The other day, Chicky and I spent some time catching up over the phone, and she told me that she’d recently made $50.
How?
She and a teammate had spent four hours scraping glue off of a floor. They were helping someone prepare to lay new flooring, and the glue had to be scraped off.
When she’d agreed to the task, she didn’t know exactly what it entailed.
Nevertheless, she and her teammate worked hard and earned accolades from the person in charge. She also earned that $50, which, for the record, she’s now going to have to put toward the purchase of a new phone because “someone” wasn’t using her phone cover. Add to the record that this is the third screen that’s been cracked. *ahem*
Anyhoo, I digress, as usual.
Her hard work reminded me of a task I signed up for years and years ago when Chicky was in kindergarten and Rooster was about four years old.
I was a stay-at-home mom back then, and we lived in an apartment complex. I met my best friend when she moved into the third floor apartment…two floors up from me. She had a daughter smack dab in the middle of my children’s ages, so we all got along marvelously.
Money was tight back then. We were definitely living hand-to-mouth, even with no credit card balances or mortgage payment.
That is why I jumped at the chance to earn some money. It was a job that was temporary, and my best friend agreed to watch the kids while I worked for a couple of afternoons.
What was the job?
It was…
Hold on to your hats…
Delivering phone books.
I think the ad looked something like this…
After attending an orientation/training session, I was all signed up.
The way it worked was that you were assigned an area close to where you lived. This was back when I lived in Broward County. It’s in south Florida and HUGE!
What you did was you went to the main facility, picked up your load of phone books along with your list of addresses, and delivered the books.
Sounds easy, eh?
Yeah.
Right.
I think that someone loaded the books into my car. I had to make several trips because I did not have an SUV. I stacked those phone books under the storage space by my apartment’s door. The storage space was created by the steps leading up to the second floor. You can imagine, I’m sure.
The first area I was assigned was a residential neighborhood.
It wasn’t too bad, at first.
I had to look at my list, grab the correct number of phone books, and drop them at the door. Some houses had quite a few depending on the number of separate phone lines registered to them.
As the hours slowly ticked by, my angst grew, along with my fatigue and the amount of grime under my nails and all over my hands.
It was the middle of the summer.
Have I mentioned that this was in south Florida?
Oh.
My.
I finally got the neighborhood done and maintained some shred of dignity even as kids rode their bikes past me and made fun of the phone book delivery girl.
I’ve never thrown a book at a kid before, but I’ll admit that I came mighty close. They were good targets riding by like that. That was back in my 20’s when I was buff and in shape. I probably could have hit one or two.
heehee
I returned for my next list and scratched my head a bit at the addresses on it.
This was the day before GPS and Google Maps.
Then, I realized something.
The list was for…
Get this…
My apartment complex.
I kid you not.
Guess what I had to do for an entire day.
Scale those buildings, whose steps were on the outside.
Every building had at least six to eight sets of stairs.
There were only so many phone books I could hold at a time.
Meanwhile, my children were in the air conditioned comfort of my friend’s apartment…visiting the cool pool…while I sweated it out in 90+ degree heat and at least 90-something% humidity.
It was ugly, and my ire grew with every step.
Did I think of quitting?
Nope.
I wanted my paycheck at the end.
Plus, the folks who hired me were randomly calling to spot-check…to ensure that phone books had been delivered properly.
Sigh.
It was one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever done.
And the paycheck?
It was maybe $200.
Peanuts.
When they offered me another list, I told them no thank you. I was ready to go back to eating bon bons on the couch and resume my life as a lazy stay-at-home mom that those who work outside of the home perceive that population to be.
Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: delivery, jobs, work | 1 Comment »
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