never letting him know it wasn’t perfect. The stinker in this whole thing was my postal carrier – he would not deliver at all while the box was being repaired. The box was out there but setting on a log until it could be replaced. Ugh!
I am kinda “daring” the post office not to deliver mine under the circumstances. haha…. I don’t hold a grudge or anything! The door is scrunched so won’t open or close. Today a package was on the front porch…:) Under normal circumstances…it would have fit in the box!
At least your guy tried! I would never have made a deal about this one either. Stuff happens. Step up.
Good old Uncle Sam…..
The Paramedic did his best, clearly he didn’t know how to mix cement or operate a screwdriver – but he owned it and tried – how mad can you get at a guy who saves lives for a living?
The rural carrier – he’s a terror. He never delivers anything that won’t fit in the box – he makes me take off work to pick it up.
I agree….good for him for making the attempt.
As for the rural carrier…..
When we lived in Newcastle, OK…we were the 1st house to go up in a new development. We put our box out…the mail carrier left a note that we needed to adusted it up however many inches to work with her vehicle. (rural) So we did. Shortly after that, she got a different vehicle….you guessed it. Mail delivery ceased until we adjusted our box to her level!!!!
Haha – the guy here has made neighbor relocate them to places in their own driveway that is easier for him to reach. When mine was being repaired he was able to leave a note telling me to pick up my mail at the post office though.
So now I am on a roll……then there was the carrier in Bella Vista, AR. She came late in the day with a big box. We lived pretty deep in the woods there. She said our box had a strong odor to it. And it was wet. She thought we’d gotten rotten fruit. She stood in the front door and waited, wanting to see what she’d been hauling & smelling all day. We opened it to find several bottles of wine that hubby’s brother had made and shared with us. As carefully as he package them, only two bottles survived the trip from FL. Each of our boys had a bottle of wine to open on their wedding days a few years later….in sweet memory of Uncle Eldon.
LOL – my pop used to make wine – I’ve been working on a story about it. At least the carrier cared 🙂 Eldon is a name in our family – from Nebraska.
She was a hoot….and had we had an extra bottle….we would have shared with her! When we moved to MO, we loaded her up with stuff! lol! (but don’t tell!)
Our Eldon was a dear and we miss him every single day. He is now in good company at Arlington ♥♥♥
You were lucky to have a great rural carrier. Sorry for the loss of your Eldon. My Grandpa Max and my brother Max are both Eldons – I know it goes back further, and uncle on my great grandmother’s side I think.
We were lucky!
Eldon was always the “host”…making certain everyone was happy. Guessing he’s still doing the same ….. he sure is missed. ♥
That is too awesome that this is a family name in your crew! You seldom hear the name anymore…
Too cool 🙂
Many years ago when we lived in OK it was a late Christmas night, almost everyone had left to go home following a Christmas family dinner …….a stranger knocked on our door. He had been stopped by the local police for speeding and pulled off on our road to get off the highway. The funny part is he is not the one that ran over our mailbox, it was the police officer writing him the ticket. The policman sent him to the door to tell us…….now that was funny!!
Was that in Tuttle?!? I don’t recall that! Too funny…and what a chicken policeman! haha
I think I’d put a sign on your mailbox that says, “I know what you did and I saw who you were.” That would be a good way to get into his/her head–Poe-like! 🙂
haha! 🙂
That would be too funny; I agree! Put a note on the front of the box. To make it really effective, do it in dripping red paint! 🙂
haha…I wonder if they’ll let me have my camera in jail? 🙂
Why is it WE never learn… Honesty is always the best policy 🙂
And that is the question……why? 🙂
Mistakes do happen and I wish more people would be gracious in accepting that they do. I too have had solar lights flatted by delivery men and a few workmen and I’ve said not a bother, and they were so relieved to hear that. They tell me I’d be surprised at how over the top some people react, demanding all kinds of things.
I think that’s it….maybe not knowing the reaction….but regardless….owning up is the way to go! 🙂 Happy Sunday!
I can’t believe he hit it; by the look of the photo, he would have had to drive up on the curb to run over it. We had major problems with vandals creaming our box every other week until we moved into our present house. It is a repurposed cast iron pressure tank on a steel 6″ pole. Never had an issue. At first it was on a 4×4 post and it got knocked down; the box was ok, but their were pieces of car all over our yard. And then someone tried to hit it and I think we found a front headlamp in the ditch – the pole only leaned a bit. No one messes with the Welchel box anymore!
We too have had to “rearrange the height and distance from the road” to suit the rural mail carrier.
Oh, while I’m on the subject; we had one carrier that would leave packages that wouldn’t fit in the box (and this thing is extra big) balanced on top of the box. Now, we live about a 100 yards off the road and the mail box is round. Anyone could steal it (and probably have on occasion) and the wind has blown it off the box several times. One time I had ordered an iPod and it was balanced on top of the box. I complained several times and but they have finally quit doing that. I mean I appreciate not having to go into Blanchard to retrieve my stuff, but goodness, just leave it on my front porch!
Rural life at its best! But the good outweighs the bad, usually! It’s always something!!!!
Yes, definitely bake him some Christmas cookies. That will make him feel really guilty. 😀
Now really….if you were him, would you eat cookies I baked??? LOL! 🙂
He’ll probably still expect his Christmas box. 🙂
ya think???? 🙂
For sure. 🙂
🙂
What a great Poe reference. 😉 If only people would realize that owning up to a mistake usually elicits a kinder response from the other person, things like this would go so much better. If it were me, I would want the offender to pay for the damage. Had they come to me at the time and apologized, I would have surely thanked them and said we’d take care of it. … Our mailbox is one of those flip kind that is attached to house by the front door. We had a carrier once who wanted us to buy a mailbox and put it on the ground so she wouldn’t have to walk up our three steps and onto our porch. We didn’t do it.
That’s exactly how we would have handled it had someone come to the door. With grace and humor. But after the fact…it just ticks me off, frankly. 🙂 But oh well.
That is so funny she didn’t want to walk up your steps!!!!
Life is full of surprises, isn’t it. And people are crazy…as the song states.
You are very kind, Paula! I’m sure you made his day.
I love the Poe reference, but I really love that you chose GRACE and chose to be reminded of it. Lord knows I need it all the time! Thanks for the follow; looking forward to getting to know you!
Awww…thanks….not that it is always an easy choice, mind you!!! I love your blog name and am excited to see what goes on in your land of OZ! 🙂 paula ♥
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Nice story. I haven’t read Poe since I was young. You’ve inspired me to take another look. Besides, I’m old enough that I probably won’t remember what I read the first time!
I found things I had forgotten when I went back to it a couple of weeks ago! Love it! 🙂 Thanks for the read! ♥ paula