I've got mail

[howsmyenglish]

I hate getting mail. Don't you? I also love getting mail, but that's different. Still, I wonder if there's a connection between these two deep feelings towards mail.

I hate getting any mail related to work or official stuff. I don't know why, but I always expect there to be some sort of trouble. Any official looking mail, any reply from someone from work - I always expect there to be trouble. Or I expect people to say that I'm doing everything wrong. And it's not that I often get "bad mail". I've never even gotten a ticket. (I didn't say this, you forces that make things happen the minute I say that they never do). I expect this is about my insecurity.

I love getting personal mail from people. I used to dream about tons of letters in my mailbox. I open a mailbox, and the letters just drop out, dozens, hundreds of them. Quite a lot of such dreams. I'm not sure whether I'm still having them, I don't remember many dreams these days. It's actually the same with comments here on DW. I love getting comments. But beside the fact that I love interacting with my readers (and, well, friends - by now), I love the mere fact that I'm getting comments. It sometimes just is enough for me to see that the number of messages in my inbox grew after I posted something. Hey, how d'you like this, it's also about my insecurity.

The reason I'm writing this is that there's an email in my mailbox I don't want to open. It's from the bank. And it was me who wrote to them in the first place. But I still do believe that the response is that I'm a stupid cow, and I'm not prepared to deal with it right now. So, instead of opening it, I'm writing this seemingly uninteresting entry (but self-analysis is always interesting and it is healthy!), after which I will close my laptop and drive to the shop to get some meat for a Bortsch that Grandma wants to eat. By the time I'll be back I'll be so tired of thinking about what the stupid bank answered that I'll open the email to finally find out and relax. Is anyone else here as insecure as I am? (I hope you aren't - for your sake, but I also hope you are, so I don't feel alone...:D)

PS: I opened the email! They said I was right! Yay! (I hope they never write again)))

Comments

[thanatos_kalos]

::hugs:: Every time I see any sort of work or other 'official' email I get very stressed, too. Dorothy Parker used to answer her phone with 'What fresh hell is this?'-- I feel the exact same way about email... :P

[howsmyenglish]

Huuugs! I love the Dorothy Parker response, and I'll try to use it in the future! :D

[thanatos_kalos]

:) It's the perfect summation, I think!

[angelofthenorth]

reminds me of a patter poem I wrote at school, called 'Boarding house blues' which had the lines

"wouldn't life somehow be better
if somebody some where had sent me a letter

...

And somebody somewhere has sent me a letter

Damn it's a bank statement."

I love post. I hate admin, so yes I get you :)

[howsmyenglish]

:)! Thank you, it's nice to know that I'm not alone.

[corvidology]

If I get 'official' looking mail I always wait until the next day to open it. It's because the mail doesn't arrive in time for me to see it until after work and if there's something in there that's going to stress me I'd rather deal with it during the day than at night.

[howsmyenglish]

Yeah, I do the same!

[flikkeren]

I'm glad the bank decided in your favor :)

Also--have you heard of Postcrossing? Guaranteed good mail :) I usually hang out in the forums but the standard/original Postcrossing is good too.

[howsmyenglish]

The trouble with Postcrossing is that I would have to reply, or at least I'd feel guilty if I wouldn't reply. And I'm really bad at that))) The maximum I ever managed to do was to send my Grandma a postcard from each country I was in.
What to they do in the forums? Talk about sending mail?? XD

[flikkeren]

You don't have to reply--in most cases, you wouldn't even be able to. But, you would have to send something out--it's card for card and it's all randomized. So you would have to send out a card to receive one, but you wouldn't have to follow up with anything once it's received. The forums are a little more customized, so for instance, there's themed tags (literature, architecture, Gotochi, paintings, etc), or regional round robins, or "you pick" tag. You still have to send a card to get a card, though.

[howsmyenglish]

But what is it that you do in the forums? Exchange addresses to send/get cards?

[flikkeren]

The threads are mostly just posts of "tag," "tag," "tag," in round robins it will be people asking to join groups and then reporting back that they received their cards. Addresses are exchanged through private message after a tag. You can see the forum here (although the tags and some other stuff is locked until you join): https://community.postcrossing.com/

[loganberrybunny]

Oh yes, I can certainly identify with those feelings! I do like getting post when it's from people (so to speak), but official letters are very different. Even when I'm fairly sure what they'll say and that I won't have anything bad I need to do.

[howsmyenglish]

Thanks, I'm glad to see I'm not alone! :)

[iddewes]

I do like getting personal mail, and I have penpals 😊 I could send you a letter or card if you wanted!

[howsmyenglish]

Thank you, that's so nice! Do you know Mary and Max? I love the way they wrote to each other!
The trouble with penpals is that I'd have to reply and I'm really bad at that. It's the same with replying here on DW: I either reply right away or never - because if I don't send an answer right after I've received the comment, I reply in my head and that's that. It rarely gets written down afterwards. But I feel so guilty when I don't reply, it's eating me up. I'm ridiculous! XD

[heartonsnow]

I am the same!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have a scary amount in common!! I was so scared to open the emails from my perspective new landlords and also the optician recently but yeah, friends are great!!!

[howsmyenglish]

Thanks! It's always good to know that you're not alone :)