Dress-up postie lightens load
A Woodville postie is winning fans for her clear communication about lockdown procedures and brightening people’s days with her colourful costumes.
Denise Quinney has been sharing her daily routine on social media, and reassuring people the post was as safe as possible since the lockdown started. The costumes began as a whim last Tuesday but it got such a good reaction she was doing it every day now.
Since lockdown, she has knocked on doors to let people know there was mail, then dashed down the driveway to keep her distance. She thought it would be amusing if when they looked out the window they saw their postie in an inflatable Santa suit.
‘‘I thought people could have a good laugh, and it’s nice to see people smiling in times like this.’’
The Woodville Caltex staff were the first to see a comically large Santa jump out of Quinney’s van with their packages that morning.
‘‘The ladies at the counter just started cracking up behind the window, and it was like that all day.’’
Since Santa, Quinney has broken out a pink fairysuperhero costume, and a cat’s head mask. She shared a few ideas for what’s next but asked Stuff not to let any spoilers slip.
She loves seeing people’s amusement when they peeked through the curtains after she knocked on their door. But her favourite were the children on her rounds who have started watching out for her.
‘‘All the kids in a house come up to the windows, smiling, waving and calling things out to me . . . It gets hot in some of the costumes but it’s worth it for the reactions.’’
Quinney and others have been sharing photos of each day’s costume on Facebook, and she really appreciated all the jokes and messages of support.
Now Woodville residents were giving her costumes to try, each attempting to top yesterday’s one with something funnier or more ridiculous. ‘‘I asked them on Facebook to just be aware it’s getting colder, so please make it something appropriate.’’
Quinney was also earning praise in Tenacious Tararua and other community Facebook groups for posting about the daily routine and precautions of a postie under lockdown.
She explained the earlier starts, so the rural and town posties could keep in separate bubbles, and the frequent stops to change gloves and sanitise everything.