Mailman Retires After 35 Years, Neighborhood Throws Him Block Party On Last Day Then Airline Sends Him To Hawaii
So Thursday night I’m scrolling through the mostly fetid cesspool of Twitter as I’m hopelessly fucking addicted to it and can’t help myself prone to do and I stumble across this Tweet.
(Just read the thread, I ain’t posting three dozen fucking Tweets here.)
I’ve had a few mailmen relatives over the years (RIP Uncle Choppa) and a bunch of my dad’s buddies were mailmen when I was a little kid. To a six-year-old, it seemed like a super cool job with the sweet threads, access to people’s personal info and tastes, and the possibility of donning one of those gnarly safari buckets. (Then I got older and found out they work you to the bone and the phrase ‘go postal’ became part of the lexicon and the appeal wore off a smidge.) And then there’s Cliff Clavin. Mad respect to all the mailmen and femailmen for doing the work they do.
So I was intrigued. A few minutes later, it looked like I got pepper-sprayed as I finished up the thread. I was thinking maybe a nice handful of Tweets documenting his last day. I wasn’t expecting the roller coaster of emotions that ensued.
Floyd Martin might be the most beloved letter carrier in the history of the USPS. A 300+ person block party, decorated mailboxes for his last day, hugs and kisses, and a GoFundMe to send him to Hawaii? For a retiring mailman in 2019? That’s a great story that almost wipes away the usual internet grime.
And then this happens.
PR points or not, that’s a pretty cool gesture. They weren’t solicited or tagged, Delta just read the thread like everyone else. (Holy shit, you know it’s a feel-good story when we’re praising airlines now.)
This is almost unheard of in this day and age for ANY job in ANY industry. Let alone a government employee. That’s genuine love on display with a community and the guy who brought their mail for decades. And it makes you a little hopeful in humankind for a minute. Until you go back on Twitter.
“Continue to take care of each other and smile when you think of me.”
Amen, Floyd Martin. Enjoy retirement.
For the TLDR crowd…