I experienced a situation at the post office recently that I feel is quite unacceptable. I am a member of the Fort Wayne Rotary club. Our club adopted a company of military troops and made nearly 20 care packages to send overseas. They were packed, taped, addressed, and all the customs forms were completed.

I went to the Independence Drive USPS branch, which closed at 5:30 p.m. I arrived at 5:20 p.m. I was completely shocked, but they refused to help me because they were going to be “closing in a couple minutes.”

I said, “I thought you were open until 5:30?” Each of the four employees behind the counter kept looking at each other as if to decide who was going to help me. One lady even said out loud, “well, I’m off the clock in a couple minutes.”

I said, “Hmm, I always thought when a business establishment was open until 5:30, they stayed until the last customer was served.” They replied, “well, you have a lot of packages and you don’t have postage yet.” I said in reply, “but that’s why I came here – to get postage. So you are saying I should just come back later? It kind of sounds like I don’t have a choice.” They didn’t have much to say in response.

I just said, “OK, I guess I’ll just have to come back” and calmly walked out.

I think this USPS branch needs a major lesson in customer service. And it is my hope that a public report of their actions may encourage them to think about how they are treating their customers.

JEREMY REDDING Fort Wayne