Going Postal in Italy.

About a week ago I had an opportunity to watch a tourist try to figure out where the Post Office was. No words, no music, a kind of   pantomime...this poor lady. Let me explain, from our Lanai we have an unobstructed view to the building that houses the post office. The first time I went to mail something I did exactly what this woman was about to do. There is a sign on the road that directs you up a short flight of stairs, when you get to the top there is an arrow telling you to go to the right, you walk around the right side of the building and there is nothing there? You go back and study the sign and think, maybe the arrow was wrong, so this time you go to the left instead, ahhh, this must be it, lots of doors which means possibilities, so she walks to each door, and since there are no signs, she tries each one...hmmmm all locked? She goes back and studies the sign again, and again walks over to the right side of the building, still nothing there??? Once more she comes back and studies the sign...after 5 minutes of starring at that sign, she turns around, goes down the stairs and looks at the original sign telling her where the Post office is suppose to be. Finally, shaking her head, she leaves, by now she is totally baffled. 

     The secret to the Post Office in Corniglia is, when you go to the right, even though it looks as if nothing is there, you must walk into the nothingness about 6 feet, and there, recessed into the wall, is the door to the Post Office...why would you need a sign?

Clearly the Post Office...

Good signage

Sign, Postal drop, and the little handwritten job tells you which way to go,
so they must know its a problem.

Perfectly clear...Right!

On the steps to our flat.

Contemplating postal problems...NOT!

     So today, I just finished mailing 2 letters at our Post Office. What an experience. When we entered, thru their hidden, vacuum sealed door, we were only 3rd in line. The first customer finished in about 1 minute so I figured we’d be in and out pretty quick. The second customer seemed to have questions regarding some complex postal issue, 5 minutes, 10 minutes...this is taking forever...I have no idea what the conversation was about but it did include 10,000 rapid fire Italian words and enough hand waving and finger pointing to wear out an average person. Finally the attendant got her book, made copies and came out into the waiting area to read them to the customer, this of course led to more hand-waiving, pointing and rapid fie speaking. This would never happen in the US for a couple reasons, 1) the postal worker would never be so interested in your problem they would go to all this trouble and 2) a normal postal worker would go postal on you and come out shooting. This was really a sight and possibly the very best customer service I’ve ever seen. The lady helping the customer was working alone, but acted as if she’d be happy to just help this one woman today and no one else...she didn’t look at us or even act like this was anything unusual. Finally all the talking an waving ended, the ladies said there goodbyes and it was our turn...we received the exact same treatment, the only real difference was we were done in 1 minute. Gotta love the PostaItaliano and these Italians. What a show.