New Things That Bug Me

So I haven't written anything for a while again because of my new job and getting comfortable with it.  As some of you may know, I have become a letter carrier for Canada Post (insert Newman and Cliff Clavin joke here), and I'm loving it!  I enjoy the freedom of the job, something that I NEVER felt in retail.  As long as the mail gets delivered I've done a good job.  It's great being outside for a few hours a day, even in the rain, and especially in the snow - I've always enjoyed walking during a snow storm, don't know why.  So, as much as I've been enjoying myself, I have encountered a few things that piss me off, and so, I rant.
First of all, take a look at the picture to the left.  Have you all seen these mail slots?  They're the ones that are exactly wide enough for a standard envelope to go through.  If you have one of these slots in your door I beg of you, on my knees, GET A MAILBOX!!!  These slots were fine 70 years ago when all the mail you got was put into a standard envelope.  This is not the case anymore.  As a letter carrier, I try to drop off mail as fast as possible so I can be on my way to the next house.  I go to anywhere from 500 to 1000 houses every day.  These mail slots from Hell slow down everything.  The myriad of different sizes of mail these days makes it impossible for me to quickly throw the mail through these slots.  I have to put down the bundle that I'm holding, fold the mail in the proper way (which can be challenging depending on the amount of mail), hold the slot open with one hand and insert the mail with the other.  When I deliver mail, the one-hand method is preferred.  I realize this isn't a huge deal and some of you may be rolling your eyes, but how freakin' hard would it be to go to your local Home Depot with five freakin' dollars and buy a freakin' proper mailbox?!?  And if anybody ever complains that their mail has been ruined by being stuffed through these slots, I will be writing my next blog entry from prison.  I will go OFF!!
Ok, that's was just a small rant, here is the one that makes me swear under my breath all day long: flyers. If you don't want flyers, fine...call the toll free customer service line from the Canada Post website and tell them you don't want any flyers (admail as we call it).  This way the station supervisors can update our cases so we don't send out admail.  What does that mean?  Well, when I get into work at 6:00am I go to my workstation for my route, called a case.  These cases are just a bunch of cubby holes that represent all the addresses that I have to deliver to.  Along with the addressed mail, I have to sort anywhere from one to eight (!) admail flyers into each of these cubby holes.  If a customer has requested, through the customer service line, that they do not want flyers, there will be a little red dot next to their address.  I see a red dot, I don't sort in any admail.  That's all fine and good.  What is not fine and good are the little stickers and hand written signs on mailboxes that read "No Flyers, Please" or "No Junk Mail" or "We're Saving Trees, No Flyers Please".  If I don't see a red dot for your address and I've sorted the flyers in to be delivered, and I get to your house and see one of these signs, I can't deliver the flyers.  I have to take them back to the station!!!  Again, this may not sound like a big deal, but I sometimes come back to the station with 20 pounds worth of flyers...and thats not an exaggeration.  The more flyers I have to bring back, the less room I have for actual mail in my mailbag, making things incredibly aggravating for me, not to mention very heavy.  But let's look at the real root of my aggravation.  How freakin' hard is it to take these flyers and deposit them into your blue box for recycling?  "Oh, but I shouldn't have to do that" some will say.  I say this..."Do you enjoy getting your mail????".  If everybody got on this bandwagon and refused flyers from Canada Post, there would be no Canada Post!!  The revenues from the flyers we deliver is why we're still delivering mail!!!  "Oh, but I'm saving trees by refusing flyers".  Fuck off!!!!!  Recycling will help our environment...the flyers will still be printed even if you don't want them.  You may think by putting those little signs on your mailbox will solve some sort of problem, but for me, it creates a bunch of them.  Simply recycle them...that's all I ask.
That's all I got for now.  I may write again soon about dogs (I've been chased by one already) or people that think mailmen are there to converse with (cute sometimes, but let me do my job).