Agnes

She is a USPS employee of 18 years.  Agnes works at the Post Office for passport applications and renewals.  From my vantage point this is a tough job.  Probably not miserable, but close.  You spend all day telling people what they did wrong, how to correct it, and then telling them to come back after they had completed the forms correctly.  No one can follow directions, which is a problem as passports can have no mistakes.  This is the sort of job that would make anyone grumpy especially at the end of the day ----

 Saturday

I walk in with my two grandsons, as I had been charged with taking in the forms to get my eldest grandson his passport for his family summer vacation.  It was a replacement as his original had been locked in storage as the family remodeled their kitchen.  The storage company had graciously offered to bring their items out of storage for a modest fee of $3000 --- How kind!!!…a lost passport was the appropriate pathway. 

Agnes

She came out from behind the desk, closed the door to the Post Office and declared that we were her last group.  Despite the assistance of a private passport service, the forms were not correct, my grandson forgot his driver’s license as a picture of it would not suffice, there were a few other missteps.  Conclusion: We were going to have to come back after completeing the corrections….. Unpleasant ordeal you might think???

Being Human

You would be wrong.  The power of in person human interaction made this a fun adventure for Agnes, me and the two boys.  Turns out if you engage with people, empathize with the challenges of their job, bring your vulnerable self to the situation, people respond in kind.  Agnes made this challenging situation a pleasant experience and at times humorous.  She was understanding that I was not the father and that my grandson felt bad about things not going perfectly.  She offered an easy solution, to open early on a Tuesday so we could bring our corrected documents and driver’s license before her first appointment.  We complied and his passport is on its way to be returned in two weeks.

Connecting

This has now become a family story and one that we recount with smiles and laughter.  AI will bring many changes especially in the workplace and who does the work.  However, what AI cannot do is be spontaneous, improvise, or make an unpleasant experience pleasant.  It cannot be human, but Agnes can and was.  She chooses to be of service; she chose to be empathetic and understanding.  Because she rose above the “grind” of her job she made it fun for my family and I believe for her.

As instructed, we returned Tuesday, knocked on her window and our story ended happily.

Thank you Agnes…..