WEBVTT 1 00:00:09.020 --> 00:00:15.120 When I first decided to take the postal exam, I think my husband had in mind that I was going 2 00:00:15.120 --> 00:00:17.840 to be a clerk, you know, inside of the post office, you know. 3 00:00:18.200 --> 00:00:20.000 I told him I was going to be a carrier. 4 00:00:20.720 --> 00:00:23.620 He don't need the job because that's a job for a man, you know. 5 00:00:23.900 --> 00:00:25.300 Women don't do that kind of job. 6 00:00:25.400 --> 00:00:27.220 You know, I said, well, hey, the other women are doing it. 7 00:00:27.220 --> 00:00:28.960 That's not a job for you, you know. 8 00:00:29.460 --> 00:00:32.960 Now he says, hey, aren't you going to work today, you know. 9 00:00:33.400 --> 00:00:37.080 But to begin with, it was like, I don't want you on the street. 10 00:00:37.300 --> 00:00:39.460 It's as if, you know, maybe some of the men feel, well, 11 00:00:39.460 --> 00:00:42.240 my wife can't take care of themselves, you know, or something like that, 12 00:00:42.260 --> 00:00:43.600 you know, out in the public, you know. 13 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:47.660 In the areas where I live, where I deliver the mail, 14 00:00:48.400 --> 00:00:51.880 there's a great percentage of Spanish-speaking people. 15 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:54.900 And due to the fact that I speak Spanish, 16 00:00:55.960 --> 00:01:02.400 most of the Spanish-speaking people become more close to me. 17 00:01:02.980 --> 00:01:07.400 For me, it's easier because I just talk to them in the language that they talk. 18 00:01:08.320 --> 00:01:14.920 And that way I can deal with them and do a better job for them. 19 00:01:15.900 --> 00:01:17.700 I was down south in Alabama. 20 00:01:18.220 --> 00:01:24.140 There were no black letter carriers, and they didn't give black people 21 00:01:24.140 --> 00:01:28.420 to jobless carriers down in Alabama in the early 60s. 22 00:01:29.260 --> 00:01:32.840 So I came to Chicago where I think jobs were more available. 23 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:36.800 Yeah, I took all the exams that I could get a hold of. 24 00:01:36.920 --> 00:01:40.120 I took CTA, police, and I took the post office. 25 00:01:41.060 --> 00:01:44.160 And the post office was one of the first people that called me. 26 00:01:44.160 --> 00:01:47.740 It was not my intention to stay in the post office. 27 00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:54.000 I felt that that was just a step in the direction that I wanted to go at that time. 28 00:01:55.260 --> 00:01:56.140 Hey, what can I say? 29 00:01:56.300 --> 00:01:57.980 I'm here for 20 years now. 30 00:01:58.020 --> 00:01:59.120 I'm still here. 31 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:04.320 Well, I've been a letter carrier for three and a half years. 32 00:02:04.940 --> 00:02:08.100 Once you learn what you're doing, that's a pretty nice job. 33 00:02:08.980 --> 00:02:11.720 There's really a wide assortment of people that deliver mail. 34 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:15.460 I'm much more diverse background than most jobs I've been at. 35 00:02:15.720 --> 00:02:21.560 People from master's degrees to people who didn't finish school. 36 00:02:22.500 --> 00:02:26.500 There are a lot of veterans, people who are artists and poets. 37 00:02:27.380 --> 00:02:30.340 I've enjoyed basically the people I've worked with. 38 00:02:31.180 --> 00:02:36.460 To me, I'm going to have to quit this job because the hours conflict with my husband's 39 00:02:36.460 --> 00:02:40.100 schedule and I have two little kids, and then all the money goes out to daycare. 40 00:02:40.100 --> 00:02:43.840 And if I could work this job part time, I keep it. 41 00:02:43.860 --> 00:02:45.900 And then once the kids were older, I'd go back full time. 42 00:03:16.020 --> 00:03:18.560 I am a happy mailman. 43 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:22.280 Oh, just you know I am a happy mailman. 44 00:03:22.500 --> 00:03:24.300 I'm here to tell you. 45 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:47.560 I am a happy mailman, and I never give a walk. 46 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:51.620 I wish I would on my round, I would would it have a light of fun. 47 00:03:51.700 --> 00:03:54.080 Oh I am a happy mailman. 48 00:03:54.220 --> 00:03:54.280 And I would as you know ask for just the services, 49 00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:54.280 50 00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:54.280 51 00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:54.280 52 00:03:54.280 --> 00:04:00.280 Oh, if you knew I am at this mailman and I'm here to serve you. 53 00:04:16.920 --> 00:04:21.180 I am at the mailman walking down the street. 54 00:04:21.180 --> 00:04:25.340 I love to say hello to all the folks I breathe. 55 00:04:25.860 --> 00:04:27.580 I am at the mailman. 56 00:04:27.940 --> 00:04:33.820 Oh, if you knew I am at this mailman and I'm here to serve you. 57 00:04:37.540 --> 00:04:39.560 I'm one of the old time carriers. 58 00:04:41.260 --> 00:04:45.180 I've had only one rope since I've been in the process of having only one rope. 59 00:04:45.280 --> 00:04:47.760 I've been on for 17 years. 60 00:04:47.760 --> 00:04:54.980 The old people especially depend on you coming by because they have established a relationship with you. 61 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:56.220 You're part of their family. 62 00:04:57.100 --> 00:04:59.480 You've noticed their kids grown up. 63 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:02.840 You knew when they had their birthdays. You knew when someone died. 64 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:06.940 They wait for a Joe the mailman to come by. 65 00:05:07.340 --> 00:05:09.240 So that's part of their daily activity. 66 00:05:09.640 --> 00:05:11.760 But I don't show something is missing. 67 00:05:12.940 --> 00:05:15.040 And they want to talk about something. 68 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:16.320 They have something to complain about. 69 00:05:16.320 --> 00:05:21.460 They want something to be done and they feel that I like Joe the mailman. 70 00:05:21.540 --> 00:05:22.320 He'll tell me. 71 00:05:23.440 --> 00:05:25.100 They want paper to be filled out. 72 00:05:25.100 --> 00:05:26.240 I like Joe the mailman. 73 00:05:26.280 --> 00:05:27.600 He'll fill it out. 74 00:05:28.020 --> 00:05:30.380 Some of them used to get letters that they couldn't even read. 75 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:31.920 I had to read it for them. 76 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:33.940 To me it's important. 77 00:05:34.820 --> 00:05:35.740 I enjoy it. 78 00:05:35.740 --> 00:05:39.360 You know, it makes my job more fulfilling. 79 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:46.500 You feel that these people expect the service out of you and you should do it. 80 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:48.840 That's what you're there for. 81 00:05:49.220 --> 00:05:51.640 You don't want nobody to inhibit you doing this. 82 00:05:53.080 --> 00:05:56.160 And it's not limited to just delivering that letter to the door. 83 00:05:57.080 --> 00:05:58.060 It becomes more. 84 00:05:58.380 --> 00:06:00.560 It becomes more and more. Increasingly more. 85 00:06:02.220 --> 00:06:04.260 People get sick on my life. 86 00:06:05.020 --> 00:06:05.700 I don't believe it. 87 00:06:05.700 --> 00:06:07.840 One man, he was in the basement of his house. 88 00:06:07.840 --> 00:06:08.460 He lived alone. 89 00:06:08.460 --> 00:06:09.680 I've been knowing him for years. 90 00:06:09.940 --> 00:06:10.840 He's a super old man. 91 00:06:11.300 --> 00:06:12.700 Every day, you know, he waits for me. 92 00:06:12.940 --> 00:06:13.840 He's just making a point. 93 00:06:13.900 --> 00:06:15.060 Wait for Joe the mailman. 94 00:06:15.940 --> 00:06:17.680 And that day he didn't show up. 95 00:06:17.700 --> 00:06:20.560 They just hadn't looked through the window and I saw him laying on the floor. 96 00:06:20.780 --> 00:06:22.180 Blood coming out of his mouth. 97 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:24.940 I had to break the door out and get in there. 98 00:06:25.020 --> 00:06:26.360 Call the paramedics. 99 00:06:26.780 --> 00:06:27.680 They came in. 100 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:28.460 They got him. 101 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:30.400 Took him out to the hospital and whatnot. 102 00:06:31.300 --> 00:06:34.220 You just make the effort to try to take care of the people that belong to you. 103 00:06:34.220 --> 00:06:35.460 You feel belong to you. 104 00:06:35.820 --> 00:06:36.580 They're our people. 105 00:06:38.460 --> 00:06:44.040 What makes this job really different from any job I've ever had, aside from your work outside, 106 00:06:44.620 --> 00:06:45.860 is you're on your own a lot. 107 00:06:46.280 --> 00:06:48.220 And here you do a lot of different things. 108 00:06:48.980 --> 00:06:52.380 You spend about three hours inside the station putting your mail together. 109 00:06:52.840 --> 00:06:55.880 Then you get in your car, your jeep, and you just go out and do your job. 110 00:06:56.520 --> 00:06:59.460 And you know, you're carrying people's mail around, which is really important. 111 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:02.980 Stuff people wait for a lot of, you know, a lot of what we deliver is junk. 112 00:07:03.620 --> 00:07:07.520 But the mail that people do need, you know, they expect that they're on time 113 00:07:07.520 --> 00:07:08.960 and they want it at the right house. 114 00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:11.340 And you have a lot of work to do that. 115 00:07:11.420 --> 00:07:13.020 And you know, you have to be pretty responsible. 116 00:07:13.220 --> 00:07:14.720 You have things people have to sign for. 117 00:07:14.740 --> 00:07:16.060 A lot of money comes through the mail. 118 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:22.400 You know, I never had a job really that, you know, I was either on my own or had that type of responsibility. 119 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:28.740 Besides delivering the mail, you have a number of other jobs out there that nobody really told you about. 120 00:07:29.660 --> 00:07:34.260 You have to give directions to everybody who can't find their way around. 121 00:07:34.300 --> 00:07:35.800 They manage to find you. 122 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:45.820 And you should be on the lookout for people breaking into houses or children lost, somebody mugging an old lady. 123 00:07:47.100 --> 00:07:54.620 When I first got the route, it was check day, and this guy had had the same mailman for like 30 years or so because this guy retired. 124 00:07:55.100 --> 00:08:01.400 I came in that day. I was coming to the corner tavern, and he said, you didn't leave my mail at my house. 125 00:08:01.400 --> 00:08:06.960 I said, well, there is no name on your mailbox, you know, and I don't leave checks in the empty mailbox. 126 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:08.560 It's just as simple as that. 127 00:08:09.220 --> 00:08:15.300 He said, well, I had the same mailman for 30 years, and he always left my mail in, blah, blah, blah. 128 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:18.720 I say, your mailman retired. 129 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:21.880 I said, no, I am your regular mail lady. 130 00:08:22.080 --> 00:08:27.040 I said, now, I'm the captain of this ship, and you are the crew member, okay? 131 00:08:27.340 --> 00:08:30.320 So you dance by my music. 132 00:08:30.320 --> 00:08:33.600 So the name went up, no more problems. Everything went beautiful. 133 00:08:33.760 --> 00:08:41.200 Everybody in the tavern gave me a big cheer, you know, after I kind of straightened them out about, you know, hey, you don't have that mailman anymore. 134 00:08:41.380 --> 00:08:43.000 It's all the way different now, you know. 135 00:08:44.980 --> 00:08:47.220 Dealing with dogs is a complicated thing. 136 00:08:48.460 --> 00:08:51.800 One reason is because they have different personalities. 137 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:54.580 I have had different experience with dogs. 138 00:08:54.580 --> 00:09:00.280 There was a dog that used to follow me the whole black when I was delivering the mail. 139 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:02.220 That was a friendly dog. 140 00:09:03.300 --> 00:09:08.420 And other dogs, sometimes they are friendly to you, or sometimes they are mad with you. 141 00:09:08.640 --> 00:09:10.120 The reason, I don't know. 142 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:19.860 One day, a guy asked me why the dog barked at the mailman, and the only answer I had was because they don't get mail. 143 00:09:19.860 --> 00:09:26.980 Some dogs, they bark, and you know that the dog is behind the slat. 144 00:09:27.100 --> 00:09:29.280 Some dogs, they don't bark. 145 00:09:30.040 --> 00:09:37.780 They just stay there behind the slat, waiting for the mailman to put his hands in the slat and bite the mailman. 146 00:09:38.660 --> 00:09:47.340 Another thing is that if I let myself go by what the owner said to me, I would be beaten every day. 147 00:09:47.340 --> 00:09:53.700 So the owner, they come to me and they say, well, just go in there, the dog won't bite you. 148 00:09:53.940 --> 00:09:59.020 But once you go inside, it's like a ring. It's like bashing with another guy. 149 00:09:59.500 --> 00:10:08.440 The dog goes after you, and you have to defend yourself, or you either jump the fence, or fight with the dog, or use the spray. 150 00:10:08.900 --> 00:10:14.520 But by the time you use the spray, it's too late. You are beaten by a dog. 151 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:39.240 There is a lady on my route, always tries to please. She gives me Christmas candies and has a peek in these. 152 00:10:39.240 --> 00:10:50.480 When I walk into her yard, she says, don't worry, it's all right. But the minute that I turn my back, that dog, he tries to bite. 153 00:10:50.800 --> 00:11:01.660 So watch that doggy, doggy, doggy, watch that little dog. Watch that doggy, doggy, doggy, watch that little dog. 154 00:11:01.660 --> 00:11:12.800 Oh, watch that doggy, doggy, doggy, watch that little dog. Watch that doggy, doggy, doggy, watch that little dog. 155 00:11:14.160 --> 00:11:19.680 Carriers have to stay in the station every morning and case all of their milk before they take it on the street. 156 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:28.780 Oh, they sort it out. When I pick up a letter and look at it, not only do I know where that letter is supposed to go in the particular case, 157 00:11:28.780 --> 00:11:35.960 I look at that letter, I see the name, so you recognize the letter, you recognize the person at the same time. 158 00:11:36.520 --> 00:11:43.700 That's the benefit of being on the run for so long. You know all of the people who receive Social Security checks? 159 00:11:44.040 --> 00:11:50.440 When you throw in the checks in in the morning, if you're missing one or two, you go tell the boss, I don't have all my checks. 160 00:11:51.480 --> 00:11:56.500 You know there are individuals out there waiting for you and you're going to bring it. And they call on Joe to bring that check to them. 161 00:11:56.500 --> 00:12:05.220 And if I don't bring it, I've got to sit there and give them a long, lengthy explanation of what the possibility of that happening with this particular check. 162 00:12:06.060 --> 00:12:14.380 When you come to the station after you've had your few days of orientation downtown, you stay with somebody the first two days and you watch them throw the mail in the case. 163 00:12:14.560 --> 00:12:22.000 It's putting the letters in the little slots in the right place. People are doing it so fast and working with so much mail so quickly, 164 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:27.120 you get a little worried that it's going to be hard to learn. Then after two days, you're just put right in front of a case. 165 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:35.080 So you start throwing the letters in and you've done maybe half an inch of letters and the other carriers are almost done with their ledge. 166 00:12:35.680 --> 00:12:44.560 And you start glancing at the time and you know you're not stupid, but you can't imagine how these people could overdo it as quickly as they appear to be doing it. 167 00:12:44.560 --> 00:12:51.840 And it takes you months before you can actually be put on a case you don't know and do a reasonably good job. 168 00:12:52.460 --> 00:12:57.760 But the first few weeks, you might be on a different case every day and you have no idea what you're doing. 169 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:08.020 Having the route the first day is the hardest part, but once I have the route the second day, with the knowledge that I acquired the day before on the route, 170 00:13:08.020 --> 00:13:15.120 it helped me to do my job, it became easier, I feel like I am more in control. 171 00:13:15.660 --> 00:13:21.780 Let's suppose I don't have the route for a couple of weeks. There are some names that I still remember. 172 00:13:22.540 --> 00:13:29.820 And that's one thing I learned when I am in different routes. The process of learning names, learning places. 173 00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:37.860 Every time I am in a route, it's always a learning process. It never ends. 174 00:13:39.260 --> 00:13:44.480 It was like it was about three or four women carrying when I came into the station. 175 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:50.400 We had it a little bit hard, but we endured it and after a while they began to accept it. 176 00:13:50.420 --> 00:13:54.820 I think now they really like us there, you know, but some of them were nice. 177 00:13:56.220 --> 00:14:00.880 Others were, well you should be at home in the kitchen, that's what they would always tell us to. 178 00:14:01.260 --> 00:14:05.920 A woman's place is in the kitchen, you know, you're out of place, you don't need this job. 179 00:14:06.500 --> 00:14:11.720 Well we got to work too because most times you need actually two paychecks coming in. 180 00:14:12.360 --> 00:14:17.520 Like a lot of us, if you don't have husbands then you're in trouble too. You got to have a paycheck coming to take care of the children. 181 00:14:21.280 --> 00:14:25.200 Between the sub and the rotor is the floater. 182 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:34.200 Because the floater is the one who every week on a different day he does those five routes that he has. 183 00:14:34.640 --> 00:14:36.700 The post-off it works six days a week. 184 00:14:37.520 --> 00:14:46.640 That day that the post-off it works extra and the regular care has to be off, that's when I would deliver the third route. 185 00:14:46.640 --> 00:14:53.360 The flow set that I have now in comparison with the one that I had before is much easier. 186 00:14:54.520 --> 00:14:59.680 Also the balling on the mirror is lighter than the other flow set that I had before. 187 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:10.720 Whoever had more time in the post-off it is capable of getting a better route and as a consequence the job would be easier. 188 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:15.720 That's the whole idea to try to get the easiest job in the post-off as a mailman. 189 00:15:17.680 --> 00:15:23.020 Like in the old days it was my responsibility to get my route on the street. 190 00:15:23.380 --> 00:15:29.360 I knew what I had to do every day and no matter how much mail came in I had to take care of it. 191 00:15:29.640 --> 00:15:35.560 So some days I don't have very much. Well gratefully I was really grateful for it. 192 00:15:35.560 --> 00:15:40.340 On the days when the mail was heavy I still got it out there. 193 00:15:40.800 --> 00:15:46.780 A long time ago we got stuff with a lot of mail and you took it all out there and you come back maybe in ten hours. 194 00:15:46.920 --> 00:15:49.820 But you got it delivered and the boss didn't give you a hard time. 195 00:15:50.400 --> 00:15:56.160 But now I can't do that because now we have a measuring system that the Postal Service use. 196 00:15:56.860 --> 00:16:02.360 They measure my mail and they tell me well now I have eight hours of work. 197 00:16:03.060 --> 00:16:08.500 Since you don't have eight hours of work we can utilize you somewhere else. 198 00:16:08.800 --> 00:16:13.220 Because they want you totally productive. They don't want you sitting around in the island town. 199 00:16:14.540 --> 00:16:18.720 On any given day you have X amount of mail to deliver. 200 00:16:18.880 --> 00:16:25.340 And you have to decide basically whether or not you can deliver all the mail that you've given that day in eight hours. 201 00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:28.120 And if you can't you're going to have to leave some. 202 00:16:28.540 --> 00:16:34.940 But you don't really know that at the beginning so it's very difficult to tell when to leave the station or whether you'll get done in time or not. 203 00:16:35.800 --> 00:16:38.720 Your supervisor may or may not give you a hard time. 204 00:16:39.180 --> 00:16:43.160 They want you to take out all the mail and they'll try and argue with you if it's possible. 205 00:16:43.880 --> 00:16:47.960 But you have to be firm and just say you have a certain time to leave and that's all you can do. 206 00:16:48.540 --> 00:16:49.620 And that's all you're going to do. 207 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:56.200 One thing you can always say and they won't like it but basically you're doing the best you can. 208 00:16:56.200 --> 00:16:58.800 And everybody works at different rates. 209 00:16:59.640 --> 00:17:03.800 And some people do the job better than other people and that's just the way it will always be. 210 00:17:05.060 --> 00:17:09.660 I once had in mind that I wanted to become a supervisor. 211 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:16.220 Actually I pursued it to a certain extent. I really had it in my mind honestly. 212 00:17:16.900 --> 00:17:25.260 But with the system as it is today and looking at my supervisors today. 213 00:17:26.040 --> 00:17:34.120 There's so many hassles that they have to go through now that I didn't see when I came into the service early. 214 00:17:35.120 --> 00:17:38.340 They have a god of paperwork to do. 215 00:17:39.100 --> 00:17:44.280 Every day. Now they've got to put everything into a computer. 216 00:17:45.620 --> 00:17:47.540 I'm not a lover of paperwork anyway. 217 00:17:48.860 --> 00:17:50.740 Being a carrier has its advantages. 218 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:56.660 Because actually when you're on the street as a carrier you're on your own more or less. 219 00:17:57.320 --> 00:18:00.980 All of us have to abide by rules and regulations. 220 00:18:01.560 --> 00:18:07.220 But I don't think there's nobody who can follow the rules exactly. 221 00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:11.180 There are so many ways that you can break them. 222 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:17.380 And a lot of the things that you do for your patrons on the route is actually not rules and regulations. 223 00:18:19.040 --> 00:18:24.020 My idea as a professional carrier is an individual who goes out and takes care of his people. 224 00:18:24.420 --> 00:18:26.960 And do his mail and get it to them and everything else. 225 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:32.920 Do you hear my idea of a professional carrier is a person who does what you're told and does eight hours work. 226 00:18:33.780 --> 00:18:34.520 And that's it. 227 00:18:35.020 --> 00:18:37.160 And you know it didn't power you to a certain extent. 228 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:41.940 But you have to just realize I'm here for eight hours. 229 00:18:42.500 --> 00:18:45.760 And I have to obey the orders that are given to me. 230 00:18:45.980 --> 00:18:47.640 No matter how ridiculous they may sound. 231 00:18:48.520 --> 00:18:49.380 I have to do it. 232 00:18:49.620 --> 00:18:53.040 I try to understand the situation and I tell them I'm a carrier. 233 00:18:53.060 --> 00:18:54.180 You carry yourself. 234 00:18:54.800 --> 00:18:57.660 You try to tell them that the old days are gone and this is a new day. 235 00:18:57.740 --> 00:18:59.340 You're going to have to do what you're told now. 236 00:18:59.360 --> 00:19:02.720 You don't have the option of making your decision on your own. 237 00:19:03.980 --> 00:19:06.020 And we're dealing with human beings in this hard. 238 00:19:28.180 --> 00:19:29.360 The Postal Exam 239 00:19:29.360 --> 00:19:29.360 240 00:19:29.740 --> 00:19:34.080 I think my husband had in mind that I was going to be a clerk inside of the post office. 241 00:19:34.920 --> 00:19:38.880 When I told him I was going to be a carrier, he don't need the job. 242 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:40.200 Because that's a job for a man. 243 00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:42.340 Women don't do that kind of job. 244 00:19:42.520 --> 00:19:44.260 He said, well hey, the other women are doing it. 245 00:19:44.300 --> 00:19:45.620 That's not a job for you. 246 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:49.440 Now he says, hey aren't you going to work today? 247 00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:54.140 But to begin with it was like I don't want you on the street. 248 00:19:54.280 --> 00:19:58.100 It's easier if maybe some of the men feel my wife can't take care of themselves. 249 00:19:58.540 --> 00:20:00.200 Or something like that out in the public. 250 00:20:01.500 --> 00:20:08.820 In the areas where I deliver the mail, there's a great percentage of Spanish speaking people. 251 00:20:09.520 --> 00:20:19.540 And due to the fact that I speak Spanish, most of the Spanish speaking people become more close to me. 252 00:20:20.020 --> 00:20:23.820 For me it's easier because I just talk to them in the language that they talk. 253 00:20:25.360 --> 00:20:31.980 And that way I can deal with them and do a better job for them. 254 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:34.740 I was down south in Alabama. 255 00:20:34.740 --> 00:20:37.020 There were no black letter carriers. 256 00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:46.200 And they didn't give black people to jobless carriers down in Alabama in the early 60s. 257 00:20:46.320 --> 00:20:49.880 So I came to Chicago where I think jobs were more available. 258 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:53.840 I took all the exams that I could get a hold of. 259 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:57.160 I took CTA, police, and I took the post office. 260 00:20:58.080 --> 00:21:01.240 And the post office was one of the first people that called me. 261 00:21:01.240 --> 00:21:04.780 It was not my intention to stay in the post office. 262 00:21:05.740 --> 00:21:11.200 I felt that that was just a step in the direction that I wanted to go at that time. 263 00:21:12.420 --> 00:21:16.140 Hey, what can I say? I'm here for 20 years now. I'm still here. 264 00:21:18.140 --> 00:21:21.380 Well, I've been a letter carrier for three and a half years. 265 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:25.080 Once you learn what you're doing, that's a pretty nice job. 266 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:28.760 There's really a wide assortment of people that deliver mail. 267 00:21:28.760 --> 00:21:32.540 I have a much more diverse background than most jobs I've been at. 268 00:21:32.780 --> 00:21:38.600 People from master's degrees to people who didn't finish school. 269 00:21:39.560 --> 00:21:43.540 There are a lot of veterans, people who are artists and poets. 270 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:47.460 I've enjoyed basically the people I've worked with. 271 00:21:48.220 --> 00:21:53.560 To me, I'm going to have to quit this job because the hours conflict with my husband's schedule 272 00:21:53.560 --> 00:21:57.160 and I have two little kids, and then all the money goes out to daycare. 273 00:21:57.160 --> 00:21:59.420 If I could work this job part time.