An APOLOGY and a REQUEST

A very handsome and kind gentleman of Santa Fe alerted me to a situation I was not aware of that started on April 15, 2013.  He sent me a letter and it was returned to him.  He requested my current address by e-mail and, being an optimist, he sent the letter again.  It came back to him again with a yellow strip on it stating “Joy Archer has moved and left no forwarding address.”  I was bewildered to say the least.

I sincerely apologize to the various clients who had their mail also returned without my knowledge for more than 8 months.  I received some e-mail requests for my “current” address from clients when I knew they had my address.  It would be very helpful if you could let me know by my e-mail joyarcher3@juno.com  if that happened to you.  Your kind checks are very useful in keeping the cupboard stocked with chocolate and macadamia nuts, not to mention books and new software.  I realized in the future I could dispense with the USPS by using my Joy Archer PayPal Account.

So I went to the local Post Office and inquired of the reason for the non- delivery of my mail.  Jeff, the Supervisor, informed me they would put a notice on my sorting box.  He admitted the regular carrier was out for surgery for about three weeks and various substitute carriers were delivering my mail.  So I encouraged my friend in Santa Fe to give it a go for the third time.  Well, it came back to him in record time with the same yellow sticker on it.  So I called the Post Office on the morning of Saturday, December 14, and asked for help.  The lady said Jeff was outside putting chains on the trucks and would call me back.  There was no call back from anyone.  So on the morning of December 16, I went to the Post Office and spoke to Jeff.  He realized that the letter was returned in record time which meant the notice was originated from the “notification system”.  It didn’t even arrive at this Post Office.  So he checked the system and told me it was entered into the system on April 15, 2013.  He claimed that the regular carrier entered it because “mail was left in my box for several days and neighbors had told him Joy Archer had moved.”

It has been said that people who so often lie that soon they are the only ones fooled!

To help you understand the total nonsense of his story you should be aware that I have a “nom de plume” or pen name” which is Joy Archer.  Only 118 people have my maiden last name in the USA and it is very difficult to pronounce or spell properly.  In the 1960’s my clients often took 15 minutes to write a check.  I realized I needed a name that they could spell and remember.  I confess I took the “Archer” from a most delightful and intelligent lady I met when I was 20 years old.  She was one of the first kindergarten teachers in New York City.  I met her when she was 91 years old and greatly enjoyed hearing her many tales of her long life.  She spoke of the difficulty of getting onto the trolleys in Manhattan with the big hooped skirts they wore shortly after the Civil War.  Many of her students lived in poverty and seldom had any contact with nature so she had a floor to ceiling aviary built in the center of their classroom.  The birds never failed to delight her students.  She was in a train wreck and her head was injured and scared so badly that she lost most of her hair. I have a list of my hero and heroines and she is very high on my list.  I felt I could not steal her entire name so I had to come up with a new first name.  So I decided on “Joy” in hopes that I would be able to shoot it into the hearts of my clients.  People do not seek out counselors of any sort unless they are having troubles.  Troubles come in many sized and shapes.  I like to think of myself as a “professional weight lifter!”  I aim to lift the hearts and spirits of my clients!!

So the bottom line indicates that if Joy Archer moved, I had to have moved too.  So that Monday I asked to speak with the regular carrier when he returned to work on the following Monday in hopes of getting to the truth.  On Wednesday, December 18 I had to mail my last present to Arizona.  I noticed that the Postmaster of the town of about 19,500 people was walking behind the three counters.  I requested to speak with her.  She inquired of my concern and I told her.  She said she would check into the matter and meet me by the Dutch wooden door.  I waited a very long time.  Then a man with a cane entered the Post Office and you could hear him breathing from several feet away.  He came to the Dutch door and rang a bell.  She immediately opened the top part of the door and helped him.  She could not ignore me any longer because I was there patiently waiting.
Her version of what happened was even more preperrostes!  She and Jeff obviously did not have time to compare notes.  She claimed she put the notice of the move in the system “because I requested her to do so”.  I was shocked at such nonsense.  So she repeated the same excuse two more times and they quickly left claiming she was due at a meeting – most likely lunch!!  I have been receiving her lies for the past two years about the reason my mail box is full of letters addressed to strange names for two years. They all have to be more than 3 years old.  I knew the name of the man who lived here before me and it seldom showed in my box, probably because he died.  More than 6 times I have had 4 pieces of mail in my box with a different name on each letter.  One would be addressed to me and the other three names would all be different.  Wondered if they thought I was running a boarding home or a “cat house”!

I have lived here for more than two years.  I came from Arizona for the trees, green, moderate cost of living, and no arsenic in the water.  Wherever there was mining there will be heavy metals in the underground water.  Most of my life I lived in my own home.  That just means you pay rent to a mortgage company or a bank but you have to pay for the repairs.  After enduring in Arizona two different Property Management Companies from HELL it is almost like heaven here.  I live in a beautiful brick home built by my landlord who is a living Saint!  Also his repairmen are just so cute!!

So it is clear that someone in this small town, really a bedroom of Springfield, Missouri, which I fondly call “Dog-Patch”, does not think it is big enough to have a resident astrologer.  They did not have my maiden name move to parts unknown.  Prejudice is the child of ignorance!  I was told this town was the Headquarters of the KKK of Missouri.  So I will be able to roast some marshmallows if those burning crosses appear on my front yard!

If you lie as often the Postmaster does you would think she would be more skillful at it!  I thought it was a “Federal Crime” if you knowingly mess with someone’s mail.  The matter is being investigated at this time.
 
At least I don’t have to wear a “Scarlet A or a Yellow Star” on my chest yet! Stay tuned for more Soap Opera Live!