Mundane Thoughts or Comments

[davismanLV]

Everyday I understand the phrase "I'm getting too old for this crap" on a much deeper level. With age comes wisdom.

I was really torn which emoticon to use.... laugh or cry. I used laugh, but it could go either way.

 

[Default]

Everyday I understand the phrase "I'm getting too old for this crap" on a much deeper level. With age comes wisdom.

This. I had to drive my trainee back to the post office and dump him off because he refused to recognize the depth of his ignorance. I may not be a rocket scientist, but I know something about delivering mail.

 

[Teleguy61]

This. I had to drive my trainee back to the post office and dump him off because he refused to recognize the depth of his ignorance. I may not be a rocket scientist, but I know something about delivering mail.

An unfortunately common occurrence.
There is a sub-section of the younger generation who feels they were born knowing everything
they will ever need to know, and you, specifically, can't tell them anything.

 

[davismanLV]

There are lots of kids who are nice and open to learning..... these days. But those kids are too young to work. The ones from the last gen..... I'm not sure. I don't want to be that whiney old man... I really don't. But ....

 

[Opsimath]

I wonder how old I will be when I finally learn not to put hot food into my mouth.

 

[Default]

An unfortunately common occurrence.
There is a sub-section of the younger generation who feels they were born knowing everything
they will ever need to know, and you, specifically, can't tell them anything.

The sad thing is, all he had to was suck it up for today, and he would have been on his own. I must have trained 40-50 new hires and quality does vary, but this is the first one that was oppositional, so I refuse to blame it on "kids today". Most people who come in have no idea how physical the job is, or how much there is to it.

One of my stock jokes is how every lady I ever dated said they wished they had my legs. Sorry, but you can't pick and choose, you have to have all of me.

 

[Guildedagain]

I wonder how old I will be when I finally learn not to put hot food into my mouth.

Unfortunately, old enough to forget as soon as you learn it...

 

[GGJaguar]

Unfortunately, old enough to forget as soon as you learn it...

So true.

 

[jp]

About 20 years ago, when I was telling my wife's uncle about similar issues I had with a new hire, he told me "I'm too old to know everything."

It's stuck with me ever since.

 

[davismanLV]

About 20 years ago, when I was telling my wife's uncle about similar issues I had with a new hire, he told me "I'm too old to know everything."

It's stuck with me ever since.

Serious wisdom there...... the older I get, the lesser I know.

 

[mushroom]

The older I get, the more I forget how old I am.

 

[Midnight Toker]

Just walked out on my front porch and accidentally cornered a fox....ON my porch! Freaked me the hell out! I'm sure he was more startled than I was. I just slowly walked back inside and watched him bolt across the street for the woods from the window. I see them out late at night all the time, but never ON my porch!

 

[WaltW]

Serious wisdom there...... the older I get, the lesser I know.

For me it's "the older I get the better I was!"

This. I had to drive my trainee back to the post office and dump him off because he refused to recognize the depth of his ignorance. I may not be a rocket scientist, but I know something about delivering mail.

So, Default, my daughter works in FL for the USPS and is the designated trainer for all new contract hires. She has been a "regular" for 3 years and actually floats periodically between 3 different offices when they need help training newbies. She tells me that many of them just don't get it.........what work is about in general and that life does have it's ups and downs. Sheesh.....................!

 

[Default]

For me it's "the older I get the better I was!"

So, Default, my daughter works in FL for the USPS and is the designated trainer for all new contract hires. She has been a "regular" for 3 years and actually floats periodically between 3 different offices when they need help training newbies. She tells me that many of them just don't get it.........what work is about in general and that life does have it's ups and downs. Sheesh.....................!

I'm supposed to say, "I've got more time in the bathroom*, than you have in the Post Office!"

It kind of shows how bad things are when they have to have a three-year n00b as a designated trainer. Combined experience in the 4 trainers at our office is about 85 years. I'm sure she's great, but that just shows how there isn't much effort being put into training. At our training site, the instructors put a lot of time and training in teaching curbside mailbox delivery. Of course, the new hires will never see a curbside mailbox again when they go to the city. So I have to start from scratch and try to teach the basics of carrying mail efficiently and in a way that wouldn't get them hurt. They aren't aware of how physical the job is, and they don't generally like the idea of working every Saturday, Sunday, and holiday for the next two years of being a contract worker.
It doesn't help that we have a pretty chill management team, and then they get sent to work at a station where the management is dictatorial. A lot of other things where we aren't as flexible as civilian jobs. Even the people that come directly in from the military suffer a culture shock.

262 days.


*on the clock.

 

[WaltW]

Default, my daughter is the floater in her regular assignment. She covers everyone's day off....5 different routes, each day different. One is 1/2 retail and half condo group boxes, the other four are rural. She Does work in a very hostile environment at all three offices which really drains any enthusiasm she might have.
She had a lot of difficulty in the very beginning. Fortunately her manager took her under his wing and taught her how to properly case her deliveries among other things to make the job easier. He transferred shortly after her issues disappeared.

 

[Default]

I'm not disputing her hard work. I know she busts her chops every day. I kinda of figured that she was still a utility - three years in, it's unusual for any carrier to get a route. I was a utility for about a third of my career, and know what it is like to be one.
About the different routes she does. Yeah, that's Florida. Philly has almost no curbside delivery. Usually, it's two or three streets on only one route in the ZIP code. That's why it's ridiculous for "our" trainers to spend so much time on skills that they will never use. If they are training people for the outer rings of the suburbs, that would be fine.
I'm not impugning your daughter's work ethic in any way - I've humped mail for 33 years as of the third, and it's a tough job where you get no respect from anyone, except another postal employee.

We just had a guy transfer into my station from FLA. We worked in an area where Amazon didn't have a delivery service. He routinely delivered around 6-700 packages daily, and was doing 3-4 hours of overtime on his own assignment.

During COVID, I worked 105 calendar days straight. I averaged 85-90+ hours a week for a couple of years. By your timeframe, she became a regular during COVID, and to me, that proves she's tougher than woodpecker lips.

Since they ask for trainers based on seniority, I'm kind of surprised that there were that many nopes before it filtered down to her, that's all.

 

[walrus]

...where you get no respect from anyone, except another postal employee.

I'm in the middle of suburbia with the same mail carrier for years (Mike). Am I the only one saying hello when their mail carrier comes by? I even give him a gift for Christmas...

walrus

 

[Midnight Toker]

I'm in the middle of suburbia with the same mail carrier for years (Mike). Am I the only one saying hello when their mail carrier comes by? I even give him a gift for Christmas...

walrus

Same. I've had the same mail carrier for several years and I always greet her when I see her. On saturday's when everyone is home, she either has to get out of her truck to reach the box or parallel park to get to it from the truck because of all the cars parked on the street. I make a point of walking out to the street to get the mail directly from her to make it easier. I handed her a plate of cookies and a hot chocolate last christmas. She was super appreciative. If more people did that, they might stop getting their neighbor's mail. Simple fact of life. People that are cared about reciprocate care, especially in their jobs. You just don't see it anymore, but once upon a time, people knew the names of and were friendly w/ their mailman, their grocery checkout clerk, their bank teller, etc, etc. Today it's hardly even....your next door neighbors.

 

[davismanLV]

Same. I've had the same mail carrier for several years and I always greet her when I see her. On saturday's when everyone is home, she either has to get out of her truck to reach the box or parallel park to get to it from the truck because of all the cars parked on the street. I make a point of walking out to the street to get the mail directly from her to make it easier. I handed her a plate of cookies and a hot chocolate last christmas. She was super appreciative. If more people did that, they might stop getting their neighbor's mail. Simple fact of life. People that are cared about reciprocate care, especially in their jobs. You just don't see it anymore, but once upon a time, people knew the names of and were friendly w/ their mailman, their grocery checkout clerk, their bank teller, etc, etc. Today it's hardly even....your next door neighbors.

SAME, Dan!! We get water delivered from Sparkletts, and we've had about 3 guys. The first guy was for 4 or 5 years. And when he'd show up at Christmas, I'd go out and give him a Christmas envelope with cash and he honestly just almost in tears hugged me and said, "I love you guys!!" Now I'm not sure where they transferred him but now we have Vaughn.... and he's good. And I can't imagine him doing this for every customer, but I get "Hey it's Vaughn, how many bottles to you need today?" and I answer, and he comes and delivers every time. Same Christmas thing. If you treat people right, they really appreciate you. It's a tough world out there. Try to make it easier for everyone.

 

[JohnW63]

I'm always friendly to all the different delivery people. I say "Thanks! " as some of them are jogging away from my front door. I figure it's a demanding job and as some time they just might be carrying a nice Guild guitar to my front porch. Be good to them and they just might return the favor.

I tried to be nice with my mail carrier when her mail truck wouldn't re-start right at my mailbox. Being a car tinkerer, I asked what happened and tried to figure out if it was something simple and she could get back on her way. I thought it just might be a fuel issue and tried to dribble a little fuel in the carb. It was a little more of a dribble than I wanted and when she tried to start it, it backfired out the carburetor, ( Which then told me it was a timing issue ) but that caught the carb on fire! We used her water bottle to put it out. I told her how sorry I was and internally hoped it wasn't a Federal offense I just committed ) and she was nice and told me to not worry about it and a back up truck was on it's way. I've decided to keep being nice to a more reasonable level.