Noreen Manvell

Monday is like Sunday

June 28, 2008 on 11:07 am | In Work |

Our days of the week are not the same as normal people’s days. Our week seems like it has 3 Sundays, and what stinks is that we don’t get Sundays off.

On everyone else’s Saturday we are going into work to handle the Sunday newspaper. The paper comes in different sections, usually around 5, that are delivered throughout the week and throughout the morning on Saturday. All except for the headlines, which still get printed at the latest possible minute - usually around 11:00 pm - and are sent out on trucks to arrive at the depot around 2:00 am.

On Saturday we have workers go in early to put together the sections that have been delivered already, to give the carriers a head start on bagging or bundling the full paper when the headlines arrive. Then, Saturday night/Sunday morning we put the inserts with the headlines and head out on the routes. The Sunday paper is so much bigger than the weekday paper, and we have so many more subscribers that take just the Sunday paper, AND we have a lot of locations that get a big bump on the number of Sunday papers that they sell that we have to bring in extra people to work and by the time we are finished everyone is exhausted.

On Sunday we have to handle complaints from the subscribers and redelivery requests, so we are again handling the Sunday paper. To be honest, we are usually so sick of looking at the Sunday paper while handling it at the depot and delivering it that we don’t even read the Sunday paper at home on Sunday. It’s more important to try to get some sleep, and we often grab a long nap in the afternoon. Since most places close early on Sundays if they are open at all we don’t get much done on Sundays.

Then on Monday, after we get back from handling the Monday paper and get a morning nap, we can actually relax a little. We might go out for a late breakfast and then actually read the Sunday paper. We might take the dogs to the park or try to get a few groceries or run some easy errands, and we’ll have an early dinner followed by an hour or two of TV, then it’s back to bed for a few hours.

So that’s why I feel like we have three Sundays each week.