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TIFU by calling a family's recently deceased son a "f*cking moron"

I didn't realize how long this story is until I typed it out, so sorry for the long read

For context, I'm a mailman who works out of the mid-west. I don't have to tell my fellow carriers in this area that the past 3 months have been rough. Not only has my city had snow for 3 weeks straight now, but Christmas package volume hasn't gone down very much. I've been working from 8 am to 8 pm Monday through Saturday for these 3 months, just trying to keep up with the volume. It's also been VERY cold, and all around I've been extremely stressed out and tired

Well yesterday was no different, as I was told first thing in the morning that I had two routes I had to get done on my own, plus any extra packages when I got back. Not only that, but my promaster (a bigger mail truck) had been taken on Sunday for maintenance and I'd have to take a much smaller Metris car. This means I'll have much less space for all the mail and packages, but Metris' cannot drive through any amount of snow. Not joking, a light dusting on the road will result in you getting stuck. So I was already tired and very frustrated

Fast forward to halfway through my day, and I'm delivering packages to a nicer neighborhood. I see the house that I'm dropping a package at doesn't have any open spots to park on the street, except for in front of their neighbors fairly long driveway. It's not uncommon for us carriers to block a driveway for a minute to just drop off a package, so I don't think anything of it. Well I couldn't see the end of the driveway due to the other cars, and as I turn to park I realize that at the end of their driveway is a pretty large pile of snow. I try to break and turn, but it was too late. I land right in the middle of this snow pile, completely stuck

I try in vain to get myself out, but for safety reasons we aren't allowed to dig ourselves out. So I have to call the office to get a tow truck, which I'm told make take an hour to get their. This means I'll have to stay an extra hour to get the rest of the packages delivered. Pretty obviously, I'm absolutely livid at this point, cursing up a storm in my car

Well down the driveway comes a man who doesn't look very happy. He throws up his arms in that "Wtf are you doing??" Pose, which just makes me more mad. I get out and snap him a "Can I help you?" He snaps back at me with a "What are you doing blocking my driveway?" This is where I fucked up

I'm usually very calm and polite with customers, no matter how rude they are to me. But today I just couldn't control myself, and I say "Well it looks like someone was too lazy to shovel the snow on their driveway into their yard, and instead piled it in the street" The man gets red in the face and looks like he's going to scream at me, but takes a deep breath and says "My son shoveled this for me" Without even thinking about respond "Well you're son is a fucking moron"

I again expect him to yell at me, which in hindsight is exactly what I wanted him to do. Instead he stumbles back like I struck him, and I see tears start to pour from his eyes. He immediately turns and half runs up the driveway, and I can see he's sobbing. I instantly feel confused and extremely guilty, because mailman or not there was no reason for me to speak to him that way. So pretty quickly I follow him up the driveway, where I see their cars parked

On both of the back windshields is a sticker of a boy, with text on top and bottom that says (using a fake name)

RIP Riley, we'll miss you. 2008-2025

I feel like I was slapped in the face. Their child had passed 2 weeks ago. I walk to their door in a daze and knock. Both parents answer, a mix of fury and anguish on their faces. Thats when the stress and exhaustion from the past 3 months and the intense guilt I was feeling hit me like a brick wall. I dropped to my knees and began to cry, trying to tell them I was sorry in between sobs

To my astonishment, both parents dropped next to me, wrapped me in a hug, and started to cry with me. We stayed like that for a few minutes until I got my crying under control, and I told them why I was so angry and how sorry I was. The dad put his hand on my shoulder and told me he forgave me, which brought on more tears. We introduced ourselves and talked for a bit, but eventually I had to go wait for the tow truck in my car

But as I was waiting, they both came out with winter gear and snow shovels. They were offering to dig me out, which I vehemently refused. I told them I didn't at all deserve their help, but the mother told me "I cleaned up my son's messes for 16 years because I'm his mother, that doesn't stop just because he passed" which caused me to cry even more

They eventually got me out, and I exchanged phone numbers with them and told them I'd invite them over for dinner later this week. They accepted, and now my wife and I are going to cook them a veritable feast this coming Saturday

TL;DR: I fucked up by getting angry at a family's son for shoveling the snow in their driveway onto the street, not knowing he died a few days later

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