One time I was at the post office in China, hoping to send some postcards home before China Post closed for its daily three hour siesta at noon. Now, in my experience, patronizing foreign post offices is always a bit of a challenge.
In China they don't really line up in a neat and orderly fashion. I suppose if you have more than a billion countrymen, it might not be to your advantage to develop a habit of allowing others to board a bus or buy a movie ticket before you.
Still, as a Canadian, polite to a fault, it can be disconcerting to stand patiently in line while men, women and children all barge in front of you, seemingly without the slightest bit of shame or remorse.
Another time in a Serbian post office I was late for a meeting and was stuck in a very long line. Noticing that the elderly lady in front of me was speaking French to her companion, I decided to attempt to communicate with her, with the hope of getting her to take my money and mail my stuff for me while I went and met my friend. I think I told her that I was developmentally disabled, that "I love you money and I go friend now." She gave me a withering glare and turned back to her friend, leaving me to mail my own letters and be late for my meeting.
Anyway, back to China Post. There I was standing patiently, mentally practicing my rudimentary Chinese language skills for the upcoming transaction, when two guys cut in front of me and poked their letters at the cashier's nose. I assumed that they must have arrived just before I did, but I guessed they had lacked the correct change and had just now returned with the proper funds, so I was prepared to let it go. No big deal, really, and it was my turn next anyway.
So I was rather surprised when another person, obviously in a hurry, cut in front of me and bought her stamps. This was starting to annoy me, but I decided to let it go once again. I was in love with China, and could put up with almost anything for the privilege of being there. But just as I was stepping up to the wicket, another two students elbowed me out of the way and presented their letters to the clerk.
This was the last straw.
"HEY!" I roared, "I'M NEXT!!"
Although I wasn't speaking their native language, I think they received the gist of my message, and they scattered, leaving me to calmly purchase the necessary postage to send three postcards to Canada.
Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself, make your voice heard over the background noise of a world that doesn't really seem to care if you are there or not. I'm not saying you should go around at post offices yelling at people, and in fact I think it's important to try and brighten a service industry worker's day a little bit, because they have to put up with a lot of crap from everybody else. But every now and then you have to assert yourself; every now and then you have to let people know that "I am next!"
This website is designed to help you, the college-aged person, find your way in this world, while you journey to discover your life direction.
Nathan likes to explore the different off-ramps and twists and turns on the great road of life. He claimes he has no special qualifications to be an iamnext writer. Sure, he has a BSc, but really . . . However, Nathan has traveled extensively, in Asia and Europe, and has hitch-hiked across Canada, and he has learned a few things along the way. Just enough things to know he still has a lot of learning still to do. Copyright 2003 iamnext.com May not be reprinted without permission.
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