I know the thread title may not impress some people, especially those living in smaller communities. They deliver your mail every day so it’s not a huge surprise that your name/address may get burned into their brains.
But I live in an apartment in L.A., a city of **10 million people ***. There are also at least 25-30 units in the complex. So I find it pretty darn shocking that my mailwoman was not only able to instantly recognize me, but also call me by my name without looking at any reference.
Here’s what happened: I was out of town for 10 days up until yesterday (Thanksgiving). I placed a hold on my mail until today. This morning I went to the Post Office to retrieve it, and they said they didn’t have it so it probably went out with the carrier to be delivered all at once (even though I selected the “I will pick it up” option).
Carrier arrives around 12:30PM, and since my apartment is near the front of the complex I can see her arriving outside my window. I go out to talk to her and see if she has my backed up mail. I’ve never spoken with her before, and I don’t even recognize her - I can recall at least 4-5 different people from USPS I’ve seen running this route in the <2 years I’ve lived here, and I don’t pay all that much attention.
Upon seeing me exit my apartment, as soon as I approached her the first words out of her mouth were “Your mail’s at the Post Office”. Turns out that she did leave it there but they hadn’t processed it yet when I went to pick it up at 9AM or some mumbo-jumbo, I didn’t listen carefully because I didn’t much care as long as it was there and it’s not lost. I thanked her, and as I was going back to my apartment, she remarked, “No problem, <my first name>”.
I was stunned. When I reflect, it’s probably not that huge of a miracle. Especially since they’ve been holding the mail for my unit the past 10 days, that would be a cause for taking particular note of it. But I still feel a little more special and a little less anonymous than I usually do in this gigantic people-herding metropolis, and I gotta say, that’s pretty damn cool.
*(that’s counting the greater L.A. area - technically I’m in Van Nuys)
