Why People Go Postal

In late 2011, I became a casual Ebay seller. I'm just trying to de-clutter my life and, recognizing that I'll never have a yard sale, I figured why not get some money for this...stuff...by selling it on Ebay. Since starting in November, I've made a profit of $74.34. Not too bad for stuff I would've just assume throw away or donate.
Anyways, this has put me at the United States Post Office more often than usual. If I need to ship items mid-week, I head to Corliss Street, Providence because they have extended hours. I can stop before work in the morning or swing by on my way home. It's very convenient.
Tonight, I left work a little before 5pm, putting me in line at the post office by 5:10. My receipt for my transaction is dated "01/05/2012 05:18:05 pm". This gave me eight full minutes to take in my next blog topic.
As I walked in the door, there was a crowd around the counter for passports. Apparently, a family waited a bit too long to stop by for their passport renewal and they might NOT be going on their family vacation abroad. Also, I'm pretty sure that when asked how old the son was, he answered, "19...no, wait, 18".
Luckily, although there were many people in the room, not too many were actually in line. I walked up and was maybe five or six people back. Some of the loiterers were looking at the Valentine's Day cards. Some of them were finishing up filling out addresses on their envelopes. Others were cussing at their cell phones because, while trying to find something on the Internet, a "f***in' (word I can't say or even play with asterisks near)" wouldn't stop calling.
This girl, maybe early 20s, was trying to get information off of her phone but some boy wouldn't stop calling her. This infuriated her...but she wouldn't just answer the phone to say, "Hey. I'm busy. I'll call you back when I get through with this."
No, instead she began cussing at the phone causing her mother(?) to ask what the problem was. She, not so politely, told her, which caused everyone in the post office to either look up or make a face acknowledging that they had heard her potty mouth. Sidenote: "Mom" was wearing lovely perfume that reminded me of a Dave Matthews Band concert.
When the cell phone started vibrating against the counter again, "Mom" answered and advised the boy that the girl was in an interview right now and that she'll call him back when she is done. Honest to God, about 30 seconds later, the phone started again. This time she got more details. It was an emergency.
Apparently, the Spanish girl across the street wanted to either buy or borrow her flat iron. This IS a crisis and I don't understand why people started giggling to themselves when hearing the news.
A broken flat iron is no joke.