And that's why next time I will just drop it back in the mail

I like to think that I'm a thoughtful person willing to go out of my way to make someone's - even a stranger's - day a little brighter. When I was a kid I really took to heart that you should treat others like you want to be treated.

Since we moved, the post office is still forwarding some things from our old address to the new one. Well, yesterday in the mail I got a BankOne bill. I don't have a BankOne card. It was for a neighbor from our old neighborhood and it had been forwarded incorrectly. So I marked out our forwarding address and took it to him. Now, I go that way every day to check on the house. It was really only a little out of my way, but a little out of the way with a toddler in tow is a LOT. I would have wanted someone to bring me my bill if it had been forwarded by accident, so I did what I felt I should.

Well, I confirm that the name on the mail matches a name of someone who lives in that house and hand over the bill. I said "It looks important and I thought you would want this. It got forwarded to me by mistake." He says "That's okay." That's okay!?! What the hell does that even mean? It's not MY fault that the post office messed up! That's okay that he would have incurred penalties if I hadn't brought the mail by? He didn't even say thank you. I would have been so pleased that someone who didn't even live in the neighborhood anymore would have made a trip back to give me important mail.

And that's why next time I will just drop it back in the out-going mail.