Dumb-Bell Letters No. 14: Proof that customers have always been weird

Is it worth your time?

If you enjoy people-watching at the post office or have a sick fascination with customer service complaints, sure. This isn't exactly A Midsummer Night's Dream in terms of scale or ambition. It’s for the folks who find human stupidity genuinely funny rather than just draining.

If you're looking for a plot, look elsewhere. You will probably hate this if you need a hero's journey or anything resembling a coherent structure.

Honestly, watching this feels a bit like digging through someone’s attic and finding a box of mail they forgot to burn. It’s invasive, weirdly charming, and makes you wonder if we’ve actually evolved at all.

Some of these letters are painfully oblivious. You can almost hear the person gritting their teeth while they type, or scratch out their ink, trying to explain why their order didn't arrive or why they think the company owes them a favor for existing.

Oddly specific details

• The penmanship is sometimes better than the logic.
• The sheer amount of ego packed into three sentences is honestly impressive.
• There’s a weird rhythm to how these are presented, like a slow-motion car crash of bad spelling and entitlement.

It’s not as polished as Indiscreet, and it certainly doesn't try to be. It just sits there, daring you to find it amusing. And I did. I laughed at a woman complaining about a stove like it killed her cat.

Sometimes the film lingers on a letter for about ten seconds too long. You end up reading the same sentence three times because your brain refuses to accept that a real adult wrote it. That’s the hook, I guess.

It feels like a weird cousin to things like Felix the Cat Hunts the Hunter in that it’s just a short burst of energy that doesn’t demand your full intellectual compliance. It’s low stakes, high absurdity.

I don't know if Juliet Jowell knew she was preserving a time capsule of human grumpiness. Maybe she just wanted to vent. Either way, it’s a strange, dusty little relic that hits harder than a lot of modern 'comedy' shorts that try way too hard to be quirky.

Just don't expect a masterpiece. Expect a headache, maybe a chuckle, and a sudden urge to be nicer to the next person you talk to on the phone.