1/30 Two Steps Back

I'm having a hard time staying focused writing this post. I'm so angry at the whole wage situation. Today Jolly Green told me that other drivers aren't refusing to route deliveries early and as reward to them he is allowing them to take whole deliveries while checked in. He says they are getting more money on their paycheck that way. All I hear is that he's penalizing me for being a stickler about being on the correct pay-rate all the time.

I'm also frustrated because I thought I was getting somewhere. I thought I had convinced at least a few other drivers that cheating the system was cheating them, but it looks like Jolly Green has undermined that. I thought we had this sorted out. Now I'm going to have to go to our district manager and complain and hope that I don't get in too much trouble... and I really don't want to get Jolly Green or El Jefe in trouble either; they're working with the system and de-facto policies that are there... that are above their heads to change. But I can't help but see this as them having less integrity than I do. They probably see it as being realists while I am being a pain-in-the-ass idealist. Maybe I am.

There was also some drama about me asking off for Super Bowl Sunday. I didn't realize that the date that I asked off and the Super Bowl were on the same day. I like football but not enough to pass up money to watch it; really, it's my turn to keep the kids on a Sunday. He threatened to write me up if I called in. I panicked, begged my grandparents who live 3 hours away to come watch them, figured out I don't have to work till 4, and calmed down a bit... but I'm still resentful of Jolly Green for not being understanding about things beyond my control.

There were good things today, I swear:

• I delivered to a non-profit that tipped me $13 on a $95 order. They were super-nice. I Googled the organization and they provide matching services for families and foster-children who have emotional or behavioral problems. Now I know why there were so many children in the office that I delivered to. They looked like happy children.
• A customer was not only very forgiving but also very generous when it was discovered that I only had $16 in change but owed them $18. They didn't care that I forced a $2 tip on them and they threw in another 5 on top of it.

I made $44 off of (I think) 8 deliveries. That makes an average tip of $4.29, helped greatly by my two Gold Star tippers.

Oh yeah, just realized I marked all of today's prep as 1/29. FML