Postal Worker Analogy

Do me a favor and scroll down to and read the other post first! Thanks. Another whimsical look at stupid legislation regarding how teachers may be paid. The postman walked into his house, dejected, kissed his wife and sat down. “What’s wrong?” his wife asked. “Well, I didn’t get much of a paycheck again this week.” “Oh, no.” his wife lamented. “What went wrong this time?” Now a neighbor was visiting and piped in “Didn’t you deliver the mail? If you delivered the mail then you should get paid.” “Of course I delivered the mail.” the postman answered. “I am very good at my job and deliver the mail through rain, snow, sleet, and even hail, but it isn’t enough to deliver the mail, I only get paid if the people get their mail.” “For crying out loud, what sort of sense does that make?” Of course the people get the mail if you deliver the mail, and your pay should be based on that.” Do your job and the people will get their mail and you will get your pay, for Heaven’s sake.” The postman looked at his wife and they both just shook their heads. What the neighbor said would of course seem to make sense to anyone but a postman, but a postman knows there is a huge difference between delivering the mail, and the people actually getting their mail. The former is completely in the postman’s control, but the latter he can do nothing about. “Tell me what happened.” his wife said as she sat down beside him. “Yes,” the neighbor sneered, “tell me how the people didn’t get the mail that you delivered.” “Well,” began the postman, “On Monday, because of the heavy snowfall, Mrs. Smith couldn’t get from her porch to the mailbox, you see her son was sick and didn’t get our to shovel her drive. Had I known, I would have taken the mail up to her door, but her son is so good about keeping a path to the mailbox shoveled that I didn’t think he wouldn’t get it done.” I did take the mail up to her door on Tuesday, but on Monday, although I delivered her mail, she didn’t get her mail.” “But that’s not your fault” said the neighbor. “You shouldn’t not get paid because the old lady couldn’t get to her mailbox! You delivered the mail to her mailbox for crying out loud!” “Doesn’t matter. The legislature passed a law that says we only get paid if the people get their mail.” “Well that’s just asinine!” “Oh never mind,” the wife stammered, “What else went wrong dear?” The postman looked sadder than ever and continued. “Remember Mr. Jones, the young man who found out he had cancer? Well, he had been in remission, and he seemed to be getting stronger. I was so happy he was doing well. I noticed on Tuesday that the mail hadn’t been picked up since Friday, so I got out of my truck and trudged up to his door. I knocked and knocked but no one answered. Finally the lady next door peeked out and told me that poor Mr. Jones had been taken to the hospital, she was getting his mail, but hadn’t stepped out since Saturday. So even though I delivered Mr. Jones’s mail, he didn’t get his mail. I told his neighbor that as long as the weather was bad, I would bring her mail and Mr. Jones’s mail up to her door. She was very grateful but said that that wouldn’t be necessary as she was leaving for Florida at week’s end and she had put a hold on her mail. She didn’t know what Mr. Brown planned to do about his mail.” The neighbor was incensed. “So you aren’t getting paid because someone you delivered the mail to can’t get his mail because he is in the hospital? And he won’t be able to get his mail for some time, so you won’t get paid for delivering the mail to his house?” What kind of a world are we living in for crying out loud?” The postman and his wife looked at each other and shrugged. “A damn crazy one.” They both uttered, and the postman continued. “On Wednesday I delivered the mail as I always do to the office complex on the corner of 5th and Main. Tuesday’s mail was still in the box and I just hung my head, thinking here’s another one who didn’t get the mail I delivered, why? I felt so inadequate, I didn’t know how else to deliver the mail to this office so they would get it. I looked into the window of one of the rooms in the complex and saw no signs of life. Just then a maintenance person came out of the door and I asked him why the mail hadn’t been picked up. “No one’s here anymore. They’ve all up and left.” And with that he left and so did I. More mail delivered that the people didn’t get because they couldn’t stick around long enough to get it.” “You’re tired.” the postman’s wife said. “I will get you some dinner, just go relax.” “Relax?” the neighbor screamed. “How can he relax? Why are you putting up with this? You’re delivering the mail, it isn’t your fault that some people aren’t getting their mail.” “No, it isn’t his fault, but if he raises a stink he puts himself at risk of getting an even worse evaluation than what he will be getting based on the percentage of people who aren’t getting the mail. It’s bad enough that he loses pay because even though he diligently delivers the mail, some people just can’t get it right now. He needs to keep this job, every post office is the same right now, there is nowhere else for him to go.” The neighbor now was the one shaking his head, “I had no idea. I thought you had such an easy job, just get up, go to work and deliver the mail and if you do it right the people will get it. I didn’t realize there were so many factors involved in people getting what you deliver that you simply can’t control.” The postman hung his head, but then brightened a bit. “It could by worse. He said. “I could be a teacher.