Post AWp7RMGeT5i0qSvGPw by siege@octodon.social
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 (DIR) Post #AWp7RMGeT5i0qSvGPw by siege@octodon.social
       2022-11-07T05:34:14Z
       
       1 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Postal Workers cancelling stamps at the University of Ghana Post Office
       
 (DIR) Post #AWp7ROVy779JoY6WZM by siege@octodon.social
       2022-11-07T05:37:25Z
       
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       "Twice a day the letters that must be canceled are laid out in two files, one on either side of a divided table. Two men sit across from one another at the table, and each has a hand-canceling machine (like the price markers you may have seen in supermarkets), an ink pad, and a stack of letters. The work part of the process is simple: a letter is slipped from the stack with the left hand, and the right hand inks the marker and stamps the letter... This is what you are hearing: the two men seated at the table slap a letter rhytmically several times to bring it from the file to the position on the table where it is to be canceled. (This act makes a light-sounding thud.) The marker in inked one or more times (the lowest, most resonant sound you hear)... The rhythm produced is not a simple one-two-three (bring forward the letter - ink the marker - stamp the letter). Rather, musical sensitivities take over. Several slaps on the letter to bring it down, repeated thuds of the marker in the ink pad and multiple cancellations of single letters are done for rhythmic interest. uch repetition slows down the work, but also makes it much more interesting. The other sounds you hear have nothing to do with the work itself. A third man has a pair of scissors that he clicks - not cutting anything, but adding to the rhythm. The scissors go "click, click, click, rest," a basic rhythm used in Ghanaian popular music. The fourth worker simply whistles along. He and any of the other three workers who care to join him whitsle popular tunes or church music that fits the rhythm."