Appreciating Things Sometimes Taken for Granted...Postal Service Edition

Today as I was walking past the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, I noticed something that I had not seen before in spite of passing this iconic structure hundreds of times in the past.  Ornamenting the keystones above the arched windows on the ground floor there are a number of ethological heads (33 in all) .  These busts are modelled on a collection related to different races, from Arab to Zulu, at the Smithsonian Institution.  I know this thanks to the handy online tour of the oldest building on the Library of Congress campus.

Three of the Thirty Three Ethological Heads on the Thomas Jefferson Building

I did not frame up that photograph very well, but I was in a hurry.  Sorry.

Another three heads around the corner from the previous picture

I definitely did a better job framing up that second photo.  I was going to write about these additions to my growing pile of Washington, DC trivia, but thankfully you were all saved from enduring that little epistle by the delivery of the post today.

To really tell this story correctly, I've got to go back in time about three weeks ago.  I was sitting at the computer, minding my own business, when my lovely bride said that the crop of brassieres she'd been utilizing for the last several years were nearing the end of their useful service lives. I apparently did not show the proper level of concern, and very soon she began to ask me how I was going to help her solve this problem.  

Not being one to volunteer to go combing through the lingerie section of every department store within 100 miles helping in the search for just the right set of over the shoulder boulder holders, I suggested that if she told me exactly what she wanted, I would try to find them online.  She told me that she wanted the Jockey seamless, wireless cotton no-frills variety of titslings, and I set of on my search.  Now usually, I'm pretty good at using search engines, but this request began to give me some trouble almost immediately.  I was able to locate what I thought were the right chest support devices on Amazon, but they listed them as out of stock.

Not wanting to order the wrong thing, I made my way to the Jockey website where I made an ominous discovery.  The same model brassieres listed on Amazon (Model #1672) were listed at a deeply discounted price, but the links to order them were not active.  I called the 800 number, and after about a 20 minute conversation surrounding the ins and outs of feminine upper body undergarments, I was able to ascertain thqt this particular bra was no longer part of the fine family of mammary support aids carried by Jockey.

I say this was ominous news because my wife hates shopping from bras just slightly more than I do (except special occasion varieties which can be quite entertaining).  She suggested to me that it would be in my best interest to find some and get them to the house as quickly as possible.

As luck would have it, I was able to locate an eBay site that advertised having fifteen of these little fillies (in the correct size) in stock and on sale at a 20% discount from listed retail.  I, knowing what's good for me, placed an order for all fifteen (what I hope to be a lifetime supply) because these were apparently the only source for this discontinued line.

Now I know what you're thinking.  Yes, I bought bras on eBay, and yes, I was pretty nervous about how that would work out.  They were advertised as new, but, well, I don't quite know how to explain the trepidation I had for laying out $242 for fifteen bras sight unseen.  That was three weeks ago.

I had all but given up on ever getting my purchase, when they finally arrived today.  The packaging did not make me feel a great deal better about my purchase.  The box had a return address in India, and on the back there was, I kid you not, an Indian customs form.  I opened the box, and this is what I saw.

Home Made Box containing fifteen new Jockey Bras

I am happy to report that the bras were inside this lovely home made box (Indian newspapers I presume), and they were new, the right size, and exactly what my bride had wanted.

This brings me to the real topic of this post...no pun intended.  I am truly grateful for the postal service. Seriously.  Who would have imagined 100 or 50 or even 20 years ago that I would be able to engage in an economic transaction for bras from literally the other side of the planet and have just what I ordered delivered to my doorstep three weeks later.  It was even sent registered mail.  This is the manifestation of an incredibly robust system that was put in place hundreds of years ago and has evolved to the point that the reliability of the delivery system can mostly be taken as a given.  It's a truly stunning accomplishment that has saved me a great deal of pain and time associated with what would have proved to be a fruitless search for just the right discontinued type of underwear.

While I strongly suspect that how these bras came to be for sale on eBay very likely has something to do with them "falling off a truck" very near their point of manufacture (yep, the were made in India) that is probably a story for another day.  For now, I'm incredibly lucky for the global postal system that pulled this all together for me.