Corning Wineglass Marathon

    I got a chance to watch the Wineglass Marathon today. I must have taken over 500 pictures, showing the young and old,Some did the half marathon and some did the full,  some were there to compete while others just wanted to say they did it. . The first guy in on the half must have been at least 15-20 minutes ahead of everyone. In most of my pictures the runners would smile for the camera, I had some stop for a pose before finishing the race, they were just having fun. I got a big thank you for coming out to support them as they ran by. I saw at least ten friends, family and customers while I was there and I got most of their pictures. I sometimes want to get out there and do it but, to try running after I have walked all day just doesn't motivate me. You never know I might surprise you next year, just to say "I did it!!"

Gregg

Do you recognize these people?? I know a few of them.

First place half marathon.

Stopped for a shot.

I didn,t recognize the guy in the beard until he said something to me.

Al
 

 



Kirsten

Missy

Courtney

    All of the pictures will be on Facebook to view.If you see yourself or a friend get a hold of me, since they are in a small format. I will send you the full size in order to print larger sizes. Also if you know some of the people, tag them for me, this way they can see them. Here is my photobucket link of them:  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3833346520023.2142869.1468714655&type=3
     I also had Kathleen Ricardson shooting pics with me. So, if you see similar pictures you will know why.

 



To my surprise!!

     I had been on vacation for two weeks and one of our part time employees was delivering my route. There were no big complaints and I don't worry too much about the mistakes, we all make them. As I was getting to the end of my route I was delivering to an apartment complex which had six buildings in it. I had cut over to start the third building and was almost to the end when I heard the next door I was to deliver open. When I got to the door a well rounded girl in her twenties and only about five foot was standing in front of me in a slinky teddy. When she saw me she realized it wasn't who she expected and screamed. " Oh my God!! You're not the mailman that was here all week!!!" As she is saying this she slams the door shut, I blurted out quietly "Amen!".  I confronted the substitute the next day and explained what happened. He couldn't stop laughing and said she had been hitting on him and trying to get him to go out with her all week and thanked me for saving him.
     Since this is a short story I decided to tell you one of my favorite Postman jokes:                                                                                                  



 

 





It was a rainy day so, I decided to sit at Donnas Restaraunt and have lunch. 

 

     I was walking down the street one day dragging my right leg, around the corner an older man was walking toward me dragging his left leg. We met up at the corner and sized each other up. He says grabbing his leg. "Land mine Vietnam 1965 tore it up good. How about you??" I looked at him and tried not to laugh and said grabbing my leg." Dog crap 2 blocks back!!"

Race day Sunday



Glasses for the runners

Injury time!!

     I try to be as careful as possible out on my route. But, I haven't been lucky all the time. I have sprained my ankles around 3 time each foot, slipped on ice many times, tripped and fell.( mail never failed to fly everywhere) I have sliced my fingers and knuckles on the mail and the mail boxes.
     The funniest thing I had ever done and mind you it hurt like hell, was leaving one house and looking down at the mail. I looked up to get my sense of direction and As I did I got blinded by the sun reflecting off of the camper I was approaching. Instead of stopping to gain my sight back, I kept walking forward. I didn't realize I had  moved to the left and as I took a few more steps I caught the overhang of the camper. It had hit my head right at the hairline and skinned me. (More like scalped me) I wasnt bleeding too bad, it just hurt.  I had gotten to the other side of the street and one of my customers came out and asked if I needed a cold wash cloth. She handed me a cloth with ice in it and was trying not to laugh. She finally told me she watched the whole thing and it was quite funny.(Now I was embarassed.) After it healed I now have a balled spot to show for it. LOL

      I only got stung by bees once.( which was enough) I had put mail in a box and pushed the lid down and as I did I upset a small nest of white face hornets.  I didn't see them coming and before I knew it they had gotten into my shirt from the front. Before I could get them I had been stung about a dozen times. I also had my shirts off swatting the bees. People that saw me must of thought I was crazy. One of my customers called my Postmaster and she came out to get me. We treated the stings and I went back to work. Tough as nails I am!!

Why Is my mailman late???

     I have heard this question a million times over the years " why is our mail late??" I hate to break the bad news, the mail delivery is not  based on any certain time.  There no such thing as on time free delivery. We deliver the mail without cost to you, for free!! Thats it, "FREE!". There are certain days that the mail is heavier than others. My Monday is twice as heavy than any other day due to the weekend, some of my businesses are closed on Saturday. That leaves a lot more for me to deliver on Monday and yes, that means I will be later than usual. Sometimes, over an hour difference will happen and I am sorry." Our days are like snowflakes, every day is always different."
     On other occassions we have to do some extra work. Especially when we have sick calls, we have to cover that person for the day and carry parts of their route if there isn't coverage. I could end up with a part of a different route that caused me to deliver it first, which will cause me to be late on my route. I also here the question. "Why is it that on your days off the other guy or girl is real early?" Well , probably because they got some help themselves and the person carrying that part had the chance to do it early in the day.

Daryl from Heron Creek

     I had this one customer that would write down the times I would deliver the mail and she told me she did. I would here almost every day in a crabby voice " Late again I see! Why can't you be on time?"( I wish I knew what on time meant)  After a month or so she had brought that list to the office to show my supervisor.  He tried to explain the situation like I did above. But, she wanted to complain that it wasn't right and the delivery should be consistent. Christmas had come around and she had stopped me on the street and said" I just got back from my hair stylist and gave her a tip for Christmas! I also gave the paper boy a nice tip but, Im  not going to tip you. I feel you didn't deserve it this year!" Oh the things I want to say but couldn't!! I was going to give her some money to fix her orange hair, I just didn't feel up to insulting her.

The glass pieces are from Kitty's Steuben store.

      The only true way to get your mail the same time every day, is to get a P.O. Box at the Post Office. Then, you can recieve your mail by 10:30am. But, it will cost you to have that service and it depends on the size of the box. Also, do you really want to travel in the rain,sleet or snow to get it?? When we can bring it right to you at no charge.. LOL

Current resident

     There are always people moving in and out of the town. So, when a new person or family moves into a residence they get the last tenants 3rd Class Bulk Business Mail( Sounds important, doesn't it??) You on the other hand call it junk mail! We as carriers have to deliver the BBM as we call it as long as it says or current resident on it, due to the business paying extra to have it delivered to the next family. If we have the time we are to cross out the prior name before we deliver it. ( I said if we had time) Most of the time we don't. Anyway, I can speak for most if not all the carriers, we would find that letter on the box the next day with writing on it saying, not here, moved, return to sender Etc.... We then cross out the name and just leave current resident showing and put back into the box. In most cases they take it back. In other cases I have had customers come to the door and hand me the letter or magazine and say this person isn't here or we don't want this junk. I then have to show them that it says deliver to current resident on it. (I do have to say on magazines it is in fine print.) In some of the apartment complexes you would find these letters on the floor or on top of the cluster boxes( multiple mail boxes) If they are on the boxes I would put them back in the boxes for re-delivery.( I am not your garbage man!) If you don't want it, throw it away! We are just the delivery people, nothing more, we get paid to deliver your mail as long it is properly addressed and endorsed.( this is another story) Funny part down below!


One of the local patrons.



Bridge work

  Ok! So, on to the funny part of my story. I was delivering to an apartment complex that has people moving all the time. I delivered a "CURRENT RESIDENT" letter and other mail, when this customer opened the door, yells down to me and says this person doesn't live here. I was expecting a regular piece of mail. I look at it and all it said was current resident and the address. I tell the man that it is his and it is just a current occupent letter. I tell him everyone gets one and to throw it out if he didn't want it. The man kept trying to hand it to me  every time I walked away. He says to me "how about if I kick your ass?" All right then! I'm going to get in a fight over a piece of advertisement! Come to find out the man was a little drunk and his friend finally came out to get him. But, as he was going back in he kept telling his friend that I wasn't listening and that his name wasn't "Current Resident!"
  

Trying to be polite!

    

Guess the building

It's not rocket science to guess this one

Panorama of part of Market

As a letter carrier I try to be as polite as possible. Saying the normal like excuse me, sorry, have a nice day etc...  But, there are times you have to be a little forward to certain people because, of their rudeness. Most of the time it has to do with people blocking the doors to your delivery.
     For instance: I was entering a somewhat crowded restaraunt. I said " Excuse me" as I worked my way in. When I approached the last person I said the same "excuse me". No movement or acknowledgement. I said it again and nothing. Finally, loud enough for everyone to hear I said it again and the man finally moved. The problem was he shifted just slightly and it wasn't enough for me and my full satchel to get through. I went ahead and got by but, as I did  my loaded satchel bumped the man. He turns and says "excuse me!" I returned and said "maybe next time you will move when I say it three times! I have a job to do!" And on the way back from the counter when I said it the man moved right away.
     Another time I was delivering to Wegmans and I have to go behind the service desk to get the mail. A woman was blocking the door to the counter. I said "excuse me" several times. I finally  reached for the door handle, as I did the woman stepped back and I brushed her behind with my hand. She turns and in a obnoxious voice says" HOW DARE YOU!"  I looked at her and said " I wouldn't have dared if you would have moved out of the way when I had asked you!" She was still sputtering as I left. The next day the cashiers behind the counter said she wanted my name to report me and they told her that I tried to get her attention and she ignored me. After she had left they all started laughing. It's nice to know I have my customers for backup!

             I get this kind of thing every day. I have tourists bumping into me on the street as I am as close to the building as I can get. I get passed by cars in my truck because, they think I am parked, when in fact I was stopping at a cross walk for a pedestrian. Even when I am crossing in the cross walks,I get cars that don't stop when I am in the middle of the street. If I see their window down as they pass I yell" THANKS FOR STOPPING". It gets their attention every time!!

     

I'm a real mailman.

 

     I had been on the job for only a few weeks and I finally got to carry on my own. I only covered the carriers' day off so, to remember things from one week to the next was hard. At the cases the carriers use colored plugs to tell whether a customer was on vacation, had a forward or to let you now they have a P.O. box. I had pulled the route down on my own but, forgot to take out a letter for a P.O. box customer. When I approached this customers house I didn't realize that this house didn't get delivered, I got on to the porch and didn't see a mailbox. So, I knocked on the door to see if they were home so I could ask them if they had a mailbox, so I knew where to deliver next time. A woman opens the door and she gives me a funny look. Here I am in regular clothes a postal cap and satchel(since we don't get a uniform until after ninety days). I asked her if she had a mailbox that wasn't visible and I had a letter for her. She looked a little worried, took the letter and said"Your not a real mailman are you??" I just looked at her and smiled, a part of me wanted to tell her in my Pinocchio voice real loud. " I'M A REAL MAILMAN!!!"
      A few weeks had passed and I was carrying the same route but, I haven't got to the same ladies neighborhood yet and I was way across town. A car pulls up and this same customer, hands me a letter and says" you put this in my mailbox today and I told you I have a P.O. box! Please do not make this mistake again!" I took the letter,said "sorry" and went on my way. I get back to the office to take my lunch and explained the two situations to the postmaster. She said that the woman isn't all there and she will sometimes take other peoples letters and return them saying they were in her box. I said " she doesn't have a mail box." and she looks at me and smiles to kind of say without words "I know."








    
    
 I was able to get some shots of the Jazz and Harvest Festival. It was just gearing up so, not too many people yet.

This explains the fist few pictures.

    

A new business in town!



A few ladies from ES&L