By Pat Kelly

We ship a lot of books. So naturally, the U.S. Postal Service plays a big part in getting the bulk of our books to their destination. Over the last eight years, I’ve been involved in schlepping boxes of these children’s titles to the post office in Crystal Lake. On a few occasions and where it seems like the majority of the time, our postal clerk Donna is on the processing end of the affair.

Now let me tell you about Donna. She is polite, efficient and strong. If she has ever had a bad day, I am completely unaware of it. With the pleasantness of a saint, she hefts numerous boxes, each weighing 20-30 pounds onto her scale and then sticks printed labels on each box. When we ship overseas, each box is placed into a slippery M-bag and there are M bag tags along with customs forms to work with. It’s a tedious process in which Donna works through with ease.

Recently, I had a load of ten heavy boxes of children’s books on a cart behind the counter at the Crystal Lake Post Office and Donna was working through them getting postage applied to each one. When she was working on the ninth parcel, she asked me if I had more books in my car to bring in. A simple question, but it almost seemed like she welcomed additional boxes. And it reminded me of the drive and devotion Donna possesses to be sure each and every interaction with a customer is a positive one.

Hats off to Donna and all her colleagues at our Crystal Lake Post Office!