The Lonely Milkmen Wait, With Nothing to Do

It's frustratingly cold, snow is on the lawn, and we're heading to VT for a surprise 50th birthday. But I still had time this morning to read a few nuggets in my favorite newspaper, the WSJ.

In India, there are milkmen who punch in to work every morning at the government dairy with absolutely nothing to do. Some play sudoko games from the newspaper, others doze or play rummy. There is no milk to deliver, because there are no more milk trucks, they were sold off years ago. The government dairies are a victim of the private sector, which has pushed them out to pasture by providing better quality milk delivered right to the door. The government milkmen only go as far as the local milk stands, where the dingy look doesn't compare with what Indians can get in gleaming supermarkets.

Yet the milkmen soldier on, continuing to come to work and do nothing eight hours a day. They on what the government calls the 'surplus list,' which is a roster of more than 25,000 workers who are technically available for work in other departments but face a chronic shortage of things to actually do. They make about $150 a month, not enough to do much, but enough to be worth hanging on until retirement. One bored milkman told the Journal's Eric Bellman how much he wanted to work, and how he misses the friends he used to meet on his rounds.