Porter Square post office early closing riles customer

PUBLISHED by The Cambridge Chronicle

Cambridge —Phyllis Pounall was angry Thursday night.

When Pounall arrived at the Porter Square post office at 6:51 p.m., she saw one customer was inside, one worker was inside and the door was locked.


She waited for the customer to come out and when she tried to enter, the postal worker told her even though it wasn’t closing time — 7 p.m. — yet, it was for him.

She and another customer who was also waiting outside convinced the worker to take their letters, but he snatched them out of their hands.

At 6:55 p.m., another customer rushed up to the door and tried to mail a letter, but the worker would not accept it. Then, as Pounall, a 57-year-old Rindgefield Street resident, puts it, the woman was in tears.

“I was so pissed off … the guy was very nasty,” said Pounall, who works as a photographer’s business manager.

The clerk admitted to closing the post office five minutes early, said Shawn Pitts, the manager of Porter Square post office. The worker was not authorized to close the building early, and he will face disciplinary action following an investigation next week, Pitts said.

“I apologize to the customers outside,” Pitts said. “Especially for someone that’s responsible for closing at 7, you can’t just arbitrarily pick a time to close. This is very serious.”