Mail phobia
Remember that movie House of Sand and Fog? In the beginning of the movie, Jennifer Connelly’s character is surprised and outraged to learn she is being evicted from her home. She didn’t know she was being mistakenly charged for unpaid taxes – and therefore evicted – because she never opened her mail.
I’ve only seen the movie once (this is not the type of movie you watch more than twice, unless you want to feel very, very depressed) but that scene with the unopened mail has always stuck in my head!
I dread opening my mail, especially now that I have started paying back my student loans. The student loan companies send you mail almost everyday of the week. One letter tells you how much interest you have collected. The next letter tells you they are capitalizing the interest. The next letter offers you consolidation. The letter after that tells you what your bill will be – but it’s not a bill. And the final letter is the bill – but by that time you are so confused with it all you don’t know what you’re reading anymore.
All of that on top of my normal credit card bill, 4 or 5 credit card offers a week, tons and TONS of catalogs – ahh! I have never seen so much wasted paper in my life! Nor have I felt so confused!
So, I dread opening my mail. My heart rate speeds up and I start to feel all flustered. I have to open it all at once – or none at all. I have to be prepared for it.
Sometimes I am the same way with email – at home and at work. I see an email from a certain person and I think, “Oh no. What do they want? Do I even want to open this?!”
I am lucky Steven takes care of our joint bills and handles our bank account!
Themocracy
I thought of you this weekend. Target has some deal where if you buy a specific item, you get entered in a drawing for a Lucas Studios adventure – tour the studio and have a ‘Star Wars’ action figure created in your likeness.
I’ve been known to not pick up my mail for days because I know all that’s going to be there is bills and junk. I hate the mail!
Odie – I saw that! I like the ATAT toy the best. But with that $50 price tag… woah!
Lisa – The average American gets 70 pounds of junk mail a year – about 12 items per week (including catalogs). What a waste! I think our phobia is justified! 😉
Ha ha–I’ve made jokes before about how much damn mail I get from the Direct Loans people in one week! How am I supposed to tell when I actually OWE them money? I end up sending huge checks every few months just to cover myself. 😛
For a country that is supposed to be concerned about the environment, we waste an obscene amount of paper. With the holidays coming, I am getting 4 catalogs per day on average. I swear I get a Brookstone catalog once a week! I wish Al Gore would use his fancy Nobel Peace Prize to do something about the senseless cutting down of so many trees for junk mail!!
my bff hates opening mail. she’s so afraid of it that she’s gotten herself into very bad situations because she has just ignored late notices and such. me? i’m the opposite- i love the mail. not the bills, mind you, but a good card or letter can really make it all worthwhile.
It is usually possible to discriminate between late notices and other types of mail. I pay my utility bills on the disconnect date following receipt of the notices. I live in a small town and this is how I met the people that work in the account receivables offices. It used to be a bit embarassing, now we exchange geetings. I have no fear of bills or mail, I have just become incredibly disinterested in it.
Agree with the writter above. On those occaisions a hand written card or letter is discovered, it is a real treat.
My mail scares me too. It never goes away. Hazard of being a grown up, I think.
We do the same thing. I think I only have two bills I don’t pay online, so I don’t worry too much about it.
After a week or two, one of us will sit down and go through all of the mail. Most of it goes straight to the recycling container anyway, so we’re not concerned.
If someone really wants to contact me, they’ll send an e-mail. That’s about the only form of communication I use.
I am lucky too, Susan does all our bills and bank account!! She’s wonderful lol
i know, i hate opening the mail too… it’s gotten so bad that i just let it pile up and open it once a week… ugh!!!
ugh, i get about a bajillion catalogs a day! Two bajillion now that the holiday season is here. I get most of my c.c. and bank statements sent to my email address.
Diane – I am so frustrated with Direct Loans… arg! I paid my bill a week ago, but just got the bill in the mail yesterday.. how is that possible!!!
sizzle – I love receiving (and SENDING!!!) real mail. But it is rare that I get any 🙁
Randy – I have no idea where to go to pay bills! I don’t even know where my town’s town hall is!
Kyra – I guess it is the trade off for having money?
ajooja – I have gotten start paying my personal bills online! Steven does, but I am not that bank savvy yet 😉
Quinn and Susan – Sounds like you’re lucky like me, Quinn 😉 Hee hee hee!
CourtneyInControl – Do you hate to look at that pile as much as me? We hide our pile in a little shelf in our kitchen 😉
Gina (Mannyed) – I had an entire post written about all the STUPID catalogs we get and all the STUPID products in them – but basically I was saying the same thing – what the hell is with all the catalogs?!?!