{"id":4586,"date":"2016-05-22T22:07:23","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T04:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=4586"},"modified":"2016-05-23T08:09:39","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T14:09:39","slug":"neither-snow-nor-rain-nor-heat-nor-gloom-of-night-but-snakes-are-another-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/05\/neither-snow-nor-rain-nor-heat-nor-gloom-of-night-but-snakes-are-another-story.html","title":{"rendered":"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night – but snakes are another story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3AWestern_terrestrial_garter_snake_juvie.jpg;<\/p>\n

This is either a humorous little nothing\u00a0story, or points to a real problem.<\/p>\n

As reported by the Chicago Fox affiliate<\/a>, one Chicago block has, rather than rabbits or squirrels or feral cats, large numbers of snakes \u2014 and the assigned mail carrier has a snake phobia and refuses to step foot on their sidewalks. \u00a0So they wait and wait for their mail. \u00a0\u201cFor some, it\u2019s only been delivered twice in the last two weeks,\u201d the article says.<\/p>\n

This is Chicago. \u00a0These are garter snakes, entirely harmless. \u00a0True story: \u00a0growing up, in a thoroughly suburban neighborhood, the half-mile long parcel of land behind our house sat vacant from before we moved in until after I left for college, as the city and the developer squabbled over the permitted uses and density of this very valuable piece of real estate. \u00a0(It\u2019s now a couple blocks of high-priced houses, a buffer zone, and a major upscale mall.) \u00a0 This meant that we had lots of space to roam, and enjoyed such things as picking up snakes from under rocks (OK, large pieces of concrete from the property\u2019s past life) or, one year, catching tadpoles and putting them in a bucket with pond water (actually, the \u201cponds\u201d were rectangular; we assumed former building foundations) to watch them turn into frogs.<\/p>\n

So: \u00a0rogue mail carrier, and, heck, not as bad, at least, as the stories of mailmen who hide undelivered mail in their homes?<\/p>\n

According to the Chicago Tribune<\/a>, which has more detail, there\u2019s more to the story.<\/p>\n

[Resident Mary] Harris said she isn\u2019t the only person on the block not receiving mail. About 10 other neighbors wrote in response to a neighborhood email that their mail also wasn\u2019t being delivered. Harris said that when she stopped the carrier and a supervisor earlier this week to ask why, the mail carrier said she is deathly afraid of snakes and refuses to deliver her mail until they\u2019re gone. . . .<\/p>\n

Mark Reynolds, spokesman for the Postal Service\u2019s Chicago district, said mail carriers have the right to determine if an environment is unsafe and, if so, they are not forced to deliver mail to that area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case, the woman is terrified of snakes. When she saw them she freaked out,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is irrelevant if the snakes are dangerous or not. Our employees\u2019 safety is the utmost priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reynolds said a supervisor has been assigned to walk with the carrier from door to door to assess the situation for the next week or so. . . .<\/p>\n

Bonnie Wagner, another resident on the block, said Thursday that she has seen the supervisor walking alongside the mail carrier the past three days. \u201cWhen they get to a house, he goes in front of her, and then signals to her with his hand that the coast is clear.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, the Post Office is using \u201csafety\u201d terminology to accomodate, not an actual danger, but an employee\u2019s phobia. \u00a0And, to be sure, Reynolds further explains the situation as one of difficulty reassigning mail carriers \u2014 though it\u2019s not clear if it\u2019s a matter of everyone knowing and being familiar with their route and the people on it, or union seniority issues trumping customer service. \u00a0But I suppose when it comes down to it, you could read this story one of two ways: \u00a0as the Post Office being indifferent to mail delivery and far more concerned with letting individual workers get away with nonsense because of a lax service culture and union protections, or a temporary and sensitive accomodation to help a worker get past a fear.<\/p>\n

How do you read it?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image:\u00a0https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3AWestern_terrestrial_garter_snake_juvie.jpg; By James Bettaso [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is either a humorous little nothing\u00a0story, or points to a real problem. As reported by the Chicago Fox affiliate, one Chicago block has, rather than rabbits or squirrels or feral cats, large numbers of snakes \u2014 and the assigned mail carrier has a snake phobia and refuses to step foot on their sidewalks. \u00a0So […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":4587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[390,391],"class_list":["post-4586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-post-office","tag-snakes"],"yoast_head":"\nNeither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night - but snakes are another story<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is either a humorous little nothing\u00a0story, or points to a real problem. 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