i run an aux route 7-12 mon-fri. Pm THOUGHT i missed two scans. Flew right off the handle, drove from her office to satellite office(6 miles). Barges in the door, tells clerk to get on them computer, look this up, look that up. Goes over to my case, goes over it with a fine tooth comb. Finds one letter that came late and i had cased after i came back from the route(never knew i shouldnt do that). Finally figures out the two missing scans are in forwarding. Gets even madder still, keeps looking at all my stuff, trying to find anything to scream about. I wasnt actually there, got this story from the clerk. Pm claimed she will talk to me monday about something. What should my response be?
this is almost laughable. but its not.
- Thread starter johnwayne
- Start date
Deer Smearer
Well-known member
"Can this lead to disciline?"
With witnesses. No discussions without representation. NOT 1 WORD!
With witnesses. No discussions without representation. NOT 1 WORD!
johnwayne -- " Pm claimed she will talk to me monday about something. What should my response be?"
-- If "invited" for a "chat" in the office, can't go wrong with "Deer smearer's" "Can this lead to discipline?" as the first thing you say.
-- If the answer is "yes", immediately request your steward be present. If no office steward, request the Assistant District Representative.
-- Also you can "invite" a co-worker to linger outside the office, as a defensive measure in case the "chat" turns into a "you said - PM said" situation.
"[ PM ] Finds one letter that came late and i had cased after i came back from the route(never knew i shouldn't do that).
-- Lesson learned!
-- Any mail piece that comes in "late" should be left in the Hot Case or given it to the supervisor with the explanation that you found it at your case when you returned from the route.
-- At my last post office, manglement would "claim" a letter was found in the case or under the bottom shelf. As a defense, a next-door carrier would be asked to check the case for a mail-piece that might have been missed when pulling down. Also we'd use something to prop up the bottom shelves just to show there was nothing there. Funny how the claims of a discovered letter suddenly dropped off after that.
-- If "invited" for a "chat" in the office, can't go wrong with "Deer smearer's" "Can this lead to discipline?" as the first thing you say.
-- If the answer is "yes", immediately request your steward be present. If no office steward, request the Assistant District Representative.
-- Also you can "invite" a co-worker to linger outside the office, as a defensive measure in case the "chat" turns into a "you said - PM said" situation.
"[ PM ] Finds one letter that came late and i had cased after i came back from the route(never knew i shouldn't do that).
-- Lesson learned!
-- Any mail piece that comes in "late" should be left in the Hot Case or given it to the supervisor with the explanation that you found it at your case when you returned from the route.
-- At my last post office, manglement would "claim" a letter was found in the case or under the bottom shelf. As a defense, a next-door carrier would be asked to check the case for a mail-piece that might have been missed when pulling down. Also we'd use something to prop up the bottom shelves just to show there was nothing there. Funny how the claims of a discovered letter suddenly dropped off after that.
At my last post office, manglement would "claim" a letter was found in the case or under the bottom shelf. As a defense, a next-door carrier would be asked to check the case for a mail-piece that might have been missed when pulling down. Also we'd use something to prop up the bottom shelves just to show there was nothing there. Funny how the claims of a discovered letter suddenly dropped off after that.
funny you should say that. a couple weeks ago a "sleeper" was discovered in my case. right out in the open, cased in the wrong spot. And just last week, a mystery letter showed up, claimed it had been misdelivered. I had a funny feeling these might not be my fault.
funny you should say that. a couple weeks ago a "sleeper" was discovered in my case. right out in the open, cased in the wrong spot. And just last week, a mystery letter showed up, claimed it had been misdelivered. I had a funny feeling these might not be my fault.
DB.Cooper
Well-known member
The good news is... by Monday morning you will likely not be the crisis of the moment... and they'll be ranting about some other, and completely different nonsense... 
I'd be surprised if they even know your name by Monday...
If they give you any crap... do your best John Wayne on them... now listen here, Pilgrim...
Btw... you need a better avatar...
I'd be surprised if they even know your name by Monday...
If they give you any crap... do your best John Wayne on them... now listen here, Pilgrim...
Btw... you need a better avatar...
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Just when ya think someone couldnt be this dumb, the other day, person gave me the "infamous direct order", to travel a certain distance in an IMPOSSIBLE time frame, I said to the person, basically in no uncertain terms, are you capable of thinking. I then hung up my cell phone on person. Yeah, I know, I do not have to pick up the phone, it wasnt the first time person called about this situation. This is more sad than laughable !
After the delivery standards changed a few years back we no longer receive any negative feedback on sleepers, mail left in the hot case, or misthrows that we put back in the case after returning from the route. It is hard for them to throw a tantrum about a single letter when a occasional full tray of letters comes for a different PO and no effort is made to have that tray delivered even when it is only 45 minutes or less away.
Im pretty sure this has been covered before..but what happens if i find a mistake on the route? DPS has been horrible lately. What should i do with the letter? If i bring it back, ill get a talking to..i cant deliver it. So if i take dps to the street..am i screwed? kind of a rhetorical question..but all of this makes no sense..
What we are supposed to do, is backtrack and deliver the letter if it if first class. Keep track of mileage and you will be paid additional mileage. Rest of the year, you are entitled to EMA plus time. Look it up on NRLCA website or talk to your steward for the provision to cite.
DB.Cooper
Well-known member
Our DPS is so bad, if you back tracked every time something was out of order, you'd be out until midnight... 3M... they'll get it tomorrow... as someone said above... they delay whole trays due to sending them to the wrong PO's... will a few letters here or there grind everything to a halt???
MiddleOfNowhere
Well-known member
we are not paid to case dps, so bringing back 3m mail is inevitable., mis-sequenced, (your route, not not in order), missorted, (your office, but not your route), missent, (mail for other offices). your office should have a 3m case to place this mail. ask your pm, where it is? the po is delaying mail by not processing it correctly.
johnwayne -- "if i look at it the way my pm does..if i dont case dps..and i have missent letters..i technically am delaying mail ."
-- Actually don't give the "delaying mail" a second thought. City carriers have been taking DPS to the streets ( forever, or at least since DPS came into being ). Letters brought back usually sit until the next day. And that was when delivery standards were stricter. Not you fault if the clerks have other things to do besides handle letter brought back from the streets. Likewise not your fault the DPS system doesn't do its job properly.
-- "MON" has the right idea.
-- Actually don't give the "delaying mail" a second thought. City carriers have been taking DPS to the streets ( forever, or at least since DPS came into being ). Letters brought back usually sit until the next day. And that was when delivery standards were stricter. Not you fault if the clerks have other things to do besides handle letter brought back from the streets. Likewise not your fault the DPS system doesn't do its job properly.
-- "MON" has the right idea.
Voglio-il mio
Well-known member
"Sh-t Happens have a good day! If this results in discipline I would like to have a steward here when we discuss this further!"
My wife is kind of an artist at responding to that sort of thing. Her standing advice whenever conflict comes from a superior is to not respond in kind; if they are escalating--de-escalate. Hard to be screaming at someone chill.
Then, always ask for advice on how to do it better: "what/how can I improve on this?"
Now, with something as straight forward as missing a scan, its probably limited in its effectiveness, but inevitably this PM is probably going to be trying to hurry you, blame you, or push you into some corner where you can only say "I'll try harder...." Turning the tables and asking advice breaks the routine of blaming, and forces them to assume the role of problem solver rather than forcing it on you.
Imagine if you were a reg asking a sub the same question. What's the last thing you'd want to hear?
"Oh no. Really? Do you know what it was? Where? How can I make sure this won't happen again?"
When the obvious comes (don't miss a scan) start over. "Somehow I missed this, how can I avoid this? Do you have techniques?"
Just an idea.
Rt2mailman
Well-known member
Csparks, you have a nice wife, mine would tell that manager to go to hell, as would I.
Carriers miss scans because scanners don't work perfectly all the time, as DPS machines. If a manager questioned me about the pm letter, I would explain it, and ask what policy do you have in place for DPS errors found on the street? If she says re-work case, I would say that is another trip to that case that this route was not paid for during count, and I expected you wouldn't want me to do during Christmas overtime. Then say, "To try and fix these errors in DPS, I would like to have a DPS review, oh by the way, you have 24 hours to get all the paper work done and get yelled at by your district manager. This also will take me a little more time to pull out all those errors and let you count them along with all my other hand-size mail, but we should nip these errors in the bud, thanks for your help".
Carriers miss scans because scanners don't work perfectly all the time, as DPS machines. If a manager questioned me about the pm letter, I would explain it, and ask what policy do you have in place for DPS errors found on the street? If she says re-work case, I would say that is another trip to that case that this route was not paid for during count, and I expected you wouldn't want me to do during Christmas overtime. Then say, "To try and fix these errors in DPS, I would like to have a DPS review, oh by the way, you have 24 hours to get all the paper work done and get yelled at by your district manager. This also will take me a little more time to pull out all those errors and let you count them along with all my other hand-size mail, but we should nip these errors in the bud, thanks for your help".
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