Paper Route Woes

My days as a paper carrier are numbered. The 31st will be my last day as an independent contractor for the Daily Times-Call. 21 days! But only 19 times of getting up at 3:30 a.m. are left! (On the two nights of the backpacking trip, Dad is subbing for me.) Wow, I am so glad to finally be quitting! I'm glad I did it though, because by the time this month is over, I will have made around $3,000, most of which I am saving for college.
But all is not as fine and dandy as it seems. There are still several strange things that I must work out before I quit. In March, I was charged for two boxes of bags at $20 + $1.54 tax each, but only received one. My district manager said she'd get me the $21.54 that I was owed, but that hasn't happened yet.

Another recent mishap was that I ordered 4 reams of Sunday bags at $2.50 + $0.19 each, only to discover they come in pairs, so now I have 8. I need to somehow return 2 pairs to get my $5.38 back for that.

The most recent calamity was that these people who ordered a driveway paper completely tore out their driveway! I put it on the sidewalk in front of the driveway: easy enough to find. The next day, I thought I'd make it even easier for my customers; they wouldn't even need to bend down to pick it up. I stuck it on top of the cone. At 6:30ish a.m., I was snoozing peacefully, enjoying the late start day and the chance to sleep in. Suddenly Nina shook me awake.
"Lily! Lily!" she said urgently. "I know you said not to bother you until 9:30, but this is an emergency!" I groaned and took the phone from her outstretched hand.

It was the Times-Call: "A customer at 1519 Denison can't find their paper." Brilliant. I biked over there and OH! Whaddya know! THE PAPER WAS RIGHT SMACK DAB IN PLAIN SIGHT, RIGHT ON THE CONE WHERE I PUT IT!!! So I took both papers up to the door and rung the doorbell.

When the guy came to the door, I asked him, "Which one do you want?" He took the one that had been on the cone all along. I told him, "Sir, I got here and the paper was right on the cone where I left it. I was trying to make it easier for you."

"On top of the cone?" he mused. "Oh, well then it must have been late, because I went out there and looked around for it about five times."

"No, sir, it was on time. I was here around 5," I said, wishing I could add It was right in front of your face the whole time!

"Oh, okay. Thank you," he said, and shut the door. Nice.

I went home and told mom, "Now I know how you feel when you say 'Lily, it's right in front of your face!'"

The next morning, I opened my daily bundle mail. This is what it said. "COMPLAINT ANNIBAL, GARY 1519 DENISON CIR, LONG - MISSED DELIVER COMMENTS: CALLED CA @6:54AM/CA TO DELIVER/NO CHARGE * * CHARGED * *" What?!? Number one, I did not miss the delivery and that's $2 down the toilet for nothing! Number two, isn't that an oxymoron to say "NO CHARGE * * CHARGED * *"? I called the home delivery department which wasn't helpful at all, then left a message on my boss's phone. I haven't heard back about that yet, either.

So, the Times-Call owes me $28.92 and has 21 days to get it to me. This should be interesting.