Dogs and postal service employees, delivery people, and so on and so forth, have been deemed natural enemies over the course of modern human history. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Take Jay Hardesty, for example. Hardesty, 30, is a UPS driver for the Marigny and Bywater neighborhoods of New Orleans, and he has built a steady social media following thanks to the adorable snaps he takes with the doggos he meets along his route, which he encourages his followers to hashtag #pupsofjay.
Hardesty’s mission, as one might call it, went viral this week after a chance encounter with NOLA resident and New York Times best-selling author Jami Attenberg, who tweeted the hashtag to her 23,000 and some followers. “I have extremely important news and it is this: my sweet UPS guy has a hashtag of all the dogs in the neighborhood,” she wrote.
https://twitter.com/jamiattenberg/status/1110977343294705664
Suffice to say, Jay does seem extremely sweet, as you can see from the dozens of charming moments he captures on his daily grind. Imagine loving your job this much!
After going viral, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reached out to Hardesty, who admitted that he tries to “discipline” himself to stick with his hobby only on Fridays, despite the fact that he sees roughly 50 dogs per day on his daily route. And those hoping to get their pups a taste of viral fame may have to wait, as his current waitlist is apparently seven dogs long.
Although the Times-Picayune admits that even Hardesty isn’t immune from brushes with fame, as he recently encountered a very special pup named Stanley James Louis Preston Foxworth, otherwise known as Krewe of Barkus King XXVII (before his reign was announced) of the Mardi Gras dog-themed parade.
What a photogenic pair, these two.