Punkins and owls

Ever since Halloween, the air surrounding a variety of porches have begun smelling like rotting pumpkins. Apparently people don't like to clean up their jack-o-lanterns after the holiday. I don't mind though, they make for some funny-looking pumpkins once mold and rot starts to seep in. In a way, they make the jack-o-lanterns look creepier.

Haha, the pumpkins almost look like they need dentures since their mouths are kind of curling inward. With the holidays coming, I wonder what kind of new lawn decorations I will encounter? There was one house in which I had to walk around graves, zombie hands, and bloodied body bags, in order to get to the mailbox on the porch. What obstacles will I encounter this time I wonder?

Another thing I encountered a few days ago was a loud crowing sound coming from the top of this building in which a realtor resides.

                                                   

I saw the owl in the window and figured that was probably the cause of the noise, but I was still perplexed as to why. Upon discovery of the mail receptacle inside the doorway, I saw an anti-bird alarm system. Apparently the owl statue caws whenever birds come close? And then by doing so it scares off the birds? All I know is that the danged thing was really loud and why local businesses did not complain to the realtor about the noise the darned thing makes I don't know.

Did my mail arrive yet? No, now stop asking me...

It happens often--people frequently ask, "Do you have my letter-card-envelope-bill?" Though this gets annoying time to time, it makes sense since I am a mailman and I am carrying their mail. Other times it just gets old though--especially when customers are impatient when I am putting their mail in their boxes. I feel like sometimes people just magically expect their items to arrive on time and in a blink of an eye and when something goes wrong and said item doesn't arrive, BOOM!

The post office isn't perfect. With the millions upon millions of items of mail we process everyday, we are going to make errors. That's just human nature. From machines eating up mail to packages being given to the non-corresponding route, it's going to happen. And if a customer is upset that something didn't arrive on time or to their liking, I am unfortunately the brunt of the blame they dish out. Sometimes customers are understanding, sometimes not.

For example, one college guy got all uppity because his video game he ordered and paid overnight shipping for was not in his mailbox the day after. While talking to him, I realized that the mistake was probably one of ours, which happens, but still, getting all into it with the guy that delivers your mail, come on now.

On the opposite spectrum, had a lady today ask why her birthday card didn't get to her after two weeks of being sent. I explained to her what might have happened to it and then apologized for the inconvenience of it all. Though she was upset about not getting her card, she thanked me for talking to her about it and giving her some answers to what might have happened to it.

Sometimes people just don't know how to send things properly. One of the most common misconceptions I notice is that some people tend to think "forever stamps" cover all the postage on an ordinary envelope. They don't realize the the weight and whether the contents of the envelope make it bulge out or not have an impact on its cost. Therefore I usually have to collect a meager sum of money from the recipient--usually between 24-74 cents--to cover the correct postage.

In one recent incidence of this, a girl had her sister send her back a cell phone charger that her sister stole from her--I knew this cause she told me obviously. Anyways, the sister put the wrong postage on the envelope and the girl had to dig around her apartment to come up with 74 cents. I thought it was funny and mentioned how ironic it was that her sister "borrowed" her cell phone charger and then upon sending it back, the girl had to cough up some change for the correct postage. Needless to say, the girl informed me she was going to give her sister an earful when she talked to her again.

It's been four months? Where has the time gone?

So I might have neglected this thing for awhile. Props to my dad, he saw it coming. "You are going to get to tired of writing the blog eventually."

True, maybe I did. It's easy to fall into a repetitiveness when you are doing the same thing everyday. When work is done, I am more apt to do something recreational instead of writing an entry.

As to why I started writing again, no particular reason. Just some of the same similar feelings I had before--I want to keep a diary of daily events for my own entertainment and for others to enjoy as well. A valid reason to keep writing, to say the least.

So, July 20. That was my last entry. Since then, many things have happened. I gained my own route for a small amount of time--delivered mail on it for five days a week. I say "gained" though because I just lost it to someone with higher seniority than me last week. I am ok with this--it brings back some variety in my work since every day I will be placed on a different route. Still, saying bye for now to some of my favorite customers on the route was sad.

Oh, and it got dark. Real dark. Flipping daylight savings time took into effect earlier this month, thus making darkness come one hour earlier. So now I am rocking a headlight and delivering mail in the dark, if it comes to it. So far it's been alright, just feel a little creepy delivering mail at night to boxes on peoples' porches. Keep on thinking some customer will be like, "Who's dere? I'm gonna grab my gun!" Hasn't happened yet though, phew for that!

Oh and given the cold weather, I have decided to grow out a beard. Having never sported the beard before, I am getting used to it very much so. That being said, I am over nine months in as being a mailman, and though it is stressful sometimes, I still do enjoy the work. Until next time!

                                             

Post office moment of the day--am delivering a package to someone when all of a sudden, a wasp attacks us. Well, it wavers around us, freaking us out. I then take a plastic card and swat it to teh ground, and then stomped it. I then tell said customer to enjoy his package and wasp-free day.

Other than that, not much.

I feel it is becoming more of a chore to write on this blog than actually me wanting to. My dad was right--at first, I'd be all about making an entry every day. But as time moves on, you get more and more tired of writing about something that has become so routine in your everyday life. But wasn't that why I wanted to write a blog in the first place, to make it so my life doesn't become routine and bland?

Well I can assure you it isn't bland--not one bit. It's just hard to write sometimes about a variety of happenings in my daily life. Plus it's really late and I'm tired and just worked six days straight--ha! I guess that's as good an excuse as any!

Oh well, I will continue to post stuff as I see fit. Lata!

Beating teh heat

I finally got my clothing allowance today!

That's $390 worth of post office clothing I can order--it's about time because my shirts are very grubby and I could use some new stuff.

Other than that, not much has been happening. Just trying to beat the heat. Plus I've been trying to go to bed earlier, too--this heat saps your body like none other. Definitely makes you more tired than usual.

Anyways, halfway through the week--three more days till Sunday, yay!

Another one bites teh dust

My hiring process for this job was quite unique. Basically some USPS management folk had a number of us (about 8) go meet them for a mass interview. Upon completion of said interviews, they began to fingerprint us. The first two people they fingerprinted, they told to leave and they would contact them further about the job. They then turned to us remaining 6 and told us we were hired. Pretty sweet and to the chase--if only all interviews worked out like that!

Throughout the Indiana offices, they did this and ended up hiring about 500 people for positions just like mine. In other words, we all got hired on as substitutes and would work when needed. Fortunate for me, in Bloomington, postal carriers are ALWAYS needed. Ha! Hence my 56+ hour work weeks.

Anyways, me and another guy got stationed in Bloomington. He's a pretty aight dude--came back from serving overseas in Iraq and is probably a couple years older than me. Anyways, being hired on at the same time, we kind of developed a slight camaraderie, since we were both learning the ropes at the same time. About a month or so into the job, he told me that one of our supervisors told him that out of the 500 or so people initially hired, only about 150 remained. The rest obviously quit or were laid off.

Well fast forward to today, and my co-worker guy told me he just put in his two-weeks notice. That being said, he does have a kid on the way and just got married last week. He is also taking classes which the job has been negatively impacting so eh, go figure. Still though.

That sucks.

Like I said, we were hired on together. Now I am the only new person at the office--well, after the next two weeks that is. Still, feels weird. Like a lone rookie amidst professionals. Almost makes me wonder how long I'll stay at it. Now I'm not saying I'm quitting--all this work is super awesome for me right now. Still, I wonder if I'll ever reach a similar point where I just get tired of working there.

The job is not accommodating at all, as I'm sure I've mentioned before. Literally no time off for me--I'm always on duty. That being said, I do get two hours of time off per paycheck but in order to use said time, I need to put in a request 3-4 weeks in advance. Oh, and don't count on me getting Fridays, Saturdays, or Mondays off. That is totally out of the question.

I have no insurance either--well I do have my own personal disaster insurance--but still, no on-the-job insurance. Even when I do gain access to the insurance plan after 360 days, I have to pay for all of it out of pocket, unless the contract changes between now and then.

I have no retirement either. No sick leave. No nothing. All's I got is a $15/hour job, which isn't a bad thing. But when you are thinking long-term, well, I'm beginning to think the post office just is not the place to be. That being said, I'm still going to stick it out at this job for a year+. As I said, the job is perfect for me now--lots of work and lots of money--but how long will that feeling about my job last, I wonder? I guess we will find out, won't we.....

Bye-bye cool weather!

It's been a good minute since my last post. This happens from time to time--when I'm done with work, I'm done with a lot of things postal service-related. Writing an entry about my daily occurrences does not hold weight over doing something recreational.

That recreation is nice--I feel I barely get enough time to do fun stuff outside of work anymore. Well I do but then it is only a matter of time before I have to go to bed and start all over again in the morning. That's normal though--it's much better than being a freeloader and barely working/not working at all.

I've been there before--at first, the idea of not working and not having many responsibilities is great, but it gets old. Fast. I can't see how some people can stand it, honestly.

Anyhoo, this last week I was doing a route that averaged 6.5+ miles a day. Yeah, you could walk that distance in about 1.5-2 hours easily, but doing so while delivering mail puts the time on your feet in the 6+ hour range. Talk about tiring! It wasn't a bad route--real hard to get adjusted to at first but I made due. I even met some of the route customers and got on a first-name basis with them and their dogs.

Now I'll be switched to another route tomorrow. It's not bad, though. The variety is nice. It does stink having to leave the people you met on your prior route. But hey, when you get on that route again, it's like seeing old friends which feels pretty nice. That being said, the time in which I do said route again is a little bit--a week to a month or more--but yeah, it's not bad.

The last three days of last week were really cool, too. Like 80 degrees with a cool breeze and little humidity. This week is gonna be in the 90s though. Ouch. I can feel the heat already! I'll survive though--I'll just be highly uncomfortable and shweaty for a while during the week. No new experience for me--though it ain't my favorite feeling, either....