Vapor-Lock
About a week ago I was trying to mail my husband's (very small) Swiss Army knife back to him. Let's leave aside for the moment why I had occasion to be trying to mail my husband's Swiss Army knife back to him. I just was.
So I bought a padded mailer, wrapped it in a further layer of bubble wrap, sealed it, addressed it, took it to the Post Awf...'scuse me, the Post Office (gotta watch that; I have friends who work there), stood in line waiting for the windows to open (at 9:00), stood behind the only other person in line who had some kind of weirdness that needed to be explained to him several times over by the one and only available clerk, finally approached said clerk...and here's where I made my critical mistake. I was friendly.
I chatted up the clerk, as she was weighing the package and preparing to put postage on it. I shared with her the story of what I was mailing ( and why )
"Oh, we can't mail that. You can't send that through the mail. That's mailing hazardous materials."
What?!!! So how am I going to get this thing back to him: carrier pigeon?
Utter vapor lock. I called him in a fury (at the PO, not him), telling him I hoped he didn't mind never seeing the knife again because now that it was here in Atlanta, I had absolutely no means of getting it home again...and he reminded me that I was checking a bag that night, coming home for the weekend, and that it was certainly not forbidden to carry the knife back in my checked bag.
Problem solved - very simply. But I was so busy being infuriated and frustrated that I couldn't even think of the simplest, most obvious solution...
So I bought a padded mailer, wrapped it in a further layer of bubble wrap, sealed it, addressed it, took it to the Post Awf...'scuse me, the Post Office (gotta watch that; I have friends who work there), stood in line waiting for the windows to open (at 9:00), stood behind the only other person in line who had some kind of weirdness that needed to be explained to him several times over by the one and only available clerk, finally approached said clerk...and here's where I made my critical mistake. I was friendly.
I chatted up the clerk, as she was weighing the package and preparing to put postage on it. I shared with her the story of what I was mailing ( and why )
"Oh, we can't mail that. You can't send that through the mail. That's mailing hazardous materials."
What?!!! So how am I going to get this thing back to him: carrier pigeon?
Utter vapor lock. I called him in a fury (at the PO, not him), telling him I hoped he didn't mind never seeing the knife again because now that it was here in Atlanta, I had absolutely no means of getting it home again...and he reminded me that I was checking a bag that night, coming home for the weekend, and that it was certainly not forbidden to carry the knife back in my checked bag.
Problem solved - very simply. But I was so busy being infuriated and frustrated that I couldn't even think of the simplest, most obvious solution...
