Sherri Jackson's Blog: Peer Pressure in the Post Office and Thanks
by Sherri Jackson
CBS 42 News
2008-03-17 09:51:07.0
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I was in the post office today mailing my income tax to our friends the tax guys. A long line had formed all the way back to the entrance. We all waited while the two clerks worked in detail at the two windows. One was waiting on a woman who appeared to be expediting a passport. Her daughter was twirling around in a beautiful green dress and dragging her pink flamingo around. The other clerk was serving a customer who had between 15 and 20 packages to mail. They were being weighed one by one. I was counting. We all were.
As journalists we are trained to be observant. Truth be told we are all a little bit nosey. But being nosey is helpful in this field because that’s how you get the best stories. So as I waited in line watching the little girl entertain herself while her mother filled out forms with haste I thought to myself: this is going to take longer than I anticipated. So I waited and came across what I think is good story. Let me share it with you.
Just as I was thinking I was going to be in the post office a long time, an older woman walked in the door. She was holding a grey plastic package in one arm, her cane in the other, as she flipped her shades up over her eyeglasses. She made a comment about how long the line was and proceeded to join the rest of us. That’s when the woman at the very front of the line told the older woman to come to get in front of her. As the more senior female walked past all of us in the line she said, “thank you” to each one of us before taking her place at the front of the line.
Meanwhile the clerks were still waiting on the two customers I mentioned earlier. When the lady with the cane who looked to be in her 70’s or 80’s got to the front she turned to all of us and said, “This is one of the good things about getting old. People are generally nicer to you.”
We all smiled politely. Then the woman who graciously gave up her spot in the front of the line said, “We can only hope someone returns the favor when we’re older.”
The older woman nodded in agreement. That’s when the man in front of me and behind the two women in the front of the line said, “Did you hear the story about the 105 year old lady?”
The elderly woman said, “No.”
We all listened to the story. The guy said, “A young man asked her, ‘what is the best part about being 105 years old?’ The woman told him, no peer pressure.”
We all laughed. And for a moment I forgot I was standing in line at the post office mailing my income tax. It was an excellent example of respecting our elders on the part of the lady who gave up her first slot in line, and a very classy way to cut the line by the elderly woman. Who could object? The icing on the cake was the joke about the 105 year old lady and peer pressure. But I have to tell you, I was quiet proud of how my peers in the post office treated the elderly lady who came in with her grey plastic package. I don’t object at all to peer pressure like that.
By the way I want to thank all of you who offered your prayers for my stepmother who is recovering from a stroke. She is in a rehabilitation facility now and improving. My father is learning how to help her get around and we’re told she might be going home in a few weeks.
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