try this in the "real" world

This humorous picture is my local post office, Sullivan Station (8700 E. Jefferson Way). There are just as many people behind me as you see in front of me here. I came in at 12:50 with 3 people working the counters. Promptly at 1:00 with about 20 people still waiting in line, 2 people logged off leaving this one poor person.

Customers were throwing up their hands and leaving, new customers came in and turned right around. Counter workers walked through, but made no eye contact. The brave customers that stayed around were cracking jokes about government jobs.

Promptly at 1:15 two people came back, logged in, and helped the line of now 30+ customers.

A one time occurence is understandable, people could be sick, volume could be higher than normal, I get that... Unfortunately, it's happened over and over at that post office so I decided to go online to file a complaint, which you can do here. I wouldn't recommend it though, because all they do is forward your phone number to the manager of the post office you filed a complaint on. In my case, he called me and irritatedly justified that people need to take breaks no matter how many people are waiting. I tried to reason that it obviously was a management problem of staffing, at which point I was thanked for my concern and the conversation closed.

I suspect it's not entirely the manager's fault, he's probably surviving the best he can with the resources he's allowed.. The more plausible scenario is that someone who's never visited the branch has determined exactly how many people they need and budget cuts at different branches have probably been made to pay that salary. The workers who didn't make eye contact probably cared and worked their butts off at one time, but have totally given up when the same situation plays out day after day.

This sign hangs in every Post Office....

UPS Says:
"The Postal Service wouldn't last one day in the free and open market of competition."
Prove them wrong every day.