Post Office Etiquette

The Puddleby Post Office. Neither Invasions nor Lightning nor Dark of Night...

The Puddleby Post Office is now officially open, and it is one of those things that before it opened you wondered why you should give your precious wood stores for it, but now that it is open you wonder how you lived without it.

The Post Office isn't something that most Exiles use a lot at this point. Heck, many haven't yet opened mail boxes. But it really comes in handy when you need it.

The process is simple, for those of you who haven't used it. Walk into the Post Office (next to the Bank in West Central Puddleby). Walk up to Callum at the north side of the building. He will ask you if you want to open a post office box for 10 coins per year. Once you have accepted, he will assign you a post office box number. Later, if you want to check your mail, just bump into him, and he will deliver your message(s) in the text window to the left of the main screen. You can review these messages later in the Text Log, if you wish.

OK. Getting a box is easy. How does one go about sending messages?

Walk over to Ailsa and speak the name of the Exile that you wish to contact. Ailsa will look up the name and give you that person's box number.

Now walk over to Hamish and first speak the number of the box you want to leave a message in when he asks you for it. Be careful not to speak it more than once or it is likely Hamish will think that you want to leave that number as a message. After Hamish accepts the box number, speak the message EXACTLY as you want it to be delivered. Keep in mind, that if it is too long, Hamish will cut off the end. Keep it short and sweet.

After you speak the message, Hamish will deliver it and charge you one coin.

All in all, it is a fairly simple process.

The weak link lies in the fact that you must speak outloud the message you want delivered. If someone walks in while you are speaking the message or if you walk out before the speech bubble disappears, then others can hear exactly what you wrote. If the message is supposed to be private that can be a real problem.

Until the Ancients decide to change things the best we Exiles can do is observe some basic kindnesses:

• If you walk into the Post Office and there is already someone else in there, leave and wait outside until that person leaves.
• If you see someone else walking into the Post Office, let them know that someone is inside and that they should wait.
• If there are several people waiting, form a line and enter one at a time.

By following these few simple "rules" we can all make Post Office use better for everyone.

Disagree with me? Thought of a better way? Contact me or leave me a note on my Guest Book.