A Good Job is Hard to Find

I find myself having trouble falling to sleep tonight, so I decided to write a little story about something my husband told me today.I spent the day with Mom, and he went to an auction right down the road from our home. The auction had been getting a lot of publicity around our home and I think a lot of folks went out of curiosity. From some of the stories that were circulating, I was a little fearful for Pop to go, but he felt confident all would go well,so that was settled. He went.When we both returned home later in the day, he told me about meeting a fellow at the auction, that lives only 3 miles from us, whom he had never seen before. That was really strange, since we are both retired, and having lived here for 32 years, we know most of the folks in our area. But this one Pop had never met. The auctioneer pointed out this fellow and introduced him to the crowd, at the regular nightly auction, which Pop also attended later in the evening.Pop, being really hard of hearing, he didn't quite hear what this fellow's occupation was,so he struck up a conversation with him, on his own.He explained to the man that he was hard of hearing, but he thought Damon, the auctioneer, had introduced him as the only person he knew that made a living picking up "poop".Sure enough, that was exactly what he said. As it turns out, this man had moved down to our area, and bought a small place we were both familiar with, right up the road about 3 miles from us.He said he worked in Louisville, so between work and raising a couple of kids alone, he didn't have time to get out and meet folks.Evidently, this was one of the few things he had done for relaxation in a couple of years.Nevertheless, he explained his business to Pop. He said he has more customers than one man can really handle, but he tried paying folks $15.and hour, and in cash, and still couldn't keep help.He said he had his business laid out in a chart, on the computer, listing all his customers, how many dogs each has, and where they live. He has it set up to where the computer charts his route each day,and how many homes he can cover in a days time, depending on how close together the homes are. Occasionally, he can walk from home to home.He charges a set amount for 1 dog, and an additional amount for each additional dog.It seems he said he has about 85 regular customers, that he cleans up for each week.He said he had devised an apparatus to pick up the "dog poop"that never requires him to bend over, and he has also learned that he could compost "it" and make excellent fertilizer for his yard and plants. I, too, would have enjoyed hearing him tell of his operation. If one can make a good living out of something that simple,yet unappealing, which is so needed by millions of folks nowadays,that is amazing. Who would have thought there was such a demand for that.But when you think about it,folks have gone all out these for their dogs and their yards.Smart Man! He may be extremely wealthy, one day when he gets all the kinks ironed out of his little business.Good for him. I wish him all the luck in the world.Someone has to do it.