William Faulkner He may be one of the great American writers, but he was also one of the worst postmasters of his time. Starting in the spring of 1922, Faulkner worked as the postmaster at the University of Mississippi. He found the job tedious, boring, and uninspiring—an attitude he didnt even try to hide while at work. Most of his time as a postmaster was spent playing cards, writing poems, or drinking. He closed the post office whenever he felt like leaving and opened it when he felt like showing up. He was notorious for losing letters, even throwing mail away, and not being at the desk when customers came to buy stamps—and hed give them an attitude like they were interrupting his work by asking him to do his job. When a postal inspector came to investigate the complaints against Faulkner in 1924, the budding author agreed to resign, but only after writing a resignation letter that read, As long as I live under the capitalistic system, I expect to have my life influenced by the demands of moneyed people. But I will be damned if I propose to be at the beck and call of every itinerant scoundrel who has two cents to invest in a postage stamp. Ironically, despite his wretched record as a postal employee, the USPS released a 22 cent stamp commemorating William Faulkner in 1987.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 10:06:42 +0000
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