In a post office today
PO staff: Where are you sending this parcel to?
Me: The Netherlands.
PO staff: What’s inside? You have to declare.
Me: Err… Oatmeal and seaweed (I was a little embarrassed telling him)
PO staff: Don’t they have oatmeal in Europe?
Me: Yes, I’m not sure but I guess they are different? They are for my friend and she always buys them here ro bring back there.
PO staff: Hmmm… they are very strict with foodstuff over there especially with milk related products.
Me: She always brings them back, I’m sure it’s ok. (frantically thinking- oatmeal has milk in it????)
PO staff: Is it airtight? It’s not going to burst right?
Me: I bought it from the supermarket. It’s not opened yet and is in it’s original packaging (is he afraid that the airplane will be filled with oatmeal?)
PO staff: You sure it’s not going to burst? It’s not opened?
Me: No, it’s not opened and I don’t think it will burst. (How would I know? I didn’t pack the packet of oatmeal in the factory)
PO staff: Is it dry? It’s not wet right?
Me: (Very patiently) No, it’s dry. (wet oatmeal? did he think I cook the oatmeal and send it all the way over to the other end of the world?}
PO staff: You sure it’s not going to burst right?
At the point, I was about to take back the package and give up sending the food stuff to a very homesick friend for her birthday present.
But he seems to be satisfied finally that I wasn’t sending any contanminating bomb exploding oatmeal.
PO staff: Ok, that will be $20 please.
Sigh.. the postage is more expensive than the packet of oatmeal and seaweed.
C, if you are reading this, I hope you appreciate the gruelling I had to go through to send a innocent packet of oatmeal to you.
Come to think of it, why am I sending Nestle (which is a Dutch company I believe)oatmeal to The Netherlands????
hee, that made me smile 🙂
i think i know exactly what you mean… was at the post office on monday, trying to send some stuff to a fellow fan in the states. well, i had a couple of magazines, diary, stickers and those-funny-knick-knacks. honestly, those were all gifts to me. i was asked to list the contents in detail and also specify the value. i mean, god knows how much those stuff cost… i didn’t pay a single cent for them, you see.
anyway, the postage came up to over S$70.
ouch.
ouch again.
Reading about your experience made me smile. I’m also guilty of sending food to my high school friends in the states and it’s really ironic that the postage costs more than the actual content of the package.
bb- you should have just listed them as BYJ stuff. haha!
Marissa, yeah, it seems ridiculous isn’t it?
that was funny…hehe!
luckily i didn’t hv to do it
would hv freaked out!…hahaha!
thanks! will pay u when we meet
^_^