The post office is often thought of as the epitome of unnecessary government bureaucracy. At least, it is until a package doesn't arrive, and then you wonder why it isn't more careful and better regulated. In reality, these institutions do the best they can with the massive responsibility we've given them. They provide an essential service that none of us could live without.
But this time, one postal service might have gone too far.
A post office in Sweden called PostNord insisted on getting a signature from a dog before it would relinquish a package that was addressed to the animal rather than her owner. Marie Palmgren and her boxweiler Chaya live in Sweden, and one day they received a notice that a family friend had sent them a package. However, they needed to go down to PostNord to pick it up. Easy, right?
Wrong. That's when all the trouble started.
Marie's friend had shipped over a dog toy and thought it would be cute to address the package to Chaya rather than Marie. What harm could possibly come from that?
But when Marie arrived at the post office, she learned that she had to fill out a form to receive the package. The form asked for an ID and signature from the addressee. Technically, that was Chaya.
"I told them that the person who sent the package wrote Chaya Palmgren, instead of Marie Palmgren, just for fun," Marie said in an interview with the Dodo. "And that Chaya was a dog."
So they laughed, had Marie sign in her dog's place, and gave her the package, right? Nope.
"They still demanded an ID and a signature from Chaya, plus ID and signature from me as the 'helper' to fetch the package."
Marie had to go back home and try to locate something that would serve as an ID for Chaya. She managed to find a registration document that stated that Chaya was her dog. Then she returned to the post office, this time with the boxweiler.
The postal workers took the document, Marie's ID, and the package notice and spent 15 minutes conferring on how to handle the situation. They had relatively good, though definitely strange, news.
"They told me that they accepted the document as Chaya’s ID, but they still needed her to sign," Marie said.
They needed Chaya to sign? With what, exactly?
Marie had to wait outside with Chaya since, despite needing the signature of one, dogs were not allowed in the post office. One of the workers had to find an ink pad to bring along with the signature form out to them.
Yes, an ink pad. Seeing as Chaya was unable to hold a pen, she would have to sign with a paw print.
"They told me they wanted her paw print on the notice, next to my signature," Marie said. "So I took Chaya’s paw, put it on the pad and then on the notice."
Unnecessary, maybe, but that's also pretty adorable. Thankfully, Marie made sure to get a video of the process so that the world could enjoy the cute absurdity.
Chaya doesn't seem to mind much, waiting patiently as her paw is placed on the ink pad and then on the piece of paper. Finally, the package could be theirs!
And inside, there was a water fountain toy! Well worth the trouble, we hope.
Maybe the funniest thing about this story is just how seriously the post office workers took the whole situation.
"The staff was very serious all the time. It wasn’t like a funny thing for them," Marie said. "Me? I was totally flabbergasted. When I reached the car, I laughed so much that I got a pain in my stomach."
Apparently, government agencies in Sweden can be really strict about following official policies. News outlets in the country have been sharing the story to point out how ridiculous it can get, but readers just keep laughing at it.
Let's be honest — it's pretty hilarious.
Marie's friend ended up apologizing for accidentally causing so much trouble.
"She was so sorry that it turned into this circus of absurdity," Marie said. "But I told her, 'On the contrary — you managed to make so many people laugh!'"
