Irritating!!!

We subscribe to the Garden City Telegram. It is supposed to be delivered to us 6 days a week. It USUALLY gets to us each of those days. However, in the beginning, the paper guys would just toss it anywhere. If we got it, we got it, if not, too bad!!! We'd sometimes find it in our yard, under the cars, IN THE STREET or in some dog's mouth! No, we were not happy with this situation so we went to Walmart and bought a mailbox that we could screw onto our house. Let me describe that for just a second here. It has a lid that you lift up so that the mail, in our case, the newspaper, could be placed inside, the lid would then be closed again. That way, everything stays nice and dry. Under the mailbox, are two hooks that newspapers, etc can be placed. We should not have any problems now with our paper, right? WRONG!!!

As soon as the box was in place and ready for business, I stopped the paper guys and showed them the box. I explained to them that it was in place JUST FOR THE NEWSPAPER. (Our mail is delivered at home but it is delivered at curbside in town.) I all but BEGGED them to PLEASE put the newspaper in it's proper place. I also told them that I am not allowed outside if the temperature is less than 40 degrees and higher than 80 degrees because of my heart issues. With the newspaper just next to the front door, I could retieve it easily every day. They understood.

Since then, they've been good about putting it in the hooks. On rainy days, they wrapped the newspapers in plastic bags for everyone on their route so I had no issue with them. That was, until yesterday.................. Rain began making it's very welcome appearance on Tuesday night and just continued off and on, mainly on, throughout the day on Wednesday. When we discovered no paper in the hooks, we went on a search for where it may have ended up. WE FOUND IT!!! It was out by the car again with NO plastic bag!!! Yep, you guessed it. It was soaked! Errr...

Anyone else have this problem??? In the beginning, I had to call the newspaper office 3 times before the boys finally worked out their problems. It took us threatening to discontinue our subscription before everything straightened out. I know, I know, these paper boys aren't exactly getting rich from their job but they agreed to take on this responsibility for whatever amount that the newspaper dictated. After that, I also gave them a hefty tip every three months when I paid our bill.

What has happened to professional integrity? My parents taught us that no job was worth doing unless we did it at the best of our capabilities. Daddy would go out and clean clogged sewer lines regardless of weather conditions. And...he did it for his regular service fees. Nothing extra for being in heavy rain, snow, etc. In 1994, he was dying of cancer throughout his body but he still managed to do his work. Ya' wanna know what hefty amount of money he charged to clean sewer lines? A whopping $35.00!!! No extra money was charged even if it took a whole day to get the sewer line completely cleaned up. In order to get his sewer cleaner to the sewer line, he had to get the very heavy machine out of his pick-up to the ground, pull it to the sewer source, clean, pull it back to the pick-up and lift it back into the back end of his pick-up. That's tough enough for a well person let alone someone who was FAR from being up-to-par!!!

Without naming the store, without naming the employee whom I am referring to, I am so very tired of going in to buy something off of the shelves only to find the shelf empty. That's okay. I know that there are surplus amounts of that product in the back room normally. All I have to do is ask someone who works there to please retrieve me some from the back. (I am referring to 6-packs of good ol' Coca-Cola.) But, when the manager is off, the employee who I am referring to, REFUSES to walk to the backroom of the store to get some for me. Instead he/she just tells me that he/she does not think that there are any more back there. It is ALWAYS the same employee who tells me that lie. If I am lucky, that person IS OFF for the evening so that someone else is working in his/her place. I wonder. At the end of the day/evening, is he/she convinced that he/she just did the best job possible??? Once again, I am quite aware that store clerks are not making a mint but they agreed to take the job and do the best that they could. Right??? Then, why aren't they all working at the best of their ability? If shabby work is the best of their ability, then maybe the management needs to hire someone else who CAN do good work.

Just another of my worthless opinions...

VLE-B