A week or two ago during a snowstorm the names on our mailbox blew off. This caused the following "knock knock" and conversation between the mailman and I two days ago.

Him: Does Trubatisky and Eisenberg still live here?
Me: Yes.
Him: Well where's the names on the box?
Me: They must have blown off.
Him: Well put them back up.
Me: Okay.

Two days went by. We forgot to put our names back up. Then the other day, scrawled on the outside of our Comcast bill, was the note: "Put your names on the box!! No names, no mail!!" We were getting threatened by our postman! ...The next morning I put our names up.

Today I was sitting in the livingroom when the dogs started barking wildly out the front window. I got up to see what they were barking at and saw the mailman standing at the foot of our stoop, looking at me and pointing to the stoop. He then shrugged.

I took this to mean that he wasn't going to even try climbing our steps to deliver the mail. I held up my finger at the window (the index finger to mean "hold on a second", not the middle finger to mean, well, you know) and quickly threw on jeans and a jacket.

I ran down the stairs to greet him with a hi. "I can't get up those stairs," he said, though I had no problem getting down them, or getting back up them after I had taken the mail. "You didn't even attempt to shovel them!" he went on. He just said it with such contempt for us.

What ever happened to "Neither rain, nor sleet nor snow nor dark of night shall stay this courier from his appointed rounds." I mean sure, he's out, but it's just a few steps. I think he's still bitter about the "no names" thing.