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.

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