mail call

 I was once a mailman

    True!  Summer of 1969 I worked for the United States Postal Service as a career substitute clerk carrier.

    I worked out of Ravenswood Post Office on the northwest side of Chicago.  My friends John and Kathy live on a street  on which I once delivered mail.  I liked the neighborhood then, and I like it now.  Quiet, with beautiful homes.

    Anyway......

    As a substitute I did not have a regular assignment.  If a carrier was out, I would do their route.  Or drive a truck.  Or sort.  I did everything except work the front desk.

    Back in those days, carriers had cubby holes for each address.  They would also stick notes on the spots if there were concerns....mean customer, bad dog, broken mailbox...any thing a substitute should know about.

    I was working a route, pushing my cart merrily along, and I come to a house.  There is a chain link fence around the yard and the mailbox is on the porch.  Porch door is open, so is the house door.

    I had second thoughts, but there was no note.

    I open the fence gate, go up the steps and am at the mailbox on the porch, pulling the letters from the stack in my left hand and sticking them in the mailbox with my right.

    That's when I hear the pitter patter of little feet.  

    I look down and there is a German Shepherd staring at me.  He is not happy.

    I slowly back away and he leaps!

    I take my left hand and stuff the mail into his mouth, backing up to the porch door and using my right hand while I am shoving mail with my left, I get the door closed and the dog isolated on the porch.  With a lot of mail.

    We did not have cell phones.  There was a high school on the end of the block, and I went there and used their phone.

    I called my supervisor and explained what happened.  He said that dog had been a problem before and the case should have been tagged. but it wasn't.

    I told him a whole bunch of mail was on the porch and no way was I going back for it.  But I did go back  to the house,

    Some kid came up to me and asked if I was the mailman.  I told him yes and he gave me a bunch of soggy, chewed envelopes he had gathered from his front porch.  He told me he was sorry he left the door open and that the dog jumped.

    I told him to tell his parents they would be getting a notice that mail would no longer be delivered to their house because of the dog.

    I wish cell phones were around, and Ring doorbells.  I would have liked to see me holding off this slobbering dog while frantically trying to find the door.  I am sure I yelled something besides "sit".

    And I wonder what the people thought when their bills and letters were wet with teeth marks.

    And that's the way it was.

Peace and Love