Why I Should Have the Sunday Paper Delivered

I was really excited about this Sunday's paper because with just one coupon I saw from the preview, the cost of the paper would be covered.  So when we went to town this morning to get fuel in my husband's truck I asked him for some quarters to pick up my paper.

I inserted the quarters, pulled on the handle and...
nothing.  I yanked on the handle.  No give.  I tried pushing the return coin button, then yanking some more.  The machine refused to dish out a paper in return for the hard-earned currency I had deposited.

My husband was inside the store so I dug some spare change out of the truck while I waited (I had used up his quarter supply already).  After he came back to watch Jolea, I told him what had happened and explained I was going inside to exchange the change I had for quarters. "Where did you get that change?" he asked with an air of mock curiosity.    I answered in turn with a mock huff and walked into the gas station, expecting to get my quarters, then paper, then get out of there.

The attendant took my change and counted it, then informed me I was 10 cents short. "Can you count it again?  I was sure I had two dollars."  The guy behind me, seeming genuinely interested in helping out and not just getting me the heck out of the way so he could check out told the attendant he would make up the difference.  I thanked him, and the attendant opened the drawer exposing only two quarters available in the register.  He couldn't even try the other register because it was closed up.  "Oh well, guess I'm not meant to have a paper today," I thought out loud, thanked the attendant and the helpful man behind me, then left.

I got back in the truck and told my husband what had transpired.  He then made the suggestion that we go to the car wash just up the highway to get change with a few dollar bills he had.  We did, and though the change machine was a little reluctant to give them up, I soon got the quarters I needed and headed back to the gas station.  I tried the News & Observer this time, instead of the Reflector that I usually buy, the one that ate my change now around 20 minutes earlier.  Would you believe I had the same exact problem even though I saw that thing cough up a paper to a man earlier while I was waiting for dear hubby to come out of the store?  At least this time it gave back my change!

If you know me at all, you know that a few of my foremost traits are determination, persistence and plain old bull-headedness.  So as soon as I got back in the truck I told my husband we were going to the other gas station across town to another, perhaps more agreeable, machine.  This one looked new and more kind-hearted and though appearances can be deceiving, this time they were not.  It happily allowed me into it's newspaper coffer and, after checking to make sure the same person owned it as well as assuring the woman behind me it was okay to take two since this man's other machine across town owed me for it, I happily ended my war with the paper machines, walking away with two fat paper stacks in hand.

After all the fuel we burned trying to procure these two papers, I'm not sure if the savings will be worth it.  But as with everything in our lives, this should be taken not as a loss, but as a gift from God and a lesson we can learn and grow from.  My lesson?  Either purchase my paper directly from the grocery store or have the Sunday paper delivered.  I'll have to check into it and make sure they deliver all the way out here in the boonies, but I'll waste much less time and help provide income to those individuals who brave the cold and wet to bring papers to our doorstep for very little return or thanks. I should know, I used to be one.

Love & Blessings