Awkward Tales from the ‘Bul #5: On Sending Mail

I wanted to send a friend living in the U.S. a letter, so duly went to find my nearest PTT branch. This seemingly simple process was quite awkward for me.

Having heard the acronym ‘PKK’ so much in the news at the time, I clearly had it in my head. Searching for the nearest post office, I asked a stranger in the street where I could find the closest PKK. His bewildered expression said it all and I quickly realised my mistake.

Eventually I arrived at the PTT and filled out the necessary forms for sending a letter abroad. The forms requested all the usual information, including my full name and address.

As the friendly, elderly man behind the counter was processing my form, he asked “Talya, bekar mısın?” (Talya, are you single?), gesturing towards his computer as a sign that he needed to input that information.

I thought I’d misheard so asked for a repeat. “Bekar?” he asked again. Somewhat taken aback that whether I was single or not was required information for sending a letter, I asked why that information was relevant.

“Of course its relevant, I need to know!” the clerk insisted.

Could there be some dated law that meant either married or single women couldn’t send letters to a male? That didn’t seem like a possibility at all but I couldn’t understand why else they’d ask.

Seeing my puzzled look he passed me back the form I had given him and pointed. I realised then my awful scrawl handwriting had made my surname ‘Baker’ read as ‘Bekar,’ and he was duly double checking he had read it correctly, rightly skeptical that I might have a name which brandishes my marital status!

I sheepishly apologised and duly corrected the form. Despite the clerk’s due diligence, my letter took seven weeks to arrive in New York.