8/10/10

The following conversation took place this afternoon in Saginaw, Michigan.  I was making the first of my two deliveries in that town.  As I wrapped up the stop, I wheeled the pallet jack toward a storage trailer with pallets of empty milk crates in it.

Kroger Dairy Girl:  Oh, you're taking more empties?

Me: Yeah, I have room for two more (pallets).

KDG:  Cool, I thought you were done.

Me: Nah, I only have one more stop to make so I can get a couple more in there.

KDG: Some of the guys don't like to take the empties.

Me: Probably just trying to get out as quickly as they can.

KDG: But some of the guys do everything for me.  They put the milk in the cooler and everything.

Me: Yeah.

KDG:  One guy even asks for me when I'm not here.  I don't know what that's all about.  Kinda weird.

Me: I'm pretty sure I know what that's about.

KDG: What?

Me: Nothing.  All set.  That's seven pallets in, nine out, and two left.

KDG: Oh, okay.

Go ahead detectives.  Which detail did I leave out? 

I failed to mention, of course, that the dairy girl was about 21 years old and smoking hot.  I may not have told you this part of the tale in advance, but you can bet your ass that she knows it.  And yet it's as if she just can't figure out why some old pervert delivering milk will do whatever she asks of him. So I must inquire - why do you broads out there feel the need to act out the coy routine?  I'm pretty sure that these pretty girls take classes on how to get whatever they can out of whatever sucker guys come along.  Yet they still need to hear someone else say it to them, just for kicks.  Stupid.  (In completely unrelated news: I've had a sketchy past when it comes to dating smoking hot girls.  For some reason it never seems to last very long.  Go figure.)

When I walked into work this morning, I was scheduled for those two stops in Saginaw and nothing more, at least as far as I knew.  Of course we shouldn't be surprised that things had changed though.  Just a way of life at this gig of mine.  I still had the two stops in Saginaw, as noted during the little anecdote above.  In addition, I would have a second run with one stop in Flint and another in Owosso.  So my pay for the day went from its scheduled $138.27 to a more robust $288.50.  Two-stop loads are far more easy than three-stop loads though, and the bulk of today's pay came from the lengthy mileage involved, so it turned out to be a pretty easy afternoon and evening for me.  The electric pallet jack in Owosso had been repaired and everything.  Even with a stop in Grand Blanc for some dinner, I wrapped up the whole day within twelve hours of starting.  Good deal.

I got the news about my brakes from the auto shop in Lincoln Park this afternoon.  Pretty much what I had expected.  The pads are worn and the rotors are rusted pretty badly, so it's an all-around remove and replace job.  The seasonal weather patterns here in Michigan can be pretty dramatic and my car had been left to sit for weeks at a time over the last four years.  Without regular use, it comes as no surprise to me that various metal parts would begin to rust.  I wasn't terribly concerned about the cost, as I told you yesterday.  It was just about what I anticipated.  I had, however, been hoping to get the car back today.  No such luck.  The car will ll be ready tomorrow afternoon and my pull time for tomorrow is 11:30am, so it'll be another day of getting chauffered around.  Bummer.

Tomorrow's trip will take me to Saginaw, Bridgeport, and Frankenmuth.  I'm not familiar with any of the locations in question, so here's hoping for a day that goes as smoothly as today went.  In point of fact, let's go ahead and hope that they replace the milk run with a trip to Grand Rapids or Indianapolis.  That would be even better.