Tight discipline

Tight discipline

From Jayakarta

The operating hours of post offices was change about a month ago. They open at 8 a.m. and close at 2 p.m. Previously, when the five-day week was still being tried, they closed at 4 p.m.

One day I went to the post office in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, to send some money. I arrived at 2:02 p.m., and was quite ignorant of the change in working hours. In spite of my earnest appeal, the post office employee refused to serve me because the working hours were over.

Naturally I was disappointed and upset, but my conscience praised him for his strict adherence to the rules. The point, however, was that he was quite reluctant to sacrifice a few minutes of his time to serve an uninformed customer. On the other hand, the public can do nothing but wait patiently if an employee comes a few minutes later than opening time.

To be so rigid is sometimes inhumane.

ARTINI

Jakarta