Norwegian post office, why do you hate me?!

[urania]

Please excuse the nature of this entry, but I need to vent. The world has to know my feelings!!

Soooo, the Norwegian post office and I are not on best terms at the moment anyway because they forced me to pay 199 NOK in customs for things not worth much more, but eh, I was ready to, well, not forgive them, but not hold a grudge at least, but today! TODAY!

So I got a note saying they have a package for me I can come collect. Thing is, they never try and deliver it directly to you, they always deliver it to your nearest post office... thing. (Ours is not exactly a post office, it's called "post i butikken" and basically a post counter in the ICA (a supermarket))
Anyway, so I went there to get my package and they asked me for an ID. Sooo, I gave them my German one (the only passport I have btw), and the girl working there just looked at me...

Her: "Don't you have a Norwegian ID?"

Me: "No, I'm from Germany, this is my German ID."

Her: "Okay, can I see your driving license with a picture maybe?"

Me: "I don't have it with me." (Also why should I, do I look like I could afford a car here?! xD)

Her: "Well, then can I maybe see your passport."

Me: "This is my passport, it's the only one we have in Germany."

Her: "Okay, but can't I see your real one?"

Me: "Erm, this is the real one. It's the only one I have. We only have this one in Germany. We only need a travelling passport if we want to travel outside Europe which I haven't done yet. So I only have this one."

Her: "Okay... so... can you show me your real ID?"

Me: "... It is."

Her: "I will also accept a health insurance card with a picture."

...

It went on like that for a while. >:/ In the end I got my package in exchange for a lecture how I should bring a "real" ID next time.

Ugh.

ETA: I feel like I have to add: We don't have health insurance cards with pictures in Germany. Oops.

Comments

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

This is hilarious. I wrote an entry complaining about the local post office in my Italian blog the other day, but this is sooo much better! :D

[urania-chan.livejournal.com]

It's nice to see someone can gain entertainment from my frustration! ;D
Sooo, what did your local post office do to you?

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

Nothing to me in particular, but we are sending tons of promotional material to various schools and found out that the "business service" is not available in our local post office anymore, which means our mail is treated as common private mail. Imagine having to send about 100 big envelopes and the post office lady tells you "Oh, but you can only send 10 at a time. Then you have to take another number and get in line again." Also, apparently post offices can only print 1 (ONE!) stamp at a time. WTF? o_O

[urania-chan.livejournal.com]

OMG, how annoying! D: Can you do something like print the stamps out yourself from the Internet or something? And did they actually make you take 10 numbers?!

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

Luckily I wasn't the one who had to go to the post office, my boss's husband went, I was only told what had happened. We had to send only 25 envelopes this time, the lady sitting next to the one who was serving him took pity on him and, since she was about to close, she served him without making him take another ticket.

And no, you have to go to the post office to send those envelopes, because they need to weight them to see what stamp you need. And even if you knew what kind of stamp you have to use, you still have to go there: once you could buy stamps in certain shops, but lately it's become more and more difficult to find them. Once I had to send 1 letter and had to wait in line for almost an hour. =/ I miss the German stamp vending machines. ;_;

[urania-chan.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a needlessly sucky system tbh. :/ And I just don't get why you should have to wait, if you just want a stamp and know which one to get?
I guess the stamp vending machines were German efficiency finally put to good use. X)

[isegrim-chan.livejournal.com]

Brilliant. In dem Moment bescheuert, aber es ist wirklich lustig, wenn man das so liest. xD Das ist internetrelevant!

[urania-chan.livejournal.com]

In dem Moment? Ich habe auch um zukünftige Päckchen Angst. <_< Freut mich aber, wenn es dich erheitert. :P

[angrylogic.livejournal.com]

I think the Post Office is doomed to be shit in every country ;-; The ones here are just terrible now they are all being condensed and put into shops (like the one you were at). I was sent a letter with the wrong stamp on it, and I had to pay £2 to collect it. It turned out to be junk mail! I was so angry >:(

I can understand if the girl behind the counter had never encountered ID like yours before, but surely she should have been aware of it? Or even asked another member of staff, instead of making you look stupid?

[urania-chan.livejournal.com]

Oh God, I would have been so angry! >:/ Did you complain to whoever sent it?

I would be surprised though if she didn't see it before because this post office is actually where (at least) two of the big student housing complexes get their post and you would think they got packages, too. Ah well. :/

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

Haha, wenn man nicht das Opfer war, ist das echt lustig. :D

Ich glaube, dass wir bald Versicherungskarten mit Fotos kriegen. Ich musste meiner Krankenkasse vor einiger Zeit mal eins schicken. Aber wenn wir die haben, bist du wahrscheinlich nicht mehr dort. XD

[urania-chan.livejournal.com]

Mittlerweile kann ich vielleicht auch den Humor in der Situation sehen, hoffe nur, dass das in Zukunft nicht nochmal passiert. :/

Ohoho, meine Krankenkassekarte läuft Ende dieses Jahres ab, mal sehen wie die nächste dann aussieht! xD

[eve_n_furter]

The Post-i-butikk system is terrible like that. The staff is trained to tend the shop and don't know much about the postal service. I have had to leave my mail at the shop overnight a couple of times so the staff could figure out what to do with it and how to weigh (!) and bill it. Then I would come back the next day, pay and sign for it. IDEK.

Even worse is their handling of private information. I have overheard staff discuss people's loan applications ("Posten" also have a loan service) at the counter. I wonder what they discuss when they're not in front of customers. :C

[urania-chan.livejournal.com]

Oh God, that's just... wow. I think if I have to send something I will just go to the main post office, I have to get the bus anyway because the next ICA is too far to walk when I'm feeling lazy (which is a lot of the time).

Then I'm just happy that I don't have to get a loan here. :/