Do NOT send me any so-called 'large letters' with 'letter 'stamps affixed, otherwise I will be sending you a bill for excess postage and waste of ministerial time!
Today my postie put a card through the door addressed to the church (I live next door to the defunct building) to tell me there was a letter to collect with excess postage required. I dutifully headed off to the sorting office, fortunately only a mile away, and a good excuse for an early lunch, to discover it was a one page unsolicited letter in a 'large' A4 envelope with a 'letter' first class stamp affixed. This wasn't even enough to cover the second class 'large letter' postage. As a result I had to pay 6p excess postage plus a £1 handling fee for a letter I didn't even want.
I will be posting the letter back whence it came and assuring the sender that I am not even remotely interested in their services. I will even be suggesting that they may like to refund the excess fees and subsequent postage.
Churches are meant to be loving and forgiving, but not doormats.
Comments
I got one of these oversize underpaid letters too this week (from the local Christian bookshop and counselling centre), and last Sunday got collared by 2 people I'd not spoken to the previous week.
Either this coincidence of events is spooky (unlikely) or part of the common stuff of ministerial life (highly probable).
As the group of churches I was working with a couple of years ago was equally careless with postage, incurring the wrath of a different Dibley clergy person as I remember, I had good reason to be forgiving about the first - even though it meant a walk back to the Christian bookshop I'd just been to in order to let them know they'd used the wrong sort of envelope (sudden horrible realisation: several people on my Christmas card list may not be speaking to me for much the same reason!).
As for the second, the tablets are now working again (!), and by the end of this week I'll be sure to have spoken to both!
LOL, yes I remember that expensive 24/7 prayer event! It was a pain but I wasn't paying for one page I didn't want and hadn't requested - I seem to recall being pleased with the stuff, just mildly miffed at having to collect it 50 yards from where it orginated!
I'm using hot cross buns instead of tablets - they taste much nicer, even if fitting on the decalogue is a tad tricky.
Anyway, tonight it's 'thing in a pub' with the finest tuna butties in the world, so after that I'll be feeling far more forgiving!