As I wind down my tenure as a "media distribution specialist" (or, in layman's terms, "paper boy"), I will have to show the people who will be taking over my routes exactly what the route entails. For the entire time I have had these routes, I have had one route that was hard to fill before I got there, and will be hard to keep filled after. Yesterday, I had to show the young lady who is considering the route what to do.

Now, to get up to date with this story, I'm going to have to take you back a week. I got paid for August's deliveries on September 11, and because of the additional expenses incurred in August, I was short gas money, and had to get an advance from the newspaper. The agreement was that I would pay them after I cashed my September check.

By the time September 11 came around, I was mulling another job offer, having had the benefit of advance notice that I would be offered the job. Although it would entail a cut in pay, it offers better long term potential, both in the extremely attractive scheduling (7 days on, 7 off), and in the possibilities of career advancement (even if you're the number 1 paper boy, you're still a paper boy....err...MDS). Well, I went in to get my check last Monday and was informed that I would need to repay the advance before I got the check. Trouble is, I was depending on the check to repay the advance per our arrangement. Long story short, I got it taken care of, but I left the office with my mind made up about the job change. I had to wait, though, until the "official" offer was on the table.

Back to yesterday. As we were going about the route, the lady grew less and less enthused as she saw the length of the route. The prospect of driving 48 miles of rural roads per day has a tendency to do that to a person. By the end of the route, it was pretty clear sh was planning to politely turn down the route, meaning this long, tedious, and low paying route may go unfilled for a spell. After two years of the cruddy attitude of the "paper nazis", while I'm not going to flat out gloat about their possible impending misfortune, I still can't help but feel a little vindicated.

Oh, that and...the pay cut for the job change isn't going to be as bad as I thought. I'm starting at $1.00 an hour over what I was quoted. Who says nice guys always finish last?