I have a box at the post office that handles most of my mail. It gets a lot of important mail and a lot of junk mail too. My post office ‘mail box area’ is open 24 hours. I have a box with a combination lock; other people have boxes with a key lock. The key lock was not available when I was getting a box there, so I have to remember a combination and make sure no one else knows about it. Now that there are more empty key lock boxes, I can move my box there, but then I would have to change my entire address, and thus go through the hassle of changing addresses with different companies that have my address. The combination box will stay for the time being, and the combination will be kept a secret known only to me [I hope].

Since I’m not the only one checking mail boxes at the post office, I run into some people who have boxes near mine, or in the nearby aisles. Since a combination lock is much easier to break into [by simply watching someone put in their combination], people make sure that there is no one in the near vicinity when checking their mail. I went to check my mail early this morning, before 7 in the morning, and coincidentally a very sleepy person came right next to me and reached for the box right next to mine. He was in a three piece suit; however, his face was still sleeping and it seemed that his eyes wouldn’t open all the way even if his job depended on it. I reached for my box and noticed him looking at me; not my postal box, but at me. He then started working on the combination to his lock and couldn’t get it right. It was very easy for me to see his lock combination. I put my left hand right next to the combination dial to hide it from his view; it was a very polite move, and simply there as a precaution and to give him a piece of mind also, that he can shield his view too if he likes. He decided to retaliate, and decided to open his lock while shielding the view from me by putting his body in between. The boxes are right next to each other, and I’m standing right there with my arm stretched out a bit, trying to apply the combination. This person, wanting to show that he doesn’t trust me because I shielded his view, or maybe because he was scared [can't blame him] that I might come later on and get all his mail, put his head against his box, a few inches from my hand, and starts opening the box. He was now standing against the wall, with his head fitting perfectly between my combination dial and his, with his eyes trying to gaze from a side on his postal box.

I had already opened my box by the time his head has found a resting place against the box doors. I was going through my mail, standing there with the box door open, while his head was still glued to the wall full of box doors. He couldn’t see what combination he was applying to his lock, and thus was having a really hard time. He was so much involved in this art that he didn’t realize me leaving for the nearby tables, where people usually sort their mails. I had already closed my postal box and was going through the junk mails. I looked behind, and he was still there. He noticed me after a few moments, looked behind him and realized that I had left and that he didn’t have to resort to that security measure any longer. He looked at me again and acted as if he was doing something sophisticated not related to me at all. He reached for the lock and tried his combination and it still wouldn’t work. He looked at the postal box number, and then at a few other boxes around him, and then realized he was in the wrong aisle. He walked over to the other aisle red faced, glancing at me quickly and then opened his postal box. There was nothing inside. He walked toward the door, with his head hanging very low, and got into his car, driving away slowly. If he was there to find out the combination to my postal box, he didn’t get it. If he was there to check his own mail box, he will be probably be less paranoid next time and have coffee before he comes.