Postcard from Bishkek

“When I was a lad …“, as Gilbert and Sullivan put it, “I served my term …“.  The future Lord of the Admiralty in HMS Pinafore may have served his term as an office boy in an attorney’s firm, but for many people of my generation, we served our term as a paperboy, (or as they say in America: Newspaper Carrier) .

Today happens to be Newspaper Carrier Day … and that got me thinking.

First of all, it’s an American holiday – that’s why it’s not called Paperboy Day, (which would probably be frowned upon anyway, as it gender specific, but I am not sure that it would have caught on in the UK anyway).  It seems to have been around for quite a while, is quite well known and thought of over there and, although no-one knows who thought up the idea … these days events seem to be coordinated by the Newspaper Association of America.

For the record: There is even an International Newspaper Carrier Day, (which is held on different dates each year, this year it will be commemorated on October 20th).  Ronald Regan even got in on the act when he was President, writing a brief message in support of it in 1982.

The date of  September 4th was chosen because that was the day, back in 1833 when, 10 year old Barney Flaherty who had answered an advertisement in The New York Sun which read: ”To the Unemployed a number of steady men can find employment by vending this paper“ and was subsequently hired by Benjamin Day, the publisher, and thus became the first “newspaper carrier”.

Apparently, the only job requirement, was that he had to show that he could throw a newspaper “into the bushes”.   I presume that means “over the bushes”.

That illustrates a big difference between American paperboys and British ones … in America, it seems as if the paperboy cycles along the road and throws the papers from his bike down the path of the houses of his customers from whence they collected it … in Britain, we had to get off our backs and push the newspapers through a letterbox in the door, (or at least into a mailbox).

Barney was just ten years old, and in a lot of popular culture, films and TV series for example, paperboys are often depicted as being “pre-teen” or, at least, up to about the age of 16.  Even when I was young, there were a few, (but only a few), papergirls … but the majority were boys from about 14 to 16.  From then on youngsters tended to move on to other jobs in shops and restaurants, perhaps tired of the early morning starts and having to venture out in all weathers.

The characteristic of the paperboy (or papergirl) seems to have changed over the years.  Nowadays it seems that all the paperboys have grown up – in the places where there are still paperboys then it seems as if the job is now performed by adults, maybe pensioners or people working from their cars.

Here,  newspaper delivery is a service offered by the Post Office.  There is no tradition of paperboys.  The pochtalion, (postwoman), brings the papers with her as she does her daily rounds.  That means that the papers aren’t on the breakfast table – but they aren’t published that early anyway.

There could be lots of different reasons for the changing profile of the newspaper carrier in the West:

• Even before I left the UK to come to Kyrgyzstan, newsagents were telling me that it was getting harder and harder to recruit youngsters for the work.   They had other interests and sources of pocket money that didn’t involve the commitment of having to rise and shine early in the mornings, having to venture out in all weathers and so on;
• the nature of the market had changed – the availability of different sources for news, radio, television and internet and the subsequent decline of the traditional newspaper  market;
• with more community newspapers, free newspapers, (perhaps delivered once or twice a week, in the afternoons when the traditional paperboy would have been, (or should have been) in school, so the job was given to housewives or pensioners;
• changes in employment law and concerns about the safety of unescorted children, especially in the early morning hours when many newspapers were delivered.

Maybe I am just being reactionary and looking back through rose coloured spectacles, but in a way I think these changes are regretable … the job was a simple one and virtually everyone was capable of doing it.  It not only gave them a chance to earn some cash, and thus gain some independence – perhaps helping them to save up for things that they wouldn’t otherwise have been able to buy, it also gave them the chance to show how reliable and trustworthy they were.

I remember, for example, the first time I had to take a lesson about writing a CV or resume, (or, as they are known here, autobiography).  The pupils were only 15 and had no idea what to write … they often said that they didn’t have anything to write – and I have to admit that in some cases that was true … but others were a little surprised at how the conversation went … we normally found something to write about every individual.

• tell me a little about how you spend your free time …
• • do you play any sports, for example for a school team?
  • do you play an instrument?
  • do you belong to a youth club?
  • do you have a job of any kind?

Often they didn’t want to write down that they had earned some extra pocket money by baby sitting, or doing a paper round, helping in the family shop, (for example stocking shelves) … it was seen as nothing special, a low status job and even as a chore … but that often changed when I pointed out that these were examples of how they had gained experience, performed particular tasks, perhaps working with people, perhaps working with money, perhaps working over a considerable length of time, showing that they were trustworthy and reliable.

These days it’s not so easy to anyone to find work, yet alone a teenager looking for a part-time job, whether back in the UK or here.  I hear from friends and relatives back home about their attempts to forge an independent identity and, here, the kids have been looking.   They asked me if I could find them something to do in the hotel … but it is difficult, what with the legal requirements, the fact that the times when they are available are not necessarily the times when we need them, the fact that they may not yet have the necessary knowledge, skills and experience, thus limiting what work they can be asked to do … and so on.

I have asked around and discovered that there are precious few opportunities or openings available to teenagers where they can find some form of work experience and perhaps earn a little pocket money and gain independence.  Some may work doing odd jobs in the family business, (if there is one), but those who do take on unofficial work like collecting bottles or go down to the market and push trolleys are from the poorest strata of society …  almost like in “olden times” when “children” (as we would think of them today – but not necessarily as they were seen at the time) were sent out to work at a very early age and were thought to have a role in helping to keep the family.

I know that attitudes are considerably different from the ones that were prevalent when I was growing up, and that they, in turn, were considerably different than those prevalent a generation earlier when my parents were growing up.  Our whole concept of childhood has changed, considerable …  in some respects, I venture to suggest, for the better, but in others … not so.

Being a paperboy was by no means an ideal job … it did offer a start … and sadly, as I see it, the demise of the paperboy has happened without any alternative to provide the next generation with the opportunities that it gave to us.

 

Tags: Expat, Reminiscences