My wife told me an interesting story today about delivery of a registered mail. She went to the post office to pick up a registered letter, and when she was there she asked why we always have to go there to pick these letters up ourselves. I had always assumed the answer would be that nobody was home when they had come to deliver, but that was not the case.

The reason, the post office clerk told her, is that they only deliver registered mail until the 3rd floor, and we live on the 37th floor. My wife replied that there is an elevator, so it should not make any difference. No, the clerk said, the post office rule has to do with the fact that the postman normally calls out below your window when he has a letter, and above the 3rd floor you won’t hear him…. Her argument that our building (like most high-rises here) has an intercom, did not make any difference to the clerk. A rule is a rule in China.