Minor Incident? Maybe?

UnderPaidSucka

Well-Known Member
Ok last Friday I was backing under a pull chain overhead door (like we all have in our centers) and I tapped the botton of it ever so lightly with my camera guard. I was going very slow because it was a tight squeeze to begin with on the sides.
No mark on the truck and a small half inch scratch on the door where the white paint chipped off.
Guy working there said no big deal and he wasnt worried about it. So I drove away.
Two questions;

Happened Friday night at 5:15, would Monday morning be too late to tell my supervisor?

Should I tell my supervisor?
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Supervisors hate surprises.

You should have told them Friday night at 5:16. I would tell them first thing Monday morning and let them take it from there. It doesn't sound as though anything will come out of it but it's always best to tell them and put the ball in their court.
 

Jones

fILE A GRIEVE!
Staff member
I agree. Even if the customer says "don't worry about it" call your sup and let him know. As long as it stays no big deal nothing will come of it because your management team doesn't want a charged accident any more than you do. If the customer changes their mind and calls it in, you're covered because you already let them know. If you didn't tell them you risk turning a warning letter into a termination. I would let your sup know on Monday morning.
 

Brown_Star

Methods Man
Ok last Friday I was backing under a pull chain overhead door (like we all have in our centers) and I tapped the botton of it ever so lightly with my camera guard. I was going very slow because it was a tight squeeze to begin with on the sides.
No mark on the truck and a small half inch scratch on the door where the white paint chipped off.
Guy working there said no big deal and he wasnt worried about it. So I drove away.
Two questions;

Happened Friday night at 5:15, would Monday morning be too late to tell my supervisor?

Should I tell my supervisor?

Monday morning is a wee bit late to inform your management team. The " guy " working their own the property? If a del guy chipped a half inch off my door I would be pissed!

Accidents happen and when they do DON'T take it upon yourself to making decisions. Let the decisions fall on management. You have to cover your tail allways!

Good Luck
 

UnderPaidSucka

Well-Known Member
He doesn't own the place and it wasn't a half inch broken off the door.
It was a half inch scratch, you cant even see it unless you get real close. Face to door.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
Inform your management team ASAP. In a worst-case scenario, if the owner of the building decided for whatever reason to call in a complaint, you want to be sure that you reported it first. Just be truthful, tell them what happened, and explain that since the employee told you not to worry about it you didnt feel the need to call it in immediately but that, upon further consideration, you want to go ahead and report it anyway. Cover yer butt.
 

UPSGUY72

Well-Known Member
Ok last Friday I was backing under a pull chain overhead door (like we all have in our centers) and I tapped the botton of it ever so lightly with my camera guard. I was going very slow because it was a tight squeeze to begin with on the sides.
No mark on the truck and a small half inch scratch on the door where the white paint chipped off.
Guy working there said no big deal and he wasnt worried about it. So I drove away.
Two questions;

Happened Friday night at 5:15, would Monday morning be too late to tell my supervisor?

Should I tell my supervisor?

Yes monday would be to late but better late than not at all. Building managers don't like getting calls from customers and having no clue of what they are talking about. Tell your SUP what happen else it becomes and integrity issue which could get you terminated if the customer calls and says something.

My first ? is why where you backing to start? How many packages did you have to deliver or pick up from this location. The first rule of backing we all should follow is eliminate all unnecessary backing. Than the 6 keys to backing. Remember (R)everse means Risk.

Something to remember you noitfy your SUP about every incident or injury no matter how small becasue it could turn into something alot bigger at no fault of yours. If you cut your finger a little and don't say anything than it gets infected they are going to say you did it on your time not the company. If you scratch someone else property and don't say anything they could say that you did something more substantial than what actually happen and now it's your word against theres and than you have the problem that you didn't notify your SUP so it's like your trying to hide something.
 

Cementups

Box Monkey
I would report it ASAP.

In our buidling they still charge you with an accident even if the other party never called it in. Sometimes our people have even called the customer to convince them to let them take care of it. So weird.
 

Shifting Contents

Most Help Needed
I heard a story years ago about a guy in another center backing into and old delaptated fence in a driveway at a resi stop. Knocked on the door and told the 15 year old kid what had happened and the kid said, "dont worry about it, the garbage man gas hit it tons of times." So the driver didn't report it. Mom got home that night and kid told mom what happened so mom did wht she always did when the garbage man hit it. She called UPS to have them come fix it like the garabage company did. Center manage got the message and fired the dirver the next morning for not reporting hte accident.

Monday is better then never.
 

outta hours

Well-Known Member
Maybe the door was already chipped before you got there. Did you hear it, or feel it. If not then maybe you did not hit it. Lesson learned either way. Whats a few feet to walk to pickup or deliver. If the squeeze is that tight don't chance it.
 

Re-Raise

Well-Known Member
Inform your management team ASAP. In a worst-case scenario, if the owner of the building decided for whatever reason to call in a complaint, you want to be sure that you reported it first. Just be truthful, tell them what happened, and explain that since the employee told you not to worry about it you didnt feel the need to call it in immediately but that, upon further consideration, you want to go ahead and report it anyway. Cover yer butt.

This is exactly what I would do. I know they blow everything into a major deal sometimes but if you are like me it would be worth it to come clean and not have to worry about looking dishonest.

Like a senior driver told me a long time ago... "you aren't the first one to ride that pony around here".
 

bbsam

Moderator
Staff member
Would you terminate him?

Yes and I would absolutely hate doing it. But it's such an ugly situation to get into because nobody wants an accident but even worse than that, nobody, (including center management) wants to be caught covering up an accident. And this particular incident aside, what position does it put management in the next time there is a minor accident? Is it now going to be up to the driver to decide what is minor and what is not? If I were the driver though, I'd still 'fess up to it and immediately start praying that the union can somehow save my job.
 

menotyou

bella amicizia
No one wants to see anyone lose their job. Don't put someone in that position, it isn't fair to anyone to do that. Report a tree scratching your car. Report a dog peeing on your tire. REPORT REPORT REPORT!!!
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
He would be getting some unpaid vacation time...and then back to work.


Read the original post:

"No mark on the truck and a small half inch scratch on the door where the white paint chipped off.
Guy working there said no big deal and he wasnt worried about it. So I drove away"


The driver got out, checked the package car for damage, and found none. He also made contact with the customer, who told him not to worry about it.

I will agree that he failed to follow proper procedure by not calling it in. But when someone is terminated for failure to report an accident, what they are really being terminated for is dishonesty and this situation as described does not meet any rational or logical definition of dishonesty. If the driver...after thinking about it further....decides the next day to go ahead and report anyway just to be on the safe side, then at worst his actions might merit a warning letter.




 

CustomerConcern

Well-Known Member
Read the original post:

"No mark on the truck and a small half inch scratch on the door where the white paint chipped off.
Guy working there said no big deal and he wasnt worried about it. So I drove away"


The driver got out, checked the package car for damage, and found none. He also made contact with the customer, who told him not to worry about it.

I will agree that he failed to follow proper procedure by not calling it in. But when someone is terminated for failure to report an accident, what they are really being terminated for is dishonesty and this situation as described does not meet any rational or logical definition of dishonesty. If the driver...after thinking about it further....decides the next day to go ahead and report anyway just to be on the safe side, then at worst his actions might merit a warning letter.





I have to disagree, this is a textbook scenario of how Big Brown uses the "Dishonesty" sin, failure to report ANY incident/accident results in termination. Hopefully the cust is decent and does nothing, but if they call, the driver is screwed.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
"Guy working there said no big deal..." may not mean a whole lot when his boss finds out and does consider it to be a big deal.

We had a driver get a 3 day unpaid vacation for backing in to a basketball backboard and didn't bother telling anyone about it. The kid who was home at the time said not to worry about but kid's Mom was not a happy camper.

Best policy is to pick up the phone, call the center and put it in their hands.
 
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