12 days in

So I've been on the job for 12 days now, and it's getting easier, quicker, and more routine-like. Apart from the questionable hours, it's not bad. I figured that I should share some of the more interesting points. There are less savoury aspects to the job, like rain for example. And drunk people who think that all they need to do to get a free paper on their way home is act obnoxiously to the delivery person. But hey, I just tell them to stick around for a couple of hours until I'm done, and then they'll get whatever's left over. That usually gets them moving, but yesterday a newly graduated student still in his hat actually stayed put, for two frickin' hours! So I gave him a copy of Skånska Dagbladet (translates roughly into Farmer Joe's Redneck Gazette), which was all I had left (I keep the good papers for myself).

Another thing that annoys me is this old fart who has phoned in several times and complained that I don't stick his paper all the way through his mail slot. Pisses me off. I'm trying here, but If you have a slot that is A: too thin for the paper to go through unharmed and B: has a frickin' box attached to it so the papers will hit the box and get stuck, instead of falling into it, well, he only has himself to blame here. I've explained this to the people over at customer services, who take those calls, and they told me that the previous people on my route had the same problem. So I didn't think more of it. Until the dude actually ambushed me this morning! Thunk, the paper gets stuck again and I start to move on. Seconds later, the door flies open, and the guy comes out shouting at me to learn to do my job and shove his paper through properly (I wanted to offer to shove that damn paper somewhere else, but didn't). He said that he complained all the time, but that no-one ever did anything about it. I explained that it is impossible to stick it through properly, because of the box on the back of the door. "Oh no, that's for the paper to fall into, so it doesn't get dirty," he says. "Well, it doesn't work, sorry," I reply. And then he tells me to just fiddle more with it, so it falls down. I do this with other papers who have committment issues, but it does not work here. I usually use my fingers to do this, since the papers are generally almost in there. The other day I used my (plastic) pen to try to wiggle the paper trough, and the inner flap of the geezer's mail slot came down with such force that it snapped my pen in half. So no, I'm classifying this guy's slot as a work hazard. I told him that if he kept on complaining about this, and the mail slot keeps giving me attitude, I'm allowed to just leave the paper on the door step, which shut him up. Bastard. He added another 10 minutes to the time until which I had to stay awake.

My list of subscribers gets updated every day, with additions and cancellations, and these are effective immediatly. If you cancel your subscription, the newspaper's subscriptions department sends the info to my peeps at the head office, who print out a list of changes and sticks it to one of my packets of papers. Immediate effect. One lady had trouble with that, and left a note on her mail slot: "I've cancelled my subscription, but I would still like to get a paper today, since I'm going on vacation tomorrow." Please lady, if I give you a copy of that paper, it means I don't have any extras left, (which, if nothing goes wrong, is my copy). We work quickly, don't cancel the damn paper until you leave.

I also have a message to anyone who lives in a fifth-floor apartment and is the only person in the building who subscribes to a newspaper. Please stop. Have some frickin' compassion. I have one courtyard where there are three five-stories, all with one subscriber each, at the top. Half-way up the third stairwell, I'm ready to collapse. Don't get me wrong, I can do it, it's just that I feel like I'm gonna puke and never walk again when I'm done with those houses.

So tonight's the night. Will Ferrell at 7PM. He's coming here! To Lund! To give a... "lecture", I suppose... I have no idea what he's gonna be talking about, but it will probably be funny.

Peace out and all that.
/Mats