She Was Told To Handle Her Missing Deliveries Herself, But When The Postmaster Later Misplaced Her Check, She Refused To Make Things Easy For Him
Canva
Rules can sound very different when the person enforcing them must follow them too.
A small-town post office refused to quickly investigate one grandmother’s missing Christmas packages because of its strict waiting policy.
Later the same office lost her payment and expected an immediate replacement check.
Keep reading to see how she returned their own policy.
C.O.D. and lost check
Here’s one of my favorite stories my mother told me about my grandmother. Going back almost 50 years now, my grandmother would do all of her Christmas shopping from the Sears catalog.
Back then, you could order stuff cash/check on delivery (C.O.D.). Well, my grandmother would order everything well before Thanksgiving to make sure it all arrived in time, even though it usually took about 2 weeks.
One year, nothing had arrived before Thanksgiving, so she called Sears to see what was going on. They called my grandmother back the next day and said everything had been shipped within a week of her ordering them, and my grandmother should contact the post office.
We lived in a small town, and grandma went to see the postmaster to let him know about the missing packages. He handed my grandmother a form to fill out.
He said, “Our policy is we have 30 days to deliver the packages. If the packages don’t arrive after 30 days, notify us in writing. Once we get your written notification we’ll start looking for them. If we don’t find them after 30 days we’ll issue payment to Sears for the lost packages. You can then reorder replacements.”
She said that would mean none of the presents from her would arrive before Christmas, but the postmaster said that was the policy.
Grandma had the perfect comeback to the unhelpful postmaster.
Not wanting to disappoint her grandchildren on Christmas, my grandmother then ordered new presents for everyone, but slightly different. If the original packages arrived she would then have next year’s gifts, too.
Sure enough, the new, reordered packages arrived in about 2 weeks, and my grandmother gave the mail carrier a check for the C.O.D. amount due.
The following week, the letter carrier knocked on my grandmother’s door. He explained that they had a record of her giving them a check, but they couldn’t find the check now, and would she please write them a new check?
She said she would go see the postmaster to discuss the issue.
When my grandmother got to the post office, she talked to postmaster, and he said they can’t find the check anywhere, and she needed to write them a new one.
My grandmother calmly replied. “Well, you have a record that I paid you. MY policy is you have 30 days to find the check. If after 30 days you can’t find the check, please notify me in writing. Upon receipt of your notification, I then have 30 days to issue you a new check.”
The check was never cashed, and Sears showed the account paid in full. My grandmother was a dear, sweet, kind lady, but don’t mess with her. She will bury you.
You have your policy, she has hers. It’s only fair.
Let’s read what other people have to say about this.
A witty comment.
She’s a legend, says this one.
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
This person shares a related memory.
Wise grandma.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who is told their fence doesn’t meet community guidelines, but then they find a way around those guidelines in their own handbook.
People are loving the grandma.
This grandmother copied the post office’s waiting policy word for word after employees admitted losing the check she had already given them.
The payment was never cashed, yet Sears still marked her account as fully paid and no replacement check was needed.
Grandma delivered that policy right back.
Enjoyed this story?
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
