#Rural Services

[calciumyum]

Blindsided fan comic

Read Blindsided on AO3 NOW!!! AU written by @driflew and @cherrifire :]

[sopranoentravesti]

Gonna make a controversial statement—people on this webbed site had more compassion for the poor white rural Trump supporters than they do for Jews

[fablofi]

Out of Service, 2020.

[gwydionmisha]

Postal Service considers rural mail slowdown after election

Trump appointee, Louis DeJoy, needs to go. Tell your Congress Critters!

If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options:

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice. Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/ To get your Critters' numbers to call direct: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

[cloudy-crossing]

my first few days on springwick ✨

[usmailnotforsale]

It's bad bad bad - no one does well out of selling off our Postal Service except for a small number of billionaires and corporations - and they don't need more help.

[atlantic-riona]

hate that when it comes to technology, people are always moving towards the fastest, newest thing, even if it's less reliable and not applicable for anyone who lives outside of a major urban area

[antiterf]

Happy first day of pride!

I'm going to another town that's in the middle of corn fields to fuck and cuddle.

[bitfruity]

i was at a con all weekend and then slept all day yesterday and oh boy did i miss A LOT👁️👄👁️

[minuit-blanche]

*helicopter going over*

Me: helicopter!!! *runs out my house and down the street in pyjamas to see it*

Another islander: “hello love, I was just coming to see what’s happening! Is it the air ambulance?”

Me, out of breath: “I dunno I’m just here cos I really like helicopters.”

[jellogram]

Can Republicans stop being fucking asshole losers for one goddam second. How do you see the massive destruction happening in your own country and go "Haha, this is what voting blue gets you!" as if our fucking taxes gave us a dry winter. I swear to God the entire state of California could die horrible deaths and these fucks would be online using us as "evidence" against the left wing and saying we deserved it.

[roguekhajiit]

Something that I simultaneously love and hate the most about being a rural mail carrier is that you're always alone.

This morning, I received a call from a customer who said he never received a package I had delivered yesterday. I checked the shelves, looked up his tracking number, and saw that the package was scanned at the time I was at his stop. I then told him I would look for his package today.

Now, 90% of my route is comprised of CBU (cluster box unit) banks. Was it possible I accidentally misread the address on his package for a similar one in a dyslexic moment? Yes. I never rule out that possibility. But I know I have dyslexia. It's something I've dealt with since I was a grade schooler, and it's why I carefully read each address.

Maybe a minute after I arrive at his stop, and halfway through the CBUs, a large black pickup truck pulls up directly behind my vehicle. Being a rural mail carrier, I rarely, if ever, see my customers face to face. But my instincts tell me that this is the guy I spoke with on the phone early this morning.

Something to note here:

As a contracted rural mail carrier, I drive my own personal vehicle and don't wear a uniform. There is no way to tell from a distance that I'm a mail carrier, and there are no markings identifying my car as a mail vehicle. I look just like any of the other hundreds of cars on the highway.

This guy lives a mile and a half down the road from where his box is located. There is no other way to get to his house, no alternate routes out from his road. Yet, he pulled up right behind my vehicle from the highway. Almost as if he was driving around looking for me.

Having spent 7 years working retail, I immediately go into customer service mode and ask, "Hi, how may I help you?"

He stands a foot away from me and says, "I'm here to see about my package." Nothing wrong with that sentence itself, but there was just something sinister in his tone, and the way he held himself immediately made my skin crawl and put my nerves on edge.

I told him I wasn't done yet, and I hadn't gotten to his CBU yet. But he continues to stand there, unmoving, staring at me. He doesn't go back to his truck until a kind old lady pulls up in her little car. But he still refuses to get back in his truck. Instead, he pretends to be busy with something on his phone all while still watching my every move.

As I was working, I was checking every box and paying attention to those who lived on his street or had similar house numbers as his. None of them had checked their mail since before yesterday, and none of them had received any parcels.

After I finished with his CBU, I had to tell him. "Your package isn't here." But I get the feeling he already knew that. It was in the way he had spoken to me when he first got there.

"Well, what are you going to do about it then," he asks me, his arms crossed and staring down at my five foot, nothing AFAB self.

"Nothing at the moment," I tell him. "We can wait and see if one of your neighbors mistakenly received it and turns it in, or you can report it as missing." Now, I'm neuro-divergent, and my tone during this entire interaction has been flat, neutral, and matter-of-fact. It's my default tone when speaking.

But he starts getting agitated, "So, you're not gonna admit that you lost it?!"

No? Why would I? We don't know that it's lost, his neighbors haven't checked their mail, and at this point, I'm 75% sure he's lying so he can get a refund on whatever he purchased. The other 25% is he either lost it or another member of his household checked the mail before he did and just didn't tell him. But I don't speak those thoughts out loud.

He kept pressing for me to admit that I was the one who lost his package. He's following me as I walk around my vehicle and refusing to leave. All the while, the kind old lady is still in her car watching and listening to this all play out.

His behavior has long since crossed the line into harassment and I tell him this. "I have not!" He says, "I've been standing over here minding my own business. I just want to know what you plan to do about my package!"

So I tell him, "Nothing. You can call the postmaster. Now, go about your day."

He then calls me a fucking bitch, hops in his truck and slams the door, speeding off.

If it wasn't for the fact that that lady was there for all of it, I'm certain he would have tried to escalate things further.

[catgirltoes]

The commodification of "reading" as an identity (rather than just a fun activity you can do) is insane. I was on a booktube video (first mistake) and read the comments (second mistake) and there are people who apparently have anxiety that they are not a "reader" because they don't have the money to buy seven billion books and are forced to use the library instead? And there are other people who need to be reassured that it's okay to use the library and it isn't taking resources away from poor people? One of us is living in a bubble, because I have literally never felt such a thing in my life.

[ivygorgon]

AN OPEN LETTER to THE U.S. CONGRESS

Fund the Affordable Connectivity Program NOW!

130 so far! Help us get to 250 signers!

I’m a concerned constituent writing to urge you to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program or ACP. Digital connectivity is a basic necessity in our modern world and the internet must be treated as a public utility. We use the internet to apply for jobs, perform our jobs, receive telehealth medical treatment, and pay bills, and students use it to complete homework assignments. But for millions of people in rural and urban areas, and Tribal communities, the internet is a luxury they cannot afford. Failure by Congress to fund this program will force millions of households already on tight budgets to choose between being able to stay online or potentially losing access to this essential service. If Congress doesn’t act fast, funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program will run out and more than 22 million Americans -- 1 in 6 households -- will lose this vital service. The implications of this will be devastating. In 2019, 18% of Native people living on Tribal land had no internet access; 33% relied on cell phone service for the internet; and 39% had spotty or no connection to the internet at home on their smart phone. The ACP has enrolled 320,000 households on Tribal lands -- important progress. The largest percentage gains in broadband access are in rural areas. Nearly half of military families are enrolled in ACP, as are one in four African American and Latino households. Losing access and training on using computers and the internet will have devastating impacts on all these communities as technology becomes increasingly integral to work, education, health, and our everyday lives. Without moves to address tech inequality, low-income communities and communities of color are heading towards an “unemployment abyss.” The Affordable Connectivity Program has broad bipartisan support because it is working. As your constituent, I am urging you to push for renewed funding for the ACP before it runs out in the coming weeks.

▶ Created on April 11 by Jess Craven

📱 Text SIGN PJXULY to 50409

🤯 Liked it? Text FOLLOW JESSCRAVEN101 to 50409

[paradoxgavel]

customer: hey so i've got five ears of corn and a watermelon in my cart. me, inputting them with item lookup so he doesn't have to unload them: oh okay cool. is it seeded or seedless? customer: ... what? me, thinking he didn't hear me: sorry, is it seeded or seedless? customer, glaring at me like i'm a complete idiot: ... it's CORN. the hell do you mean seeded or seedless, it's goddamn corn. >:[ me: ... customer: ... me: sorry, sir, i meant the watermelon. i'm sorry, i should have specified. my bad. :) customer: oh well how the hell should i know if it has seeds or not? it's fuckin whatever the $5.99 one is. me, internally combusting: oh okay, great! ^o^