Are You A Convict Or An Inmate At UPS?

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

11 years left on my sentence.

 

[pickup]

Isn't it amusing that there are a lot of prison references in our everyday conversations.

"How much time do you have left?" ( meaning to retirement )

"I'm a lifer."

" I can't quit because of these golden handcuffs."

'I'm just doing my time , man ."


are we in a prison?

heard an explanation on the radio the other day about the origin of the word deadline: apparently, some prisons were hastily or cheaply made with no fences. It was explained very clearly to the prisoners that the boundaries of the prison were clearly marked and that if any of them were to cross this line, the offenders would be shot dead. :hence deadline. A slightly more thorough explanation of the origin of the word can be found here : www.answers.com/topic/deadline

 

[ImpactedTSG]

I got paid to leave 3 years ago and was told never to come back.

 

[pickup]

are we in a prison?[/QUOTE]


This is a really really deep question that i think I ll post on a bit at at time. We are in prison (I think most people are if not all but I'll explore that aspect at another time) , except we have it better than most people. We get to leave at the end of the working shift. We choose what we eat. No guns (physical ones anyway) are pointed at us. We (drivers anyway) don't share our cell with anyone else, yet it is not solitary, there is enough interaction on both ends of trip. I think the package car drivers are in a maximum security prison while the feeder drivers are in a more medium security one (although someone here once typed that the "numbers" mentality is creeping more and more into feeders.) . But the key here is that you have the key to your prison cell. If you don't like it, you can walk out the door on your own volition and find another prison more to your liking.

 

[Channahon]

Interesting thread, as I was nearing retirement, I felt like I was getting paroled, after a life long career at UPS. I use the same analogy for my friends at UPS that are reaching their retirement.

Luckily, I didn't have to go before a board to be heard, just submit the paperwork, count down the days, and the feeling of walking out of the building, knowing I would never have to park my car in the UPS lot, was priceless!!

 

[anonymous6]

Pickup is right when said that "We pick our prison"

I think it's just like that Dylan song " You got to serve somebody" everybody does.

But there is something good. We can CHOOSE how we do the time with our attitudes towards it.

You can choose to be positive or choose to be negative. I constantly try to monitor my attitude. When well rested and hanging with fun people my attitude is always super. When tired and hanging with the whiners in the break room or speaking with managers, my attitude becomes poor ( sometimes for days )

So, usually the weekend cures that and a lot of self talk. Compared to the previous 12 years driving big rigs before UPS, there is really no comparison. UPS is heads and tails 10 times better than any other company out there.

But their corporate mentality is way worse than a lot of companies I have worked for. It's so negative instead of trying more positive approaches.

I worked for an alcoholic wino truck co. owner that payed me $10 an hour that had more Integruty in his little finger than any manager i have met at UPS. I was sorry to leave his company but economics demanded it. drivers gave him great respect and loyalty and would do anything for him.

that's what I miss.

 

[MechanicForBrown]

WE are all prisoners of war!

 

[pickup]

Pickup is right when said that "We pick our prison"

I think it's just like that Dylan song " You got to serve somebody" everybody does.

But there is something good. We can CHOOSE how we do the time with our attitudes towards it.

You can choose to be positive or choose to be negative. I constantly try to monitor my attitude. When well rested and hanging with fun people my attitude is always super. When tired and hanging with the whiners in the break room or speaking with managers, my attitude becomes poor ( sometimes for days )

So, usually the weekend cures that and a lot of self talk. Compared to the previous 12 years driving big rigs before UPS, there is really no comparison. UPS is heads and tails 10 times better than any other company out there.

But their corporate mentality is way worse than a lot of companies I have worked for. It's so negative instead of trying more positive approaches.

I worked for an alcoholic wino truck co. owner that payed me $10 an hour that had more Integruty in his little finger than any manager i have met at UPS. I was sorry to leave his company but economics demanded it. drivers gave him great respect and loyalty and would do anything for him.

that's what I miss.

I forgot about that dylan song but when I heard it a few times( doesn't get much airplay anymore ) , I thought dylan had it right. The song I thought you were going to mention was the eagles song "hotel california" (which my friend swears is about going into a mental hospital - mirrors on the ceiling etc). There is a line in that song "we are just prisoners here , of our own device" . True, in so many ways.

 

[Catatonic]

I'm at DisneyWorld
I'm along for the ride
Ridin' high, Ridin' low
Yippie Ki Ya ... let's go Trigger

 

[upsgrunt]

I forgot about that dylan song but when I heard it a few times( doesn't get much airplay anymore ) , I thought dylan had it right. The song I thought you were going to mention was the eagles song "hotel california" (which my friend swears is about going into a mental hospital - mirrors on the ceiling etc). There is a line in that song "we are just prisoners here , of our own device" . True, in so many ways.

Don't forget the line- "You may check out, but you can never leave"
Does this mean when we leave UPS that we will have post traumatic stress disorder?

 

[browniehound]

Anyone that would liken prison to working at UPS never did a day of time in their life. If you did, you wouldn't compare the two. I never spent time in a prison cell, but know enough about it that working at UPS is a privilege and not forced time.

If you think working at UPS is so bad that it compares to prison time, then I think you are soarly mistaken. I know most are saying it with tongue in cheek, but its still way off base.

 

[Jim Kemp]

Isn't it amusing that there are a lot of prison references in our everyday conversations.

"How much time do you have left?" ( meaning to retirement )

"I'm a lifer."

" I can't quit because of these golden handcuffs."

'I'm just doing my time , man ."


are we in a prison?

I have often thought this. Every time I meet a driver whether it's in California, New York or some rural podunk town I get the same question.
"How much longer you got" ? And my reply is the same "Just one day at a time".

 

[spuman]

"I won't pretend to know what you're thinking
I can't begin to know what your going through
I wont deny the pain that you're feeling
But I'm gonna try and give a little hope to you

Just remember what I've told you
There's so much you're living for

There's a light at the end of this tunnel
There's a light at the end of this tunnel
For you,for you

So keep holdin' on

You've got your disapointments and sorrows
You ought to share the weight of that load with me
Then you will find that the light of tomorrow
Brings a new life for your eyes to see

So remember what I've told you
There's so much your living for"


words by Mac Powell/Music by Third Day

Third Day is a Christian rock band from Georgia,this song helps me when I
struggle with every day life at UPS.You Tube Third Day ...Tunnel to give it a listen.

I used to be a prisoner but I've been set free.

God's Blessings

 

[ol'browneye]

I share a cell with Ben Dover.

 

[rod]

I share a cell with Ben Dover.

Isn't he a movie producer?

 

[Babagounj]

I be neither.
I be the warden.

 

[dilligaf]

I don't know yet. Guess I haven't decided. LOL

 

[brownmonster]

Anyone that would liken prison to working at UPS never did a day of time in their life. If you did, you wouldn't compare the two. I never spent time in a prison cell, but know enough about it that working at UPS is a privilege and not forced time.

If you think working at UPS is so bad that it compares to prison time, then I think you are soarly mistaken. I know most are saying it with tongue in cheek, but its still way off base.

 

[Paid-over-in-Maine]

I guess I'm a convict. Backinbrown, you'll vouch for me, huh?

 

[backinbrown]

I guess I'm a convict. Backinbrown, you'll vouch for me, huh?

Convicted convict yes you are