As I stand in this long line at the Oak Bluffs Post Office, for a second time within an hour of already having been here, I can’t help but wonder about the dysfunction of this place. This is the third time I’ve stood in this line in the last few days trying to clear up a lot of miscommunication and pick up packages delivered to our mailbox. What happened to this place and how did we get here?

For a week my aunt tried to have us pick up her package — delivered to our PO Box that we all use. She had to leave the Island for an emergency and wanted us to get the box that was delivered here for her. My husband went to the post office the first time to pick it up for her and the person told him he needed a note from my aunt to allow him to get it (and he stood in the long line for that piece of information).

So my aunt sent us a note, we printed it out and my husband returned to the post office to pick it up. This time they said to him: “We need a copy of her driver’s license with the note to give you the package.”

I asked my aunt to send me the note and with a copy of her license on the same piece of paper, which she did. This time I went to the post office and brought all of the necessary pieces of information. But by now they had sent the box back.

Now I am back in line because I was not given all of the pieces of mail that were due to me with the yellow and orange slips in our mailbox. One piece of mail handed to me without identification was not for anyone in our family, but a renter. They handed it to me without a thought. Clearly the postal “rules” don’t apply to everyone.

The woman behind me in line said she had been to the post office four times already, but she still hadn’t received her mail or the package she needs. Others in line complained about similar issues. The packages I’m waiting in line for now were also delivered the day before the one they gave me earlier today.

At the window, the woman gave me a package from the PO Box, but it was not the one I was looking for. The package I needed was delivered two days ago and I told her it was there and that I had received a notification of its delivery.

The woman said I couldn’t go by Amazon’s notifications (even though on Amazon it said it was delivered) and that I had to pull it up on the USPS website and show her it was delivered there. So I went on my USPS mobile app and showed her it was delivered. Then she said it wasn’t from USPS. I replied that it was on their mobile app!

“Well those packages probably haven’t been sorted yet,” she said.

Are you kidding me?

Why on this small Island can’t people be kind and give us the mail associated with our mailbox without it becoming an insurmountable task? We all know it’s summer on the Vineyard, but is that an excuse to be rude? Now I have to go back and pray I get that yellow slip and that they haven’t sent back my package this time.

Heather Carron lives in Oak Bluffs and Pittsburgh, Pa.