Let's address your address
Have you ever watched one of those old timey British TV shoes (Downton Abbey fans, anyone?) and seen your favorite protagonist:
Fold up their letter into the tiniest little rectangle possible – what is up with that anyway?!? Oh, and also:
Write some random address like “Joe, the baker, care of the little shop in Brighton” on it with every expectation of it being delivered within the next fortnight. And then, miracle of miracles, the letter DOES in fact, make it to the person in question. Usually just before the next commercial break, which is an astounding feat of timing.
However, at some point in history there came to be too many people in the world for that to fly, and humanity agreed on a standardized format.
[Sidenote: I also wanted to add something in here about the Pony Express—look it up if you don't know your history—but I started to think that was too many metaphors for one intro. Also, I’m pretty sure there was a really good movie about the Pony Express, but I can't recall the name or the main actor for the life of me.]
Anyway! Standardized address format. I distinctly remember practicing how to write a proper address in the third grade. Let me give you a quick rundown:
Name
Building number, street name
Optional: Apartment or suite number
City, State Zip code
Example:
Yours Truly
1234 56th Ln.
Thisisablog, NA 55555
Having done my homework in third grade, I am of the (apparently misguided) opinion that this is not a hard concept. I have no idea what they teach in schools nowadays, but I'm guessing there's probably not a whole lot of emphasis on understanding addresses. Let me give you an example:
Me: Your resume indicates you live in Silver Lake, is that correct?
Candidate: Yes. Maple Plain.
Me: (-_-) --> the look I make whenever I hear an answer like the above
But, hey. I guess there is potential for confusion whenever you are communicating by phone. Different languages, different slang, it can happen. Whatever. I still think you’re an idiot, but I’ll grant I may be wrong.
However, it also blows my mind about how people have some strange inability to fill out address on forms properly. Let's take a W4, for example. It will ask you (in specific areas on the form, mind you, that are labeled for your convenience): last name, first name, middle initial, street address, apartment number, city, state, zip code. You know the drill. Usually the name, street address/apt number, and city/state/zip are all on separate lines to make things neat and easy to process. When I’m processing someone’s hiring paperwork, though, it is not uncommon that I come across:
Yours Truly
1234 56th Ln. Thisisablog, AB 55555
Notablog, BC 54555
Yeah, not how that works either. I could understand the whole ‘oh-crap-I-put-it-on-one-line-when-it-was-supposed-to-be-on-two-lines’ thing…but why is the information different between the two lines?? Did you move between carriage returns? Argh!
I get that not a whole lot of information is physically mailed anymore, but properly formatting an address is still important. Especially when you get all pissed off that your W2 never finds its way to your mailbox come tax time because you don't know how to write your own damn address.
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