The Insanity of the United States Postal Service

Quote: Evenbob

Will this story have a pic of Face in it next time?

http://thesmokinggun.com/buster/los-angeles/undelivered-mail-bust-028934

Newman!

Quote: Evenbob

Will this story have a pic of Face in it next time?

http://thesmokinggun.com/buster/los-angeles/undelivered-mail-bust-028934

OFFENSE!

The fact that you would think I'd be so lazy as to not put some paper in a box... Ok, that's fair.

The fact that you think I'd sully the good name and intentions of the federal gover... Ok, nvm. That's fair, too

But to think I'd be so stupid as to do all the work of toting it home and then just keep it? Offensive, man. I'm hurt.

I deliver the grey cliffs. Bad day? Just toss that s%@$ in the lake =) Or, you know, f@$%ing burn it or something. I don't even keep my own mail, hell I want 700 other people's for? =p

Quote: Face

I want 700 other people's for? =p

I think it might be "embezzler who kept lying to himself saying he would pay it back" syndrome

in other words, the carrier probably kept saying to herself, "I'll get these delivered later"

Quote: Face

I deliver the grey cliffs. Bad day? Just toss that s%@$ in the lake =) Or, you know, f@$%ing burn it or something. I don't even keep my own mail, hell I want 700 other people's for? =p

Fry (about the item to be delivered): Let's just dump it in the sewer!
Bender: Too much work. Let's burn it and say we dumped it in the sewer.

So I got in trouble...

5 days ago, Peter Principle, my supe, stops me from leaving and says he needs to talk. He then gets up and leads me away, which clued me in that I was in trouble. However, where he stopped led me to believe his exodus wasn't for confidentiality reasons, but to ensure the other supe didn't hear the horse flop about to emanate from his mouth. And, shocker!, I nailed it.

PP: "I have to give you a PDI (pre disciplinary interview, I think) for an incident that happened last week"
F: "Oh... what'd I do?"
PP: "I'm not getting into that right now. We can either do this us two right now, or you can contact the union and have them represent you."
F: "You can't tell me..."
PP: "I just don't want to get into it now! Do you want the union or you want to just handle it?"
F: "Uh... what does the union do?"
PP: "They represent you."
F: "But what is their purpose?"
PP: "They'll come in and sit in on the interview"
(getting frustrated)
F: But what do they DO?"
PP: "They represent you."

Knowing we're headed for a violent outburst from me, I state that I don't know what these rights mean so I'm not going to just throw them away. We're going to do it the hard way, so tell me how we go about doing that.

PP: "OK, contact the union and they'll come in, then we can get this done."
F: "You do?"
PP: "No, YOU contact them."
F: "What's their number?"
(frustration rises)
PP: "I don't have it! You'll have to find it."
F: "OK, so I contact them and tell them...? I mean, I don't have their schedule, I don't have..."
PP: "You just contact them and tell them you need representation"
F: "I got that, but I don't know how this works, I don't know when you're free... it feels like I'm a needless middle and you're not giving me what I nee..."
PP: Just contact them and tell them you need representation"

I obviously gave up there.

So I contact my rep the next day. She gives me the times she's available. Lol, 0730? You're GD right. Let's do it then, since Peter don't stroll in until a few passed 1000. I set it up.

Come in the next day and Peter's all panty knotted. That don't work and I don't arrive, blah, blah, blah. Smiling, I just say I told him this would be hard as I haven't any schedule and nothing is being given to me.

The other supe approaches and asks for the skinny. I tell her and she loses it. That ain't right to approach you like that, ain't right to leave you in the dark, ain't right to even PDI, etc and so forth. I tell her I still don't even have a clue as to what I did, which not only is unsettling, but it's something I could be STILL DOING day in and out. She leaves in a huff to go ream him out and I just carry on with my day.

2 more days pass and Peter approaches me again.
PP: "Hey, PDI is off. I don't come in at 0730."
F: "O...k... uh, but you still haven't told me what I did wrong."
(motion to documents on his desk)
PP: "Don't really have time, I got thi..."
F: (interrupts) "I can see, but can you tell me SOMETIME soon? I mean, I wanna fix it."
PP: (nods)
F: (About face, exit stage left)

So based on nothing more than a scheduling inconvenience, an issue of the level so as to result in official discipline is tossed out. Then it gets really good.

The supe that had my back previously approaches me today and says the PDI is back on for 1000 that morning.
F: "Peter just told me yesterday it was off!"
S: "Yeah, well, he didn't tell anyone else! She called, I had no idea, he didn;t tell anyone, so she'll be here at 1000"
F: "F#$%in hell, it's Tuesday! 1000?! That's a full 75 minutes of me standing around doing f#$%-all!"
S: /sigh "I know..."

So that's what I did. Cased my mail all jacked up just to kill time and make the actual delivery part a bit cleaner, hoping to pick back up some time. Then 1005 comes...

S: "Face! It's back off."
F: (Mimes blowing his brains out)
S: "I know! But he didn't and he shouldn't have and he can't, blah blah, blah..."

So I pack up to leave, and here comes Peter showing up to work.

PP: (Looks at watch) "You, ah... heavy mail today? I mean, ah..."
F: (sarcasm on) "Nope! Just waiting around for the PDI"
PP: "I told you yesterday it was off!"
F: "And S told me this morning it was back on. Something about you never called her..."
PP: (sheepish look) "Yeah, well I,... it was off."
F: "I know. Have a good day, Peter."
(Exit stage right)

That is but the slightest of tastes of the absolute idiocy I deal with Every. Single. F#$%ing. Day.

Coup in '22.

Well that sounds pretty crazy.

If I had to make wild guesses without knowing anything, he was once trying to put some extra work on you, but you saw through his scheme, now he's just screwing with you.

I had a supervisor trying to dump part of his job on me, that he was supposed to be doing himself. Then gets pissed that you won't cooperate and screw yourself for his benefit.

Well, that's all I could think of.

So you still have no idea what you did?
Are you still jumping out and taking a
leak in peoples yards?

If you work anywhere and don't read Dilbert, you should start.

I handle petty cash at our department. I'm chronically short on cash, though that's changing. The reasons vary, but one is that people want 1) advances and 2) very large reimbursements. Now, I tried to set a limit on reimbursements of 5% the value of the petty cash fund. After all, there's 16 people here, and I need cash on hand for regular department expenses. I also tried to limit advances to no more than 1,000 pesos, and I wanted to set a policy of no gas reimbursements of more than 200 pesos.

That's for the petty cash fund. You can get all work-related expenses back 100% if you send it to accounting for reimbursement. You can ask for cash advances at any time, though it takes a few days to process, and the company already covers gas.

I talked to the boss about it. he nodded, agreed, and gave me receipts for about 25% of my fund, including two for gas over 500 pesos each....

It's half-solved now, because we no longer submit reimbursements for petty cash. Instead we get advances and then have to submit receipts to credit them. I can get up to four advances, up to a very large limit, with further advances pending on proof of expenses made.

This is the kind of thing that happens when the workplace becomes too regimented. Seriously, when a supervisor can't just directly say, "Yo, Face, about taking the mail truck to the woods near Corning last weekend to fish? That kind of violates policy." but has to have a hearing and call in a union rep you have to wonder how any mail even gets delivered.

OTOH, I would have my union rep there. One for the same reason the only word to say to the police detective is "LAWYER" but the other that if they want to play this little game and the union is shaking you down then ride it for all it is worth. Seems you plan to be there a few years so better to keep a clean jacket.

BTW: Your story is a reason I have no desire to be in management again.

Quote: Evenbob

So you still have no idea what you did?
Are you still jumping out and taking a
leak in peoples yards?

I got a vague explanation from the other supe, something about delivering an unscanned package and returning with a scanned one, as if I just swapped them on accident. Worth punishment? I guess. But how freaking long would it take out of your day to just run that by me? I understand "I don't have time". I won't ask for you to explain further or begin to argue the point right there. JUST TELL ME WHAT I DID. Takes 9 seconds.

Quote: AZDuffman

This is the kind of thing that happens when the workplace becomes too regimented. Seriously, when a supervisor can't just directly say, "Yo, Face, about taking the mail truck to the woods near Corning last weekend to fish? That kind of violates policy." but has to have a hearing and call in a union rep you have to wonder how any mail even gets delivered.

OTOH, I would have my union rep there. One for the same reason the only word to say to the police detective is "LAWYER" but the other that if they want to play this little game and the union is shaking you down then ride it for all it is worth. Seems you plan to be there a few years so better to keep a clean jacket.

BTW: Your story is a reason I have no desire to be in management again.

True, but not what frustrates me the most. What really gets my goat is that the difference between a positive environment you don't mind or even enjoy coming to, and the idiotic misery of current, is SO EASY TO FIX. The slightest bit of effort, just a different way of speaking, the time to click "Print" on a page you're already on, is all it takes. And this fact completely escapes people. It's easier to just figure that "Post Office is gonna Post Office" and carry on Post Office'ing.

The actual business stuff, I can hardly wrap my head around it. Sure, I get that unions are supposed to protect the working man, but in viewing it in action, in viewing everything, really, it all seems like tasks given so a department has something to do. If there's a value or a purpose to most of this, it is beyond the mind of this man.

Ah well. Not the end of the world, just one of those things that just grates on ya.