For those of you who remember rising before the crack of dawn, or were chased by dogs, or who struggled against windy and rainy days and also had to pay for the windows you broke…all to deliver the morning paper, this blog post is for you you.
I had an overly large response to a post I wrote a few weeks ago on the subject of work ethic which got me thinking about my own life and why I feel so strongly on the subject. I struggle mightily with lazy people or people who put things off until the bitter end and as you probably can guess, I tend to be the opposite of these types and therefore get frustrated when I see this behavior. That being said, why do I feel the way I do about work ethic? Where does one learn work ethic? I wrote in my first post that work ethic must be taught in the home with our children. They need to see you up in the morning (or whatever shift you work) and doing what you have to make ends meet around your house…That being said, even though we grow up with strong parents who are an example that still doesn’t guarantee you, or your children will have a strong work ethic. Like me, you probably can trace your work ethic back to another person who you respected or maybe, like me, it was the job…
My time as a Paperboy taught me work ethic. When I was a kid, my brother and I both got paper routes at the same time. My brother took one in the afternoon and I took the one in the morning. He didn’t particularly like getting up early and frankly neither did I, but for some reason, I could do it so I accepted. My brother didn’t last very long working his route, but I have to say I think I may have quit to with his circumstances because his route consisted mainly of apartment buildings and people were always moving out and not paying him. Back then, when that happened, the paperboy always got screwed. Me, well I ended up having a paper route for all 4 years of high school. It gave me spending money and bought my first car, but it did require me to get up, everyday, 365 days a year, at 4 am to fold, load my bike, and ride 15 miles on my paper bike to deliver to 115 customers.
Now you ask, how could an early morning paper route, teach you work ethic? I thought I would list some of the good and bad things I recall about being a paperboy below just to give you an idea of the “everyday” with an explanation after.
Early Morning Wake up
I think I mentioned the early mornings earlier. 4 am was required to have the necessary time to fold all of the papers, load and deliver them to 115 doors, or in some cases, specific areas on their porch so they didn’t have to look for it. Then I would come home, shower and get ready for school, pretty much all before 7am. Getting up everyday forged inside of me a necessity to just get the job done quickly and correctly so I could forget about it for 24 hours until the following morning. Saturday mornings were great too because I could come home and sleep some more…and that was a luxury. Bottom line, I look back on 4 am risings and realized I must have really wanted that car…
Over Sleeping and Panic
Along those same lines as above was the panic rattling on my bedroom window by my paper manager when I overslept…and that happened occasionally. When the reality of that moment would set in, the immediate panic would also come. We have all overslept so you can relate. How am I going to accomplish my morning routine with 1 less hour to work with? I always found though, that as long as I kept myself cool, controlled and efficient, I was usually able to make the deliveries happen in time and still make school. That was a HUGE lesson…
Paperboy Economics
Part of my job as the paperboy was to collect the money at the end of the month. I had a receipt book I would fill out with
115 names on it and what they owed, then I would have to come home from school and go out in the evenings on my bike and collect. This either went well or not. Sometimes, I would never catch people home but yet my bill was due to be paid by the 5th so if I couldn’t collect enough what was a paperboy to do?…sound familiar right now? Sometimes I would have to discuss the latest broken window, or the fact that their dog was chasing me or…every now and then…they would give me and extra dollar or two for a job well done…I liked that. In fact, if you wanted your paper in a certain spot each morning, and were willing to give me an extra couple bucks or maybe even a Christmas bonus…no problem. I learned the value of effort will convert itself into money, people just have to get to know you…
Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
Sometimes, I found that simply by being the only one up, very early in the morning, I was just guilty. Blame it on the paperboy! That was never more true than one Saturday morning on my way home at the end of my route. I was peddling my Schwinn Heavy Duty, 55 lb paper bike with reinforced steel forks and wheels when all of a sudden 3 police cars converged on me from all directions. In a matter of moments, I was up against a car, being searched with literally no information as to “why” from any of them. Turns out, there was a complaint of a peeping tom and I was the prime suspect although they were not talking at the time. After a few scary moments on my part, they gave me the aforementioned reason and said, “sorry kid” and left in a “police” hurry…I learned a valuable lesson that day, take a different route home the next day…No…Seriously, don’t panic, things WILL work themselves out.
Paperboy Summary
You have heard the expression that “youth is wasted on the young” well in my example, that wasn’t necessarily the case. My time as a paperboy taught me many lessons that have served me well long into adulthood although at the time, I had no idea. I look back on the rainy mornings, or the Sunday paper which was so big, I had to stop and fold papers half way through again, or the same hills over and over again…everyday and I think why did I do that? What made me do that less than thankful, very hard job for 4 years?
I said YES…and where I come from your word, well…it means everything…
My time as a paperboy taught me work ethic…what taught you?
Well that is my experience with work ethic from my youth, what is yours? I would be interested in hearing them…
Until next time guys…
