Tuesday, 26 Feb 2008

I got a complaint today from Sunday from a customer who wants their paper delivered to their ‘top step/front door’. They said they use a walker and the next time their Sunday paper is NOT on their top step/front door they will cancel their subscription.

I am reminded of a saying a wise long-time newspaper carrier once told me: “Don’t threaten me with something I want”.

Some background about this customer.

1) This customer has no front walk or sidewalk, and as near as I can tell they never use their front door as there is no discernable path from the stairs to the street, not even a sideways walkway connecting the front door to the driveway like some people have. Their mailbox is on the same side street (around the corner) their driveway is on so apparently the only thing they use their front door for is to retrieve their Sunday paper.

2) This customer’s front door is a good 25-30 feet from the road and at the top of several steep steps.

3) Last Sunday there were 4 inches of snow and ice on the ground and their front stairs and landing were completely snowed under.

4) Monday thru Saturday this customer has specifically REQUESTED their paper be delivered to their driveway.

5) This customer has NEVER complained about getting their paper delivered to their driveway the other 6 days of the week.

So last Sunday, since there was 4 inches of ice and snow covering their lawn and stairs and a snowplowed deeper pile of ice and snow between the road and their lawn I did not venture onto the potentially slippery surfaces, I instead tossed their paper onto their stairs. Because they had not cleared their stairs or their top landing, the paper slid down the stairs onto the lawn at the base of the stairs.

Observations.

1) If this person is annoyed because they have to walk down snow and ice covererd stairs onto a snow and ice covered front lawn to retrieve their paper, it is because THEY DIDN’T CLEAR their stairs or walk. e.g. It’s not my fault it snowed and you didn’t clear your stairs or non-existent walkway.

2) If this person is annoyed that _I_ won’t walk through the same yard they are unwilling to walk across, they are being extremely hypocritical. Unless this person somehow found out our newpaper carriers guild secret - that newspaper carriers have magical non-slip-on-ice-and-snow skills from our regular injections of our  Sheroa steroids and mountain goat DNA.
3) Since this person has no problem whatsoever retrieving the newspaper from their driveway the other 6 days of the week (10 months of weekday driveway delivery with nary a complaint) I am guessing that this person must be selectively handicapped. Either that or Sundays are like Kryptonite to him/her rendering them too weak to walk out the groundfloor door to retrieve their paper from the driveway like they do Mondays thru Saturdays.

4) There is a strong possibility this person is a selfish hole.

5) This job isn’t good for my fundamental belief in the reasonableness of humans. Then again most interactions with fellow humans aren’t very good for my general optimism. I think the only reason I’ve managed to maintain a basic positive outlook is because I don’t reguarly interact with a lot of people.

Sunday, 24 Feb 2008

No. I just collect junk.

[The start of a conversation a stranger initiated with me as I was perusing the VHS movie selection at a local Salvation Army store.]

True, I could reasonably be called on my tendency to collect ‘junk’, but is a copy of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that costs less than renting it would cost ‘junk’? I don’t think so. Now the wall/ceiling speaker mounts for speakers I didn’t own, that ended up missing a couple of crucial pieces of? Junk. The broken high director’s chair with a budweiser logo on it? Junk (though to be fair I didn’t know it was broken when I saw it in the dark and it was a freebie)

Other news, c3 was in a very low speed skid into a curb while driving my car during the snow day yesterday (sat). No visible damage other than the fake hubcap is kind of broken in several places. But the car no longer drives straight when the wheel is straight, it pulls STRONGLY to the right. Took it to the garage and it turns out the impact bent the frame! yikes. never had that happen before. with only $200 in the bank and another couple hundred due Monday for papers ($100 of which is needed for gas and food - minimum for the next 7 days!) I am hoping against hopes that a) The frame can be repaired, and b) that it won’t be more than $300-$400. Wish me luck, I am as stressed as I have been - I NEED both cars to get to (and do) both jobs. Fortunately my parents have a ‘back-up’ car they loaned me for a few days so at least I don’t have the added cost of a rental. I am lucky and grateful they don’t mind loaning me a car for a few days.

[update: Tuesday. The garage called. Bent Frame. Bent SUB-frame. Bent Wheel.  Suspension shot to hell. All needing repair and the wheel/suspension needing replacement (used in the case of the suspension).  Not good. $$$ yeesh.

Wednesday, 13 Feb 2008

Rock N Roll Soniye, an upbeat merger of Indian and US ‘rock and roll’ complete with snatches of English phrases and I,IV,V chords stuck into traditional Indian percussion and vocals was kind of pinging at my subconscious “that’s a really odd blend” when all of a sudden the english phrase I heard in perfect poppy Indian harmonies was “sexy sam, sexy sam…Wham Bam, thank you Sam… (repeat)”.

huh?

Tuesday, 12 Feb 2008

Woke up Sunday morning to head out to deliver papers and walked out to find freezing cold, almost freezing rain and I turned around and walked back in the house. Ostensibly to put on a sweater but I had to stop and talk myself into going out into that weather. I did, but I really didn’t want to. I hate the freezing cold rain, having to double-bag all the papers, driving in the rain, etc.