Monday, August 10. The heat is pouring down from the sky.
At the Post Office in Bolesławiec on Kaszubska Street, from the early morning hours, a long queue formed in front of the counter paying out pensions and disability benefits: several dozen elderly and infirm people. There are only two chairs. The pensioners take turns, sitting for several minutes at a time. The heat is terrible. All the windows are closed, and there is no ventilation. The heat is also taking its toll on the postal employees. Here, in the payout room, they are young women.
Only one counter is open. The young woman paying out pensions is doing everything she can. She even tries to smile at everyone, as if sympathizing with the pensioners who have to stand for a long time in such a stuffy room. I stand in the queue and wait for over an hour. Sweat is pouring off me. My shirt and identity card are wet with sweat. I fan myself with the identity card while drying it at the same time.
Later, a young lady in a raspberry-colored sweater came out of the corridor accessible to Post Office employees. She had several postal money orders in her hand, which she immediately deposited, and while doing so collected several pensions. The cashier paying out the pensions to those waiting in line had to interrupt the payments for that time. The pensioners became agitated, and the atmosphere grew tense. Someone pointed out to the Controller and the lady in the raspberry blouse that this was not allowed. Lightning flashed from the eyes of the Controller and the lady in the raspberry blouse. If looks could strike, it certainly would have been a thunderbolt.
When I reached the counter after an hour and a half, it turned out that the postman had collected my pension half an hour earlier. It would reach me before evening, and if we missed each other, I would have the opportunity to stand in the queue again. Whom could I complain to? To the director upstairs? He probably knows the situation—people have been complaining for quite some time.
An hour passes, then another quarter of an hour. At the counter to the right, a young woman—a controller with a surname that sounded somewhat German—was working. Those standing in line watched her involuntarily. She did not have much to do. Feeling the gaze of several dozen eyes upon her, she pretended to be busy. After waiting for an hour, another person and I asked the lady controller:
- Please check whether my pension has arrived and will be paid to me, or whether the postman has already taken it. The due date for my pension was two days ago.
The time was approaching when the postmen would set out on their rounds with letters and money.
- I am not going to check anything; you have to stand in line, snapped the lady Controller.
After a while, a young woman approached the closed counter in order—as it turned out—to collect pensions for her parents. She did not stand in line and must have known the lady Controller well, because the two women smiled at each other and exchanged a glance. The lady Controller approached the closed counter, pulled the money order out from the pile of pension orders (she did not even ask for the surname), and paid out the money. Right in front of the elderly people standing there, drenched in sweat.
And what then? Nothing. Either he cannot or does not want to organize the work better and put these matters in order. Let the old folks stand. I did not make up what I have written. Many acquaintances were there and can confirm it.
In conclusion, I am forced to wish that the aforementioned ladies from the Post Office, along with their Esteemed Directorate, devoid of imagination, goodwill and compassion for old people, will one day find themselves in our pensioners’ situation.
Perhaps only then will they learn, on the one hand, to respect people and, on the other, to respect the work they do. I sign this text with my initials. I fear that someone will put off paying my meagre pension for several days because of this sincere letter written with regret.
SWK (name and address known to the editorial office)
From the editorial office:
We have received several phone calls concerning a similar matter. People are reporting a lack of proper organization at the post office, especially during the period when disability benefits and pensions are paid, and not only during the holiday months.