Holiday Cheer at the Cottage Grove Post Office

 When I first moved to Cottage Grove in 1988 to work for the Forest Service, I rented a P.O. Box.  The Post Office was located up town at the corner of 5th Street and Washington Avenue, if I remember correctly.  The only available parking was on the streets.  It was a week or so before Christmas.   After work every day I would drive up town to pick up my mail before driving north of town where I rented a small house on Lynx Hollow Road.   This day there was a package slip in my box, so I got in line at the front deck to receive the package.   There may have been 3 or 4 people ahead of me.   I noticed only two people working, one at the front counter and a man in the back sorting mail.  There were packages of all sizes scattered down the aisles and piled on selves, it did not look very organized.   One of the men ahead of me in the line handed his package slip to the clerk.   The clerk spent a good part of 5 minutes walking through the aisles looking for the package with no success in finding it.  By this time there were a line of people going out the door onto the sidewalk.   The clerk returned to the counter and asked the man if he would come back later.  The man waiting for his package was stunned, including those of us standing nearby.    By the time I got to the counter the clerk did find my package.  He seemed  to be spaced out, maybe overworked or had been smoking something besides tobacco, who knows?   The other man in the back continued sorting mail in slow motion as if he was the only person there.   Wonder where the Postmaster was?   As I made my way out the door people were starting to lose the holiday spirit and the streets were filled with cars trying to find a place to park.  

Today there is a new Post Office in Cottage Grove, and it even has a parking lot.

Happy Holidays!

Mike

PS-- there will be more short holiday stories as they come to mind, some of these have been told before.