Monday, May 16, 2011

Why the post office doesn't work -- part 1017

So my truck breaks down on the route today.

Like I'm supposed to do, I call the office. And I call again. And again. And again.

Yeah, no one's answering.

So I finally text one of the clerks and ask her to pass along the info that I'm broken down and calling the maintenance guys to service the truck.

I takes the dude about 30 minutes to get out to my truck. Now bear in mind -- I told the dispatcher what was wrong with the truck, so they had an idea of what was up before hand. Turns out it's the starter. Problem is, the mechanic doesn't have a starter with him.

?!?

After I described the problem on the phone, they don't send out the necessary parts to fix the vehicle.

So the dude calls in for the part to be sent out. And we wait. And wait. And wait.

It finally gets there after nearly another 30 minutes. So I've been standing out in the sun, doing nothing, for over an hour now. And guess what? Guy has brought the wrong starter!

?!?

Now apparently, there are only two types of starters for these vehicles. If it was you, would you not have brought one of each with you? You know, just in case. 'Cause you've got this big ole' truck and them lil' starters are so teensie weensie, why golly, you could just put bunches of them in there without causing any problems.

So they call, again, for the right part to be delivered. And we're gonna have to wait for it. And again, bear in mind -- I've been on the clock for over 7 hours now with no break or lunch and it's mid-afternoon and I've got 3/4's of my route left to deliver and my truck is still broken!

So I call my office and tell my boss I'm going to need another truck, 'cause heaven knows how much longer this is going to take and I'm going to need help to get off the street by 5:00pm.

Now the 5:00 window, though total bullsh*t, is a really hot topic at the P.O. They harp on it constantly and it is a daily source of aggravation and point of contention between management and craft.

So my boss knows what's up. Knows all the consequences of delays here. My office is 5 minutes away from where I'm broke down. The vehicle maintenance office is over 30 minutes away. Wanna guess who gets to me first?

My bosses, but only by one minute!

Long story short (too late, I know), I swap my stuff out, get some help from another carrier, skip my lunch (if you're counting at home, that's almost 10 hours on the clock with no breaks or food) and get done.

A simple situation, something that could have been handled with a minimum of disruption to the timely delivery of my route turned into a complete clusterf*ck nightmare!

And this incompetence permeates every level of the Post Office. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of decent, hard working, consciencous workers at the P.O., but gross stupidity and mis-management runs rampant throughout the organization.

And to think, I'm going to have to ride this Titanic all the way to the bottom.

*groan*



And for no particular reason, here's Adrianne Palicki, of the now cancelled Wonder Woman reboot. Probably a bad idea, since tv writing pretty much sucks these days, but I was looking forward to seeing if they could pull it off.

Plus she's kind of hot, which is a good thing.


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