What's mildly irritating you today?

[SamIam]

So, I went in for my interview for paper delivery lady this AM. Another hopeful aspirant for the job arrived a bit after I did, so we shot the breeze while we waited. Turned out that he has a family - wife and two small sons - and all he's been able to find around town is a part time job - 20 hours at minimum wage. I felt really bad for him and almost just split to give him a better shot at the job.

But then I thought, "Heck, I'm an old lady with a bad back, and he's a young, strong kid. No contest." So, I went into the interview anyway, since I was already there.

Tell you what - that publishing company is run by a bunch of vultures. They told me up front that it takes 7 hours to deliver all the papers - at least while you're learning the route - but the current delivery guy who is quitting does the whole route in 3 hours.

The paper pays a flat $90.00/week for 3 - 7 hours of work, 4 nights a week. The mileage adds up to about 200 miles/week.

Let's see. If I'm super girl, I only need to work 12 hours/week. My truck gets around 20 mpg which comes to 10 gallons of gas per week if I don't get lost or anything and add extra miles. Gas is roughly $4.00/gal around here, so that's $40.00/wk, leaving me with $50 remaining. $50/12 = $4.17/hour and that's if I can fly through the route like a bat out of hell. As for wear and tear on the truck? Whatever.

This is what happens if you live in a small town with 13% unemployment and in the middle of nowhere.

There's no help for it. I've got to get it together and move to Durango where they have real jobs that probably even pay the minimum wage. Housing is a bitch, but I could always go camp on the forest service land which is right outside of town.

I have to break my financial impasse SOMEHOW!