One summer in college a buddy told me that the mail was hiring summer help to cover vacations and whatever other humannel shortages. So 3 or 4 of us went down to take the test. I ended up getting another job but one guy got the gig. Keep in mind we were fairly intelligent and had done well in our studies. Oh, and we were all 18 or so.
After a few days to get the hang of it, he figured out a better way to do the route and got it done by noon or earlier. I think he had to be there at 8, sort his stuff then hit the street. The other mailmen took all day, would finish by 4 or 5. So my buddy would go home, hang out, meet others of us for lunch, do whatever ( he did not have a gf so that was not a feature of his schedule), then go back to the facility 4ish, sort some mail, and close out. We were all quite jealous. At some point his supervisor got wind of his deal and called him in for a chat. He explained that letting anyone else know about this would cause problems with staff and his higher ups etc etc. So basically WTF you doing college boy? my buddy said but wait, I could help you get this whole operation running better, get more done, fewer people, save money, whatever. (Remember he was 18 and knew everything at that point in life). The supervisor then had to explain to my dumbass buddy that the whole point of the operation was to hire people, spend money, buy more trucks, bigger facilities, more machines, people move up the ladder, more pay, more staff to manage, all that. He advised my buddy to keep doing what he was doing and STFU about it around the office so as not to upset the delicate balance of built-in inefficiency and bureaucratic budget growth. Oh, and upset his less-perspicacious colleagues who also yearned to f off half the day but were not sufficiently analytical or insightful to figure out the scheme. This was a significant educational experience for my buddy as he learned the way of the gummint bureaucracy. And he got paid well for it and got to basically screw off half the summer. He was not asked to return the following summer. --FT Sent from iFōn > On Dec 12, 2021, at 10:17 PM, Clay via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > In the early 80’s I stood the test to be a carrier. At the time pay would > have been great ($10.hr) and the test simple. My fellows in the room were a > motley crew of ESL and high school grads, along with a few veterans. I > opted to continue higher education over putting in marathon strolls in rain. > At the time the postmaster at the local had high volume and competent crew. > By the time I returned to the zip code a few years later it was bedlam and > equal opportunity hires behind the counter. My carrier was one of the guys I > took the test with, who became the postmaster around 2012. Went from a nice > guy to a power hungry jerk who yelled at me when I had issues with the > replacement carriers who no longer spoke english or knew how to deliver or > pick up mail. > > The job is not an easy one. There was a neighbor a few blocks over who > transitioned from working the state liquor store to carrier when the citizens > voted to disband the bottle shoppes. He dropped 60 pounds and worked himself > to the bones. Finally got a decent route after five years of busting his > backend. Last I talked to him he was not the happy fellow I had known. > Stressed out, hitting the bottle and pretty much screaming about Amazon > having screwed over USPS because he had to get their junk delivered even if > it meant he had to skip the people at end of his route and hope to get their > mail delivered in the next day or three. > > GWN seems to run a dedicated Amazon route for boxes, while the carrier has to > handle anything that fits in the mailbox. I have not met the carrier, but > the way he plays at Mario Andretti, I doubt I will. > > Clay > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
