During the Christmas season, people rely on postal delivery services more than ever. Ordering presents, shipping gifts and sending greeting cards all make the mail service indispensable.
Of course, the anxiety level during that time is bumped up for postal workers and delivery drivers alike.
Some recipients are kind enough to set out little thank-you notes, treats and drinks for the harried employees.
Some … fall a bit short.
One person in the United Kingdom even went so far as to hang up a scathing note during a time when most people are on their best behavior to avoid being put on the naughty list.
“Royal Mail,” began the note, which was taped to the glass panel on the front door.
“Don’t even think about putting a card through the door without ringing the doorbell and pretending that the delivery was attempted but no one was in – as happened on Saturday.
“We were in all day and we’ll be in today, Tuesday.
“RING THE BELL. DELIVER THE PARCEL.”
The mail carrier, who is being referred to simply as Postman Dave, was understandably a bit surprised at the rude note.
He turned to the only people who would understand his displeasure and posted a photo of the note on an online group for other postal workers.
According to the Mirror, part of his message said that he hoped the brusque author would “enjoy collecting their mail from the post office over Christmas.”
A 10-year veteran of that particular route, Dave said this isn’t the first time he’d received such unkindness, and that he will not be delivering to that location anymore. In an update, he informed readers that the Royal Mail was supporting him in that decision and was looking into the issue.
“[I’ve been] told not to deliver to them and ignore them for now until it gets looked into,” he said, according to the Mirror.
“[I’m] not planning on delivering there in the future, it’s the second time I’ve been spoken to like this along with the van share guy. [They] stopped tipping a few years ago after accusing one of us of theft and speaking to us like s***.
“It wasn’t me [who left the attempted delivery note], probably a parcel driver but it’s my delivery I’ve had for the last 10 years. [But it] would have been one of the parcels we left for someone else to do, either way it’s aimed at us.
“On the positive side, I got a nice tip from one of the decent customers not long after.”
Royal Mail said protocol is to do what it can to deliver a package or leave a card informing the homeowner that delivery was not possible.
“Every single item of mail is important to us,” a representative said, according to the Mirror. “Our postmen and women work extremely hard to deliver to mail to customers across the country, six days a week, in all weathers.
“Thankfully the vast majority of items are securely delivered to customers, but if we believe a customer is not at home, we will attempt to deliver the item to a neighbour and leave a card.
“If we can’t deliver to them, we’ll leave a card and take the item back to the Customer Service Point where customers can either collect it or arrange a redelivery. We would advise anyone who has delivery concerns can contact the Royal Mail customer service team.”