You don't have stamps? But...

The arrival of school each semester is always an exciting time for me. Not because I thoroughly enjoy sitting in Stats class but instead because it means I will receive a handful of packages. I find the feeling of receiving and tearing open a package similar to how I feel during the Christmas season...I know exactly what I'm getting and yet the fact that someone is going to make me work for it makes it special. Maybe that's what Christmas is really about, teaching people they have to work for what they want. But I digress...

Once again, I found myself at the post office in a very cheery mood. Who isn't cheery when Christmas is near? I had to mail off some forms to USD that I apparently forgot to fill out before starting school and they were starting to get anxious so I figured I would just buy some stamps and mail them off while I was here. No point in making another trip. So I said hello to my friend (I have been there enough the past few weeks we can actually hold decent conversation), she asked if I had another package to which I laughed and sarcastically replied that it should be the last one (because no one wants to receive their last package), and put my letters down on the counter. This is where things started to get frustrating.

She suddenly stopped laughing at my joke and got a very serious look on her face. "We can't take those." "Why not?" "Well, they don't have stamps on them." I looked at her kind of funny. You know, the kind of look you give someone when they state something that is terribly obvious? Yep, that's the one. "Can...I...buy some stamps?" "Sorry, we don't sell stamps." I gave her another funny look. This time though, it was one of joking disbelief because seriously, what kind of post office doesn't sell stamps. She seemed to read my look because she followed with "Seriously, we don't sell any stamps. If you would like to buy some, you can go to any HyVee or Lewis Drug. If you bring your letters back with stamps on them though, I'd be happy to mail them for you!" She said that last sentence really excitedly like she had just opened my eyes to something that I didn't know. Either that or she was hoping to get great customer service points if her boss called and interrogated me about how I was treated. Either way, I just stood there trying to let the last few minutes sink in but for some reason, it wasn't working. I picked up my package from the counter and thanked her for it. "Have a great rest of week! Hope to see you again!" All I could bring myself to do was one of those of half waves and mutter "you too" as I walked out.

A few hours later I'm still trying to wrap my head around this event that took place. What kind of post office doesn't sell stamps? Seriously!