Beef!

last thursday i came home from work and checked my mailbox. empty. i was a little surprised - it is not as though the junk mail comes everyday but the pre-approved loaners usually wait until the weekend to give me a break. but i didn't sweat it - it's not as though someone was sending me a letter. i missed my new york magazine but i decided it must be one of those weeks when the mag takes a break.

i went away for the weekend and came back on monday night - to an empty mailbox.
"there's no mail." my neighbour, stating the obvious.

turns out the postal service and my new landlord had a falling out over some key box that grants access to the mail deliverer. now, i have lived here since 2001 and, in all that time, there has never been a key box outside our building. not that any of it mattered, i had to pass through the post office and pick up my mail on my way to work. why do my shoes pick that day to be military grade tools of torture?

i get to the post office and my mail lady encourages, no practically demands that i jump into the fray.
"it's not just your building; the landlord owns 2 other buildings and they don't have a key box and so they're not getting any mail either! call the office and keep calling them and tell them that they have to put that box out there. until they do it, you'll have to come here once a week because i'll only sort your mail once a week, and pick up your mail. i know you get a lot of mail but it's your landlord's fault."

i am guessing that neither rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night doesn't include missing key boxes.