The Other Day At Work

I always get my stamp deliveries sent to me at work. The other day, I was sent a shipment whose front and back were *completely* covered in stamps, modern to 1940s. $6 worth. My boss noticed this and said,3 "Wow, Alot of these are antiques."

Where I kinda tried to tell him about moderns and even stamps fron the 1940s just being worth stamp value, especially off center and whatnot. Good thong I didn't get into gum issues.g

There are just so many things you can get into with people not really into it.

Agreed. People who aren't in the know don't understand some of what we consider basic knowledge.

I'll keep this long story short but I had a coworker that had been telling me about these really old stamps that his mother had and gave to him. I told him I could let him know what they were, just bring them to work some day. He finally did and it was a envelope stuffed with SC# 1283 and 1283B. I tried in the nicest way to let him down and even showed him the listing in the then couple year old catalog. He was insulted when I said they weren't really considered old and he was upset because they were older than he was. He then accused me of low balling the value and was using an "old catalog" so I could get them from him. I suggest that he take them to any of the dealers in the area, he shot back with they'll tell me anything you call them up and tell them to. He wouldn't talk to me for two weeks! I Finally reminded him that I told him before I even looked at them, I had said I would not buy them if I was appraising them. He finally did admit he was wrong after his family took a trip to NYC and he talked to a coin dealer that was a friend of the family.

Another coworker heard me talking about soaking stamps off and she said she'd report me to the post office... I said for what? She said "you're trying to reuse stamps, HELloo, that's illegal"! I said I collect stamps to which she replied "nobody collects USED stamps". Several people corrected her but she still didn't believe anyone would collect used stamps "because they have no value..."

And then there was an Exec Admin Assistant while I was on a contract at FAA, who tried to have me removed from the facility because I mentioned that I was a philatelist in an email she was copied on. She obviously never opened a dictionary in her life and thought it was something else. A guard showed up with her in tow, to a meeting I was in to remove me, once the reason was announced, several in the room and the guard started to laugh, even they knew that I was a stamp collector. She never did give an apology... it made my company's newsletter.

All of those stories would make a fantastic Netflix comedy series about a misunderstood philatelist.

I recall that Mad magazine (?) had some write up about terms that some think may had some immoral definition. One of those words was thespian.

If I had never heard the word 'philatelist', my mind could make up something that was not too wholesome. Just saying.