Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 17, 1994 TAG: 9404170070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There are three clerks. And no "next window" signs.
And, there's no long line of people sighing heavily, shifting weight from one leg to the other.
Three clerks. No lines. No waiting.
No, this isn't the Twilight Zone. You really are at the post office.
You are at the post office at 11:30 p.m. on April 15.
Behind the counters, Martha Short and Ann Kessler were working on the only night it had ever been open.
"It's like the entire month of December, only it happens all in one day," said Ann Lewis, who runs a letter-sorting machine.
Yet the post office runs April 15 with the very same 120 employees who work every other day of the year.
This year, however, they did bring in 10 extra people to direct traffic.
"Last year, April 15 was a logistical nightmare," recalled Don Kelly, manager of in-plant support.
That's because last year on that date Guns 'N Roses was taking the stage over at the Roanoke Civic Center at around midnight.
Waiting until midnight to file your economic life story to Uncle Sam has become somewhat of a party.
Not unlike another we celebrate at midnight: New Year's Eve.
Children in their p.j.'s were tagging along Friday night, looking for all of the hoopla they've seen before at midnight on tax day.
But where was the free Domino's Pizza?
And where was WROV-FM and its free Payday candy bars?
Most of all, where the heck were the free 29-cent stamps?
"They all ran out hours ago," Kelly said.
At one point, the president of the American Postal Workers Union - the organization that hands out the free stamps - was pulling money out of his very own pocket and buying stamps out of the machines in the lobby.
By 11:40 Friday night, even his resources had run dry.
Tom Gillis tried earlier to get H&R Block to file for him.
But he'd worked five jobs this year and doesn't have all of the W-2 forms he needs.
"I never heard from the Sears telemarketing center after it shut down," he said as he rushed inside to buy stamps.
Filing an incomplete form was better than not filing at all, he figured.
Tony Spiro, a maintenance worker who was drafted to dress up like Uncle Sam when he arrived at work at 4 p.m., couldn't wait until midnight.
"My feet are killing me," he said in his red striped pants and top hat.
His shift ended at 1:30 a.m., and the first thing he planned to do was sit down.
Gillis, on his way out of the lobby from buying stamps, handed Spiro a handful of the one-cent stamps the machine spits out when all you need is a 29-cent one.
"Here, Uncle Sam," said Gillis. "At least now you'll have something to give the next person who asks you for a free stamp."
Spiro - like any good Uncle Sam - filed his taxes in January.
"I'm getting money back," he explained.
Robert Johnson finished filling out his tax form two weeks ago, but waited until midnight on the 15th to file it.
"It's tradition," he said. "I always come out for the fun of it. And to raise a little racket with the others.
"But . . . I always got a free candy bar before!"
At 11:45 p.m., Spiro's supervisor relieved him of the awesome responsibility of playing Uncle Sam - some 15 minutes early.
Was he finally going to collapse into a chair and rest those feet?
"No," he said as he began to remove his star-spangled get-up.
"He told me I had to go out and clean up the parking lot first."
Seems Uncle Sam's work is never done.
by CNB