I was waiting just a little while in the Crystal Lake Post Office Friday when I again noticed that there was no clock on the center of the wall behind the counter.

I had noticed before, but this time I asked why.

The clerk told me, “They took it down.”

I asked if the employees were clock watchers or the patrons.

She didn’t know why.

I had seen the postmaster outside with a couple of men whom I assumed were vendors or other post office employees visiting from afar.

I asked him about the clock.

“They mandated they be removed a year and a half ago,” he told me.

So much for my being super observant.

So, were they taken down so patrons would have less of a chance to know how long they had to wait, were the employees always looking at the clock or, as a cynical friend of mine suggested, is it so people can’t point to the clock when they bang on the door when the post office closes before the hour on the door?