Aug3

i cannot believe you are leaving me like this after all we’ve been through together

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just got a handwritten note from my newspaper deliveryman. he said he is ‘quitting the route to move on to something else’,  but that he’s enjoyed our years together. it’s all so sudden, and we have had such a rocky history, but i will miss our odd give and take. 
 
even though we never met each other, we’ve had many interactions over the years. because he is a man, and not a boy, he delivers from his car, early morning, and our ships pass each other in the night. he’s an interesting delivery guy, seems a bit on the lazy or crazy side, and i’d love to know his story. 
 
each morning, while it is still dark out, he drives by to deliver the paper. when delivering, he inevitably is a lazy/bad shot and tosses my paper to the end of my driveway where it slopes and collects water, snow, and whatever other debris that nature has chosen to deposit there.  i’ve emailed and called the paper various times to have them ask him to please just throw it closer to the house, or out of the water zone, etc.  his response time and again, has been to wrap the paper better and throw it 8-12 inches further up the drive.(i have done my mathematical calculations, and have figured out that by the time the next decade rolls around, it should be somewhat close to my house.)  he keeps this up for around 2 weeks generally, and then it’s back to the end of the driveway. one time, he actually drove further up the driveway and threw the paper, but backed into my wooden garden border on the way out, so he must have decided it wasn’t worth the high level of risk involved.
 
there are other times when he’s failed to deliver, or delivered late, and the local manager has had to deliver it himself or i’ve been credited, or he’s said that because there were so many ads, and it took him a long time to put it all together. it was always something with him, but i never gave up hope that over time, he would master the process. (plus he was the only one who delivered the paper in my area.)
 
even after all of this, one of our most memorable experiences has to have been the time i heard an early morning crash in front of my house. my first thought was that i had my car that i was selling parked out front and that the paperman was probably the only one out at that time of day. i soon saw blue flashing lights and answered a knock on my door. it was the police telling me that my paperman had rammed into my car, and that he was calling his paper to get advice. they said he was driving on the wrong side of the road, so that he could deliver the papers and had slammed into my car. now, a few questions went through my head – like why he didn’t notice a car in right in front of him?, was he still out partying from the night before?, etc. 
 
we looked across the dark, towards each other, and that is the closet we ever came to meeting. i called his paper, who agreed to pay for repairs and a rental car. he continued to be my paperman, and each christmas he’d enclose a card in one of the papers, wishing me a happy holiday, thanking me for my business, and enclosing a self-addressed envelope.  i’d always tipped him by mail when getting a bill, and at christmas i’d send him a bonus, as he’d grown on me after all these years, and in spite of his beyond horrible delivery style. and now, it is all over, with just a letter. it ended as suddenly as it all began. i will do my best to move on and i wonder what he has chosen to move on to. 
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‘If there was no Black Sabbath, I could still possibly be a morning newspaper delivery boy. ‘ – Lars Ulrich

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48 responses »

  2. This really unique experience made a great story! I would not have been so kind, tipping as you did and also, forgiving and regretting the end of this relationship. But the newspaper may send another “challenging” individual for you to have a different story to tell. Meanwhile, loved the old fashioned newspaper truck and the wet, soggy, remnants of a newspaper to end the story, too! You are quite able to make the most out of anything!

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  4. My dad would flip out if he had this kind of shoddy newspaper service. My dad relies on the paper exactly at 5am every morning. That’s nice that the guy always enclosed you a self-addressed stamped envelope…great service. I can understand how you formed such a strong bond!!

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  6. Wow I cannot imagine a worse feeling of rejection than that of the paperboy breaking up with you…how LOW can they go,anyway?!
    Least you got a LETTER..ours was the best one ever and he just up and quit..*poof*…GONE. We had to literally call the paper each day to ask for our paper for a month…we blame the paper for his breaking up with us.

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  10. I have to admit, if I delivered papers way before the crack of dawn I wouldn’t too swift either. And the sleepys in my eyes would prevent seeing your car in front of me. Total empathy for the paperman.
    On the other hand, he’d annoy the heck out of me.
    Great slice of your life. Reminds me of the world’s ugliest drive-in hot dog sign. It had a giant face of a boy stuffing a hot dog in his mouth. Each spring the sign got repainted or touched up, and got more garish and eye-blighty. After 40 years, the wooden sign was so rotted they had to take it down. I miss it.
    Thanks for enjoying 1950 Suburban Adventures. Much appreciated. I’ve had fun reading your posts, too.

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  11. I’m sad to hear thst this chapter in your life is ending. I heard so much about him over the years that iI felt that I knew him too.

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  12. I loved this story … to turn the paper delivery into such a wonderful piece of story telling was yahhh *smiles*

    Now, as for Mr. Paper Delivery By Car person … maybe now he will still be working for the same company, but maybe he will now answer customer emails … and send them to cyberspace by mistake … or crash their server … and send you ecards nod nods *smiles*

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  13. I nominated you to receive one of a number of awards on my post, “My Spirits Rise Upon Receiving Awards” where I was nominated for several ones, you may choose one or more to post on your blog. Some people have the ability to follow the rules, you may follow the links to the ones who nominated me. I got fairly overwhelmed, so apologize for this. You are one of only ten I chose to receive a nomination, please check out the others in this nice list of fellow bloggers!

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  15. You are very kind to tip a guy who hit your car! When I complained about my late delivery, the paper man argued that it wasn’t late and then told me to call complaints in directed to him instead of his supervisor. Um, sure…..

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  16. Look at it this way, maybe you will get someone who will actually get the paper by your house. I guess I am lucky that I have two papers delivered daily and for the majority of the time they are right outside my door on the landing. I wish you luck. :)

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  20. Ah, you love to hate the things you love. Can’t say he didn’t make life interesting in the early morning dawn! And I bet you appreciated being able to read the paper when it was intact! Great story :D

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  21. I like what you said “I’d like to know his story.” That is the crux of it for me ;-)
    Our paper attaches a plastic box next to our mailbox and that seems to be a good solution out here in the rainy pacific northwest. Maybe you can suggest such an idea to your paper as they train the new person.

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    • great concept, but our mailboxes are attached to our houses, so he would still have to walk all the way up to put it in there – prob wouldn’t help him in this case )

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