I stood in the warehouse with my elbows on the counter, disgusted, while Joel spouted about the hardships of his meter reading job.

"These people and their stupid bushes- can't get to the freakin' meter to read it. And the radio-read meters. You have to drive slower than the old people around here to pick up the readings. And this heat is brutal!" Joel glared at me and said, "And you guys aren't replacing these meters fast enough." He grabbed his new gloves from the counter and stormed towards the door.

My patience went out the door first. "Back when I read meters, we had no radio-reads. We read each meter manually, digging out every meter box, and fighting with bushes. We still read 400 meters each day, even on foot, uphill, in the pouring rain and in the hot August sun. And we liked it!"

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