Postie's prank fails to amuse

[janbo1960]

A New Zealand postal worker who is in trouble for scrawling abusive comments on school exam results says it was all supposed to be a joke.

The arrival of final year exam results can be fraught enough without free and frank character analysis scrawled by a mischievous postie.

Daniel Zeigler recognised the names of students at his former Christchurch secondary school while he was sorting their exam results.

The 18-year-old offered a somewhat blunt critique of their leaving certificate efforts in blue marker pen.

New Zealand Post, embarrassed by the incident, is promising to review its procedures but apparently cannot charge the temporary worker because under the law, sorting and stuffing exam results in envelopes is not regarded as tampering with the mail.

Mr Zeigler says everyone should lighten up - it was just a joke.

[Skylace]

They should stuff him.

I would think that writing on the results would be considered tampering with it.

[eefanincan]

I agree, Sky. Isn't tampering with mail a federal offence?