Forever Is Not Always Forever?

Okay, so everybody knows that I'm doing the courier thing--going to different banks (mostly in Schuylkill Cty) and delivering/picking up their mail and other items. In recent weeks (I'd say since March at least), I've also been given two pharmacies to deliver items to as well. Seems the normal guy on the route (Charlie) was diverted to Allentown to run a pharm route before starting the one that begins, conveniently for me, in Hamburg. So, with Charlie requiring extra time in the morning before starting his Hamburg run, I was given the first two stops on the run (again, both in Hamburg) which was okay since it added no miles to speak of but gave me an extra $16/day. However, it also meant having to wake up around 630am instead of my usual 8am. Quite the difference, no?

I'm not a morning person so this "temporary" (for that is what Marsha, the head dispatcher, told me) pharm thing didn't sit too well with me. Now I was up to 9+hours of work a day instead of 7-1/2 hrs. Well, after two weeks or so back when this began, I finally asked Marsha how long I would need to do the pharm stops. "Forever and ever," came her response. Bwa?! I said, "I thought you said this was only temporary." Well, I don't recall her response but apparently as long as Charlie had to cover Allentown (the original driver was out of the picture for some reason) then I needed to cover the Hamburg stops so Charlie wouldn't get behind.

Well, it made sense but, as an independent contractor, it didn't make me happy that this decision was arbitrarily made without my consent. Time passed and I grew accustomed to the extra ~$80/week but never to getting up early. Today, however, I learned that "Forever and ever" might not be so. Charlie, who I see everyday, said the big boss said he had some relief lined up for the Allentown route. This tells us that Charlie will be back to his Hamburg route soon and then I can go back to sleeping in and staying up later. At least I hope so. At this place, the old axiom, "I'll believe it when I see it," applies in spades.

More news as it becomes available. Stay tuned!