And you thought Michael Scott was awkward

Today I had the most awkward phone conversation I have ever had in my life. This may come as news to some of you, but I have recently agreed to take a newspaper route for the Lexington Herald Leader. The day I have set to begin is August 4. My last day at Tony Roma's is this Sunday. The people who currently have the route (we'll call them John and Jane) turned in their notice a couple of weeks ago and are set to go off the route after August 3. I rode with them on the route one day last week and thought it would be something I could do and tolerate for the time being while preparing/doing doctoral research. I called the guy at the Herald Leader (we'll call him Tom) that afternoon and told him I'd take the route...the next day I turned in my notice for the restaurant.

Tom called me yesterday and asked if I could sign the contract today, and I said yes. Then he told me that John and Jane had asked for the route back as their plans to move had fallen through. Tom told them he couldn't give it back to them because he had promised me the route and that I had already turned in my notice. So Tom came by the house today and we signed the contract early this afternoon....

A couple of hours later I get a phone call from John...
Me: "Hello?"
John: "Is Jeff there?"
Me: "This is he."
John: "Hey this is John with the newspaper route."
Me: "Hey, John, what's going on?"
John: "Did you sign the contract with Tom already?"
Me: "Yes I did earlier today. Why?"
John: "Oh, you did. I didn't think you were going to sign the contract and take it over until later. Well, did he tell you our situation?"
Me: "He mentioned something that you all are not able to move and are now staying in town."
John: "Yeah, that situation fell through."
Me: "I'm sorry...that really stinks."
John: "Yeah, and now we're worried about not having a job. So I didn't know if you wanted to wait another week or two and see if something else comes available for you."
Me: "Well, my last day at my current job is this Sunday and I signed the contract this morning to begin August 4."
John: "Oh...well either way one of us is out of a job. This is an awkward situation. Hmmm....*long pause*....hmmm. Well let me talk to my wife and see if she has any ideas and I'll call you back."

Haven't heard from him since, but I am not looking forward to having to get the necessary materials from them to be able to take over the route. Hopefully there won't be any bad blood, and I do feel sorry for them, but that inappropriate phone call put me in a weird situation.