Bicycle messenger – my lucky labour experience in Canada (the end)

mikesmith(老猫)

本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛I had nothing to complain. It was a fun job. Soon two weeks passed. It was a Friday again. The weather was nice, even though it was still a bit cold. After lunch, I could not resist the urge to borrow a novel from the library and found a bench on the lake shore. I turned off the stupid pager and listened to music while reading the book. It was just lovely.

I enjoyed myself for a couple of hours. It was the pay day after all. By the end of the afternoon, I came back to that small, dark and smelly place. I returned my pager and helmet to the boss, and waiting for my pay cheque. The boss was apparently not in a good mood. He said something about finding me reading at the lake shore. I told him that I did all my delivery for that day. It was my personal time. I was not paid by the hour, but by how many letters I delivered, right? He did not say anything, passed me an envelop with some cash in it. I counted - $70! The boss said, enjoy your weekend, welcome to back next week if you want to. If you work harder, you can earn more. Well, what can I say? I did not argue. I did not know what to say, really.

I walked out of the bicycle shop, thinking, I earned 70 bucks in exchange of two weeks of hard labour. Isn’t it funny? I earned $40 bucks for two hours of tutoring to an undergraduate student the night before. When I went back home and showed my wife the cash, my wife was a bit upset first. But soon enough, she laughed, saying let’s go to the VIP Chinese restaurant to celebrate and spend all this money. At the dinner table, she was looking at me, saying: Mike, maybe you are just not the type to work in a real trade. You are useless in a sense: very good at thinking, but pretty dumb doing whatever jobs that require hands and legs in the real world. It was really lucky that you live in today’s world. You would not find a mate, you would not have children, and you would probably starve to death if you were born a few hundred years earlier. I laughed too. I said to myself, you gonna do better the next time.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

(#5983099@0)
Last Updated: 2010-3-31

Sofa. Mike has time to write essays now. -thornthorn(Holy Moly); 2010-3-19 (#5955708@0)

can't believe that I am stuck in a meeting now - Friday in March break.. very pissed -mikesmith(老猫); 2010-3-19 (#5955720@0)

Waiting for (2) and more ... -thornthorn(Holy Moly); 2010-3-19 (#5955730@0)
被 Stuck 的人多得去了，你就看开点吧 -vetra(豆泡联盟之多泡泡); 2010-3-19 (#5955738@0)

就是。今天我被stuck在电话上了。4个小时。额地神。。。 -coolmao(酷猫*Zensunni); 2010-3-19 (#5956385@0)
到了5点半，当着两个director的面，我也只好拿起衣服走人了。 -mikesmith(老猫); 2010-3-20 (#5956650@0)

你开会的时候不用电脑，不穿衣服的？牛， lol -buma(。。。。); 2010-3-20 (#5956654@0)

videoconference meeting is good. meeting in person in the office is bad. -buma(。。。。); 2010-3-19 (#5955747@0)

没小费没钱图的,这也是个people business -buma(。。。。); 2010-3-19 (#5955728@0)

Cool! This is the job I wanted to do when I first landed. I told myself if I couldn't find a decent job, this would be it then. -iron(iron man); 2010-3-19 (#5956074@0)

hum, my LD's first job was delivering newspapers. I drove her around. In the end, we found out we couldn't cover gas expense and quit. :D -coolmao(酷猫*Zensunni); 2010-3-19 (#5956396@0)

seems people with graduate degree could not do math.. lol -mikesmith(老猫); 2010-3-20 (#5956648@0)

Bicycle messenger – my lucky labour experience in Canada (2) -mikesmith(老猫); 2010-3-29 {1795} (#5977019@0)

本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Looking back, I had no regret at all for that experience – actually it was a period of time that I was most fit and forward looking – with so much uncertainties but without fear, as I had nothing to lose.

I became SO familiar with every single street and side ways at Kingston. I had been to all the businesses in certain areas. When I was in Beijing, I was so bad at remembering and recognizing street name and directions that my wife always laughed at me. Not any more. After this, I became a road atlas with a self tuned GPS in my brain.

I started the first day. I had an old bike of my own. My boss asked one of his teenage employees passed me a helmet and tuned up my bike. He told me that, as a professional courier, I can NOT ride on the side walks. I had to ride side by side with motor vehicles on the main roads. If you had ever been to Kingston downtown area, you would know that this is risky business. The road was narrow and busy. My boss told me that he used to work as a courier in Toronto. The drivers of Toronto were much worse. I should thank God to work for him at Kingston. He told me that he got hit twice in Toronto. One time the injury was severe enough to send him to hospital and stay in bed for a couple of months without income. After that accident, he came to Kingston and opened his own business. Apparently there was an article in the local newspaper – “The Kingston Whig-Standard” about him, with a picture. That article was hanging on the wall.

I was given about 50 business letters. I was told to deliver it to the PERSON being addressed, with a signature as proof (no tips). I can’t just deliver the letter in the mailbox. Those letters were time sensitive. Once I was done with the first 50, I should come back to the shop and ask for more.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

Waiting for more. -thornthorn(Holy Moly); 2010-3-29 (#5977038@0)
多好的体育运动啊，还有钱收。。。。 -vetra(豆泡联盟之多泡泡); 2010-3-29 (#5977055@0)
Not very bad. You could earn more than 100 bucks per day. -zwmca(实话实说); 2010-3-29 (#5977058@0)

I thought my math was bad.. lol -mikesmith(老猫); 2010-3-29 (#5977067@0)

1.7 cents not $. Can you believe that? -zwmca(实话实说); 2010-3-29 (#5977162@0)

it would ruin my story if I told you now how much I would earn by the end of the 2nd week. -mikesmith(老猫); 2010-3-29 (#5977327@0)

Anyway, good article. I am looking forward to more. -zwmca(实话实说); 2010-3-29 (#5977457@0)

interesting article, but man, that's a tough job. $1.00 for the trial? gosh, that's brutal. -lusi(丑小鸭); 2010-3-29 (#5977082@0)
年轻美丽的时光，总是在过去，总是那么美好，值得怀念的阳光灿烂的日子。。。 -webbwebb(rr_rolia); 2010-3-29 (#5978456@0)

Bicycle messenger – my lucky labour experience in Canada (3) -mikesmith(老猫); 2010-3-31 {1691} (#5982361@0)

本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Once I was on the road, it was not bad at all. Many of the addresses were close enough. I usually planned ahead the route, and rode to the most remote address first. People were nice at Kingston. I never had any issues with any customers. Find the address, deliver the letter, and get the signature. It can’t be any easier. For the first 50 letters, it took me less than two hours. Then I went back and get some more. At the end of the first day, I was rather tired, but I delivered more than 200 letters.

I did not know exactly how my boss would pay me at the end of the 2nd week. He did tell me and the other new comer the price per letter. But also he mentioned something else as bonus. Due to his accent, I could not make it right. But I did not ask. I knew Canadians were honest people. I never really worried about my pay cheque. I had such a good experience at Queen’s. Without asking, I got an extra $5000 bonus (in addition to my $16,000 scholarship) the 2nd day I arrived on campus to compensate the extra tuition fees for international students. People were just so helpful and nice everywhere. My wife had a dish-washing experience for 3 weeks. She earned $600 for that. I told myself that I had to have at least one such labour experience in my life.

The most challenging thing was the pager. Everyone had to carry one. If there was an urgent letter to be delivered right away, the boss would call us and whoever closest to the home base should return and deliver that letter. To me, it was just a bunch of noises. I could never figure out what he was saying from the thing. So I never responded or returned. I guess that was when the boss started thinking I was lazy.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

(#5977038@0) -thornthorn(Holy Moly); 2010-3-31 (#5982421@0)

Bicycle messenger – my lucky labour experience in Canada (the end) -mikesmith(老猫); 2010-3-31 {2043} (#5983099@0)

life is about experiences. maybe your prelife was a gladiator. And in this life, you wanna try something different. -coolmao(酷猫*Zensunni); 2010-4-1 (#5983890@0)

Thanks man. I'd think my pre-life was a dog or cat, or something that can fly, like a caterpillar. But I still thank this messenger experience. It was good to discovery something about myself. -mikesmith(老猫); 2010-4-1 (#5983957@0)

Hi Mike, -thornthorn(Holy Moly); 2010-4-1 {30} (#5983975@0)
don't want to reply to my PM?

must be intercepted by Mrs. Smith..... -coolmao(酷猫*Zensunni); 2010-4-1 (#5984476@0)
估计是心如乱麻，头大如枷，面红像番茄，手震似筛沙。许久不能回复 -buma(。。。。); 2010-4-1 (#5984542@0)

你最近诗瘾大发呀。 -mikesmith(老猫); 2010-4-1 (#5984621@0)

春天啊，隔壁正叫呢 -buma(。。。。); 2010-4-1 (#5984650@0)

you would probably starve to death if you were born a few hundred years earlier. .......... L0L .... -webbwebb(rr_rolia); 2010-4-1 (#5985158@0)

actually, i may starve to death too..... sigh.... -webbwebb(rr_rolia); 2010-4-1 (#5985160@0)

better than eat by others -coolmao(酷猫*Zensunni); 2010-4-1 (#5985171@0)

@Edmonton

Bicycle messenger – my lucky labour experience in Canada (the end)

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