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....

Dat's some heat!

Mail volume is a strange phenom at the post office. Some days are average, with about 20,000-30,000 pieces of raw mail--this is your standard envelope-sized mail. Mondays are always heavy with usually 45,000+ pieces of raw mail. The highest I've once witnessed was 60,000+ pieces of mail in one day.

That being said, I have no way of determining how much mail I deliver on a current route other than counting it all--which is an insane and stupid idea, considering how much time that would waste! Best I can do is supply a picture based on an average amount of mail:

                                      

This was my mail load for today, Tuesday, which is a typically super-light day. Think of it as "the calm after the storm", the storm being Monday.

On Monday I had four trays of raw letters, as seen on the right. I had about double the amount of boxes I had today, and about triple the amount of small parcels--small envelopes, boxes, etc., that can usually fit in a standard mailbox. Though you can't get a good view of my trays of flats (magazines, large envelopes, etc.)--they are in the back right, behind my pile of parcels. I had double the amount of flats for Monday compared to today's load.

Oh, and I had two tubs full of parcels for two academic departments I had to deliver to on Monday, something that I didn't have to deal with today.

In other words, my mail load for Monday was at least double for what I had today. It may not seem like a whole lot, but there is a considerable difference when delivering them suckers, especially since this route is all walking. That's a lot of stuff to carry! Ugh... Not to mention dropping mail by accident. The act of dropping a bundle of mail on the ground is like seeing your life flash before your eyes--it's a horrible thing to have happen to you as a mailman. Luckily once the mail hits the ground, it is still relatively in order--all you have to do is simply take a deep breath, calm your nerves, and piece the bundle back together again. While working under time restraints though, man, I've almost broken down after having a bundle of mail slip from my hands.

Other than that, Tuesday is usually pretty quick. I also met a dog today that was really nice. Most dogs, especially those with their owners out on walks, are usually pretty nice. If not, well, it doesn't take much to determine a good dog who just wants pets from a bad dog who wants to maul ya. This dog, a herding dog, was being walked across the street by its owner. I said "hi" to the guy and then commented that his dog looked plum tired and needed a nap. As soon as I said that, the dog on cue lay down on the ground. It was pretty funny, considering I just said "nap." The owner explained the dog, Bing, usually does that for attention and due to instinct, him being a herding dog and the like. I gave it a good number of pets and went on my way, glad that I met a good dog instead of the opposite.

Oh, and yes, I usually drive mail trucks while delivering. However, we have about five vans at my station, one of which is assigned to the route I've been doing the past week. Hence the van in the above photo. It's especially nice in this hot, steamy weather, since the van has some high-power AC in it. Perfect for those segments where you drive from one walking loop to the next. :D

Sweat and grime

Yeah, I sweat a lot.

I'm sure I also have talked about how I sweat a lot in past posts as well so it should be of no news to ya.

Anyways, today I sweat a bunch. It was a real scorcher and it wasn't a matter of time before my shirt was soaked. Once I reached that degree of sweatiness, the constant cooling effect of the sweat was very much welcome.

However, though I was wearing a relatively clean postal shirt, I couldn't help but notice that I smelled bad and probably looked pretty hot and miserable as well. I don't mind this stage of acclimation but when it comes to me conversing with others on the route, I feel a little... what's the word... undesirable to be around.

I mean, I'm all sweaty and hot and probably a little smelly--basic b/o smell and sweat smell. I feel my main issue with this is when I encounter a pretty lady on the route. I guess I just have to bear with it though till cooler weather comes along.

Who knows, maybe ladies don't mind a sweaty, overheated (and sometimes stinky) mailman delivering their mail? I can only hope!

Welcome to Paradise

Last week was especially long. And hectic. The days after a holiday are always rough--they are similar to Mondays except more people tend to be off of work, thus creating more work for those working that day. You see, people like to take their days off around a holiday to obviously create more time for them to be off work.

Anyways, to make the day rougher, I was put on a route I never did before. Actually, I did deliver on it before but that was before the route got "modified" recently. Therefore, the route was in a sense, a brand new route full of new twists and turns and variations. I made it through that route OK, but I was then given another two hours worth of mail for another route I've never done before.

Long story short I broke my record for longest day worked at the post office--12.5 hours. Yowch!

My shirts aren't getting any cleaner, either. Still all grubby and the like--hopefully I get to order some new uniforms and stuff with my uniform allotment soon!

Oh, and we gotta start at 7:35am on Mondays now instead of 8am. Tis nice, cause in theory we will get home earlier and be less restricted by deadlines. In the past however carriers have started at 7:30am, so why that extra five minutes? Haha, it makes absolutely no sense to me. I'm sure there is some logic behind all of it, but who knows.