It was just sad. Very very sad. When I entered the compound, I noticed that it looked not maintained. The plants were all dried out. The pebbles on the driveway made me think, was it really a pebble finish or was the pavement broken into pebbles through time? The pebble wash steps and lobby were breaking up. It stopped me and made me look around. It looked empty and forgotten. The lobby are was spacious, it was lacking chairs – what they had instead were , blue colored wooden benches for patrons to sit and wait. The lights were dim and it was a bit dark inside. It was dirty (in my standards) and not sanitary. I am very particular with cleanliness, and the lobby – well, it was below my standards. The queue was a bit confusing. I always notice that in government office, the security guards seem. to be part of the government work force. People ask them for details and assistance, and they answer with directions and motions to where we should wait and sit. It’s not part of their job, but they help anyway. Something good, right? I remember a long time ago, when I picked up a parcel from this same post office, that it took very long, the wait I mean, because they still had to *locate* the package. But there were very few people claiming packages. But this time, a LOT of people were claiming packages. So I had to wait in line. Just as I was about to give up on the wait, I bumped into our postman. His name is Larry. Larry has been our postman since 1989. He has witness my *growing up* and so when he saw me, he immediately asked what I needed. I told him that I was claiming a package and the line was long, that I was thinking of going back the next day. He said that he’d help me. So he took the details of my package, the tracking number and the en route date. He led me at the back office and told me to wait. I was so thankful to bump into him – at least I knew that my package was *moving along*. After a few minutes, he came back to me and said that they were still locating the package. He then led me to the 2nd floor where I saw the whole floor with tables and chairs and mini pigeon holes. There was a waiting area by the stairs and we waited there.
I noticed that the vinyl tiles were not complete. Ceilings were partially open, pails were on the floor to catch rain water, stand fans scattered across the floor. It looked really really sad. I felt disheartened. Since I knew Larry from a long time ago, I felt very sad at the state of his place of work. Larry is one of the hard working loyal government employees I know. And it saddens me to see the condition of his work place.
While waiting, we got to talk. I told him my observations on the place. That it was not maintained, the ceiling were open and there was a lack of ventilation/electric fan on the area. But despite it looking *kawawa*, the spirit of Christmas is very much alive. Despite the sadness of the state of the office, the people inside were very jolly – I was amazed and heartbroken at the same time.
For the life of me, these government employees – these postmen and women work hard day and night to deliver letters, packages and the like. But I feel that their place of work has disrespected their livelihood and what they stand for in the country. I asked the officer of the day – Mr. Bayona, why this is the state of their office building, he told me – there was no means to improve on it, so they just live by what they are given – the deteriorating building. He mentioned that most of the time, they use their own money to spend on electric fans and the upkeep of the place. In his words *Tiis, tiis nalang po*. It’s so sad because these hard workers deserve better – they deserve more compared to the other government employees. In this sad state, Larry told me – that he has paid for his kids’ studies by being a postman. That his kids are scholars in their respective schools. That even if the pay is low, his salary is on Salary Grade 8 – he has a stable job and they’re quite okay with it. He says that because of his job in the PostiOffice, he was able to get loans to get by. In his words *Nairaraos ko naman po ang pamilya ko sa pagiging kartero. Marangal naman po ang trabaho* When he said those, I felt bad and good at the same time. Bad because I did nothing to help him, and good because despite where he is in life – he is still very positive. I want to help these postmen and women. I really want to. Do I contact the Mayor? Does the local government have a say in the up keep of the post office? Please help with inputs. I would really appreciate it. When I see the news especially those Mocha Uson and those personalities that are appointed jobs in the government that don’t deserve it really – I feel so sad. I mean, the salaries of these personalities can be given to those more deserving like our postmen and women. I wish I can do more for them. These postal office employees deserve better. They work rain or shine to deliver letters to us and the government should be giving them more for their efforts. On a different note, I finally received my package from AliExpress. I will make another post on this.
