The Pony went back to work on Monday, after 8 weeks healing his broken ankle. In effect, getting back on the horse that threw him. Maybe I'm naive, but I expected The Pony to have a grace period. Like perhaps a week or so of physical therapy. He had six weeks of it with his broken elbow, when he was a child! Not a working man. At the very least, I expected a bit of time for conditioning, to exercise and build up his stamina and get that ankle used to more activity that thumping around in a walking boot a day or two a week to enter Steak N Shake.
Nope. The podiatrist checked the x-ray on Thursday afternoon, asked The Pony when he felt like returning to work, and released him for Monday. At first, I thought the PO was easing The Pony back onto the schedule. I thought wrong.
Monday- 3 hours, because they needed the already-spoken-for LLV they had mistakenly assigned him.
Tuesday- OFF, getting podiatrist paperwork to file for a Workman's Compensation Reconsideration.
Wednesday- 6.5 hours, shared a route with a worker who has a time restriction.
Thursday- 11 hours, normal day.
Friday- 10.5 hours, switched out van with LLV given to someone by mistake, reloaded deliveries.
Saturday- 10 hours, had to help other routes.
The Pony's pay periods start on Saturday, end on Friday. So he's got about 30 hours for his first week back. It affects the double time pay, because he can't get it until a certain amount of hours per week. Except for daily hours over 10. It's confusing, but he understands it.
Anyhoo... The Pony discovered that while he was off, HIS OFFICE STARTED SUNDAY DELIVERY! He's not on the schedule for this Sunday, but all the other CCAs are. He says right now, they are all getting at least one day off per week, but that could change due to the upcoming holiday season. He also said that people tell him Sundays are easier, because it's only packages that they deliver for Amazon.
So... it's not a case of "Out of the frying pan, into the fire." It's more a case of "Out of the pantry, into the Great Chicago Fire." The Pony is right back in the thick of it. He's a bit tired, but otherwise holding up remarkably well.
5 comments:
Maybe he needs to eat extra ice dream and drink extra milk to strengthen his bones, in preparation for future mishaps?
I've heard horror stories about postal employees (in the big city) but it sounds like things are nicer in the country.
Sunday deliveries? Jerry would be whistling out of joy.
Extra deliveries on Sundays? I read in our newspaper today someone-or-other is going on strike over who-knows-what, so our deliveries will be delayed.
I'm glad The Pony is back at work.
Did you know that cabbage has more calcium than dairy products? and Parmesan Cheese has more calcium than all the other cheeses. So feed The Pony stir fries with cabbage and sprinkle parmesan over his meals to build up his bone strength.
Sioux,
That ice cream could be messy when The Pony straps on the ol' feedbag. He has never liked milk, not even chocolate milk. But he IS a big fan of BUTTER. And cheeses.
The Pony said there is one high-up person they are not fond of, but everyone else seems to get along. Even though his quest for his rightful injury pay was thwarted, all personnel treated The Pony nicely during his convalescence.
Sunday deliveries. I might need to keep a close eye on all of our themed sheds... Wait! No I won't, because they are not EMPTY. No room to stash mail. The Pony said that Saturday evening, SEVEN packages were left in a bin. Packages that were the special deliveries that HAD TO BE DONE THAT DAY. He saw the one for his route, and took it out. (Not like THAT took it out, which shocked Elaine.) He figured the other carriers would get in trouble. As far as that goes. A stern talking-to, perhaps... It would probably happen Monday morning, but he doesn't go in until 3:30, unless they find an LLV for him to drive.
***
River,
Sorry about your delayed deliveries. Welcome to MY mail world!
I did not know that fact about cabbage. As our weather gets cooler, I am going to make a big pot of cabbage, sausages, and potatoes. It's delicious with corn muffins. Even if The Pony shuns the cabbage, he will still be getting all the cabbage juice calcium that soaked into the potatoes and sausages. Plus all the butter he'll put in his corn muffins. He buys HIMSELF the good butter. KerryGold. Not margarine. He always gets Parmesan on his fries at Steak N Shake.
My nephew started as a rural carrier shortly before bring home COVID to my sister, then claiming he had no idea she might have COVID and waiting for her lung to collapse before getting her medical help ... Now that she is gone that umbilical cord has finally been cut! This was her golden child, the child she had such high expectations for. He hopped from job to job until he finally completed a Pharmacy Tech course and reached the pinnacle of his success in his late 40's. He got employment at a hospital in a nearby small town with benefits and everything. Finally able to somewhat pull his own weight and take care of his child that my sister had legal custody of, life seemed to be working out for him. He quit the good job to work at the privately owned pharmacy in the small (very small) town he lives in where everybody knew my sister and her estranged husband, whose dallience with another "lady" split the residents in half, choosing sides between the two. Everyone knew her business (would make me crazy). Her estranged husband died, leaving everything to the two sons, nothing for my sister, despite the fact that they never divorced. The only thing he did for her was to stipulate that she could live in either residence for as long as she chose or until she died. She chose son #1, of course, because of the one and only grandchild who was the light of her life. He secretly married his second wife, a drug addict, about 20 years younger than him and she promptly began taking the granddaughter along with her to "parties". She got her hooked on drugs and they both went to rehab. My sister never shared her burden with me. I would have listened and not offered my thoughts unless solicited. It would have been hard because I have really good advice, like telling her she needed to let her boys face the cnsequences of their mistakes. Oh, yeah, and cutting that cord! He lost his job, it is frowned upon to steal oppoids for your wife, but the druggist allowed him to quit out of respect for my sister and he was able to secure employment with the post office. His brother got arrested as a young man for meth production and distribution. She solicited a favor from a judge she knew (NOT like that) and he was released and sent to Rehab. Didn't do him any favors, though. The second time had her family caught up in a huge statewide scandal when her helpful judge was brought up on charges for misappropriation of funds. He served his time and when he got out he changed his ways and walks the straight and narrow now. Says his experience in lock up taught him the lesson he needed. JoeJoe, the idiot child has not learned anything in his 50 plus years. He has never applied for a loan, never boght a vehicle, never had to pay bills. When we were leaving his house that his Daddy left to him, I looked at HeWho has always taken care of me and asked if we should have enlightened my nephew about things like property taxes. to which he replied, "No, let him figure it out." Sorry for this long story that I cannot blog about because it would embarrass my sister's memory, but she has been weighing heavy on my heart of late. Lucky you! My nephew si so dumb that he was filling a prescription in the hospital where my Dad, his grandfather was a patient and was amazed that the patient had the exact same name as his granddaddy. He never ut it together until he was telling my sister about it and she told him that it was his granddaddy. Schultze is not a common name in the south!
Kathy,
OH NO! I hope The Pony isn't headed down this path! It's such a long path, and he has a recently-broken ankle! I hope the post office isn't a "gateway employment" kind of thing! On the other hand, another of Farmer H's sons has already completed about half this kind of journey, though having nothing to do with mail delivery or legal drugs...
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