A Swedish tragedy, in one short act
Wife: Let's send her the bag
Husband: That will take forever.
(Later)
Husband: Swedish postal delivery has been privatized. [TC: More accurately, it is open to private competition.]
Wife: Where do we find a post office?
Aide: In the main train station
(Later)
Wife: Why isn't there a post office in the train station?
Different aide: It is gone.
Wife: Why are there no post offices around?
Wife (again): What do you do if you wish to mail something?
Yet another aide, in halting English, with a Middle Eastern accent: I do *not* wish…to do that. I do not do it.
(Much later, in the basement of a department store, surround by lottery promotions and cigarette racks, husband and wife are mailing the aforementioned computer bag)
A fourth and different aide: This is the only post office in central Stockholm (TC: how can that be true?)
Husband: In the United States the postal service absorbs too many workers; Sweden represents efficiency.
Wife: If I cannot mail the bag, this is inefficiency.
Editor's note: The dialog with several other aides has been omitted due to publication constraints.