Through the Eyes of a Delivery Goddess |
|
|
As a continuation of a part of yesterday's installment of Curbside Etiquette, I thought I'd tell you about people who actually BORROW someone else's paper. And yes, it DOES happen!!! I have a street where all of the mailboxes are on one side of the street. At each post, there is a mailbox for the resident on the left side, and a mailbox for the resident on the right. One morning, Mrs. M called me to ask if I'd bring her a paper, she didn't seem to have one from this morning. I said I would - even though I knew I'd delivered one. The next morning, I got the same call. She is a smart woman, she said she couldn't believe I'd have missed her two days in a row... she knew that, if I (or anyone else) had missed her one day, I'd be certain NOT to miss her the next day, and I agreed. I took her a paper the second day, too. As I got to her mailbox the third day, it occured to me that the subscription for the folks across the street had expired two days earlier, and I wasn't giving them a paper any more. For kicks, I decided to only give Mrs. M her paper to see what happened. Again, she called me, very frustrated. I told her I thought I knew what was going on, so I would throw the paper in her front yard for a few days, and ask the Post Gazette to send the neighbors a bill. If they pay it, I'll resume their delivery and put both papers in the tubes under the mailboxes. If not - I'd throw it in Mrs. M's yard for a week or two until they got the message that the paper wasn't theirs. On the fourth day - and yes folks, there is a fourth day to this story - she said that she'd had a rough night, and was actually awake to see me toss the paper into her yard that night, but was in no mood to walk outside at that time of night. She said she was eighty years old, and needed more than just a few minutes to get herself outside in the mornings. By the time she woke from her nap on the couch, it was daylight. She looked outside again, but both papers were gone - my Post Gazette and the other carrier's Tribune Riview. She put her clothes and shoes on - took a few aspirin, got something to eat and marched over to the neighbor's. She said, "Would you have happened to pick up my papers this morning?" (knowing they were in her YARD, not just at the mailbox like before). The woman said, "Yes, and I'm not done with it yet" ... and slammed the door in her face. Befuddled, she walked back across the street and couldn't wait to call me to tell me what had just happened. UNBELIEVABLE. I started giving a paper to the neighbors reguardless, I mean, if they have the nerve to walk into someone else's yard and pick up the paper, I suppose I can afford to give them a paper to save the sanity of a very pleasant, paying customer. I had the office bill them, and they paid, but we've kept our eyes on them since. Mrs. M called me a few months later and said that they'd also taken her recycle bin; she had to go to the municipal building and buy another one. Hmph!!! My Tribune Review manager told me about a customer one of his other carriers had, after I'd expressed EXTREME frustration with one of my customers that I KNEW I'd given a paper to.. I had even called Harry on the phone and said, "Harry, I'm putting 4923's paper in their tube RIGHT NOW"... and they still called the paper in missing that morning. Harry said he was having a similar problem on another route several years ago. He went as far as staking out the house one morning, just to make sure the carrier really DID deliver the paper. He watched the carrier drive up the steep drieway, get out of the car and walk up about a dozen steps to the porch, and stuck the paper in the screen door handle. About two hours later, Harry said a young fellow from the house next door, walked across the yards, took the paper out of the gentleman's door, got in his car, and went to work. Harry called the customer later in the morning and told him what he'd seen. The old man had a few choice words, then finally admitted ... "That's my son! I can't believe he's been taking my paper and not telling me. He got a new job two weeks ago, and that's when all of my problems started - I would never have guessed that HE was the problem! Just wait until he gets home tonight!!" They eventually sent the son a bill, and he started to get his own paper delivered. Honestly, I'm just BORROWING your paper! |