Sympathy Factor

I ran into 2 old co-workers of mine today around town. It was odd bumping into 2 of them on the same day after not seeing them for 2 years. They both complained about their jobs and all the over-time and told me how jealous they were at my success since leaving the plant. Then it was my turn to tell them that it has not been successful at this point and that I was trying to go back to work for months now.

Both of them seemed more upset than me like I was the Indian who escaped from the asylum in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and they needed to believe that they could escape some day as well. They both told me that they could find me a lot of work in their neighborhoods and took 70 flyers from me to distribute in their areas. One even posted about me on his Facebook page.

So, I guess I have some elves out there trying to get me back on top instead of seeing me go back to work. It really felt like it was important to them that I succeed for their own sake. I never expected that angle in marketing, but if it helps, I will certainly be happy with it. Otherwise, I am scheduled to test for a postal carrier job on Monday. I would never in a million years thought I would ever say that, but it is the best job I can find in my area. People seem to either like the job or despise it with nothing in-between. I like it on paper just for the benefits, being out on foot for much of the day, and I can salvage some of military years towards retirement.

The test is mainly basic stuff, but there is a section on sorting / coding that is all memorization and causes 90% to fail. With my old brain, I will likely fail in epic fashion, but it is worth a shot to give me options.

Good luck

Hi there, why are you looking for another job exactly? hope you don't mind me asking.

theecoguy wrote:Hi there, why are you looking for another job exactly?  hope you don't mind me asking.

Market is dead in my area...no idea why. Cleaning companies are going under all around me and volume is down 82% so far this year. Just trying to avoid being another casualty.

Well, good luck Bob, I know the benefits for postal workers are really good and your areas don’t get too hot in the summer, and seems like you’re okay with running in the cold weather so delivering mail ( if that’s what they assign you to ) should be a piece of cake for you.
One thing you should know though, in my area mail carriers are required to bring the scanner gun that are trackables, so he can’t talk to me for too long, he said that his supervisor will start paging him if he is standing still in one spot for longer than 2 minutes.

Nice to see your former co workers putting the word out. Good luck with that job just don't go postal on us

With regards to the sympathy factor. I had this elderly lady lay it on me pretty thick last Friday. She told me she was on a budget , it was her 70th birthday, she lived alone, her husband passed away etc...

Well, business picked up a little, but still not enough. I am scheduled for an interview with the post master on Tuesday, so I guess I have 2 people to win out over to get it.

Funny thing though, this might actually work out better than expected. Not only did the postmaster turn out to be a customer of mine, but can you think of a better way to research neighborhoods than delivering their mail? If it goes well, the job will send me to all towns within 50 miles from the home office at times, so I will get some great intel on areas that I have never done business in before.

I would think that after a few months of doing that, I might be able to break into new markets and be better able to target familiar ones....all while being paid to do it. By next Spring, it might pay off really well.

As for this season, I am not expecting much recovery. The complete loss of any kind of Spring was a very hard hit. I just spoke to another fellow cleaner 20 miles away from me that will be closing down after 35 years in business in this area due to the same problem. It is like the dust bowl around here for cleaners and it happened so suddenly that nobody saw it coming. I guess I will have to start thinking like a farmer and just keep mumbling about "next year".

It's really bad there Rob. A lot of residential business it linked tonrhe real estate market. Is inventory and house sales are low iys going to have an impact. The rental market has boomed here so renters are staying put cause it's so dam expensive to buy.

As the old saying goes "How bad is it?". Well, I had a call from one customer to clean his stairs...only. I told him that I had a truck minimum and that was the end of his interest. Nobody is cleaning around here...even the guys with the "special water" stopped their radio ads.

Now I know how the dinosaurs felt...boom, dead.