dannyboy
From the promised LAND
Its bitter cold, taxes are done, 9am and got supper cooking already. So today I have a bit of time for some thoughts that have been brewing.
The first is that of the "runner/gunner" driver that many management posters here have never heard about.
Well for those of you that havent, here are a few of the signs.
The driver will be the first out of the building. He will most likely not be at the PCM, because he is on the belt tossing those stops off that will cost him some time today. You know, those stops he pulled off the shelf because he was in his car an hour before start time.
This driver will blow everyone off the road in his haste to get to the delivery area. As he makes the deliveries, he will deliver air at the same time as he delivers the ground. The regular drivers cant, because they actually start at start time, and actually attend the PCM.
HE will be seen running to the stop, and running back. On stops that he is not sure about, he will either just sheet them up as NS# or "get them close enough" and drop them off.
He is the type of driver that will be back in the truck pulling away before the doorbell stops ringing. And never ever takes a lunch, even though an hour is taken away.
As he makes the deliveries to business stops at 1PM, he will make the pickup, knowing full well he really should come back between 3-5, because they will send it out FEDEX if not. But he does not care, its all about him. Besides, how can he make a pickup at 4:30 when his package car has been back at the center since 4:15?
That is also the reason he will never ever be available to help out the driver next to him when they need help. Help to him is a one way street, meant only for help to be received, never given.
And what makes this behavior grow is the fact that this type of behavior is praised by the management team because he "turns out the numbers". You management folk know the type of driver I am talking about. The one that has had two roll aways in three years, and 6 other accidents over the last 4, but yet strangely, very little disciplinary action was ever taken.
Second subject is a bit different. I have read a lot of posts here over the last 8-9 years that have a lot of things in common. And that is a gross dissatisfaction with the job held at UPS.
It is true, we all need to verbally express our feelings or get rid of that burr under the saddle. IT puts a "face" on the problem that makes it real, gives us an outlet to express or dissatisfaction or pain that at times makes it easier to deal with.
But where do we draw the line? When does a complaint move from a mere expression of our dissatisfaction to become the very cause of our problem, a self fulfilling prophecy?
I have seen it too many times at UPS. Those drivers who spend their whole life being so negative about every single thing, that they never ever see anything else.
Kinda reminds me of a guy that posted here a while back. Everything in his life that was wrong was his mamma's fault. Here it is he is 18-19, and everything was an obstacle that was in his way cause of something his mamma either did or didnt do for him. He was a victim. He wanted to stay a victim, unless someone got him out of victimhood. Nothing was his fault or responsibility, it was always his mamma's fault.
If you show up for work with your hands grasping your ankles every day, what makes you think you will not be a target to get a good screwing? You want to be under the gun, its your comfort zone. I have found, with some few exceptions, that the drivers that garner a lot of negative attention, usually brought most of it upon themselves. Not always, but usually.
Try an attitude change. Quit letting the dissatisfaction with your job dictate how you will perceive your job.
Once your perception changes, so will the reality.
Enough ranting.
d
The first is that of the "runner/gunner" driver that many management posters here have never heard about.
Well for those of you that havent, here are a few of the signs.
The driver will be the first out of the building. He will most likely not be at the PCM, because he is on the belt tossing those stops off that will cost him some time today. You know, those stops he pulled off the shelf because he was in his car an hour before start time.
This driver will blow everyone off the road in his haste to get to the delivery area. As he makes the deliveries, he will deliver air at the same time as he delivers the ground. The regular drivers cant, because they actually start at start time, and actually attend the PCM.
HE will be seen running to the stop, and running back. On stops that he is not sure about, he will either just sheet them up as NS# or "get them close enough" and drop them off.
He is the type of driver that will be back in the truck pulling away before the doorbell stops ringing. And never ever takes a lunch, even though an hour is taken away.
As he makes the deliveries to business stops at 1PM, he will make the pickup, knowing full well he really should come back between 3-5, because they will send it out FEDEX if not. But he does not care, its all about him. Besides, how can he make a pickup at 4:30 when his package car has been back at the center since 4:15?
That is also the reason he will never ever be available to help out the driver next to him when they need help. Help to him is a one way street, meant only for help to be received, never given.
And what makes this behavior grow is the fact that this type of behavior is praised by the management team because he "turns out the numbers". You management folk know the type of driver I am talking about. The one that has had two roll aways in three years, and 6 other accidents over the last 4, but yet strangely, very little disciplinary action was ever taken.
Second subject is a bit different. I have read a lot of posts here over the last 8-9 years that have a lot of things in common. And that is a gross dissatisfaction with the job held at UPS.
It is true, we all need to verbally express our feelings or get rid of that burr under the saddle. IT puts a "face" on the problem that makes it real, gives us an outlet to express or dissatisfaction or pain that at times makes it easier to deal with.
But where do we draw the line? When does a complaint move from a mere expression of our dissatisfaction to become the very cause of our problem, a self fulfilling prophecy?
I have seen it too many times at UPS. Those drivers who spend their whole life being so negative about every single thing, that they never ever see anything else.
Kinda reminds me of a guy that posted here a while back. Everything in his life that was wrong was his mamma's fault. Here it is he is 18-19, and everything was an obstacle that was in his way cause of something his mamma either did or didnt do for him. He was a victim. He wanted to stay a victim, unless someone got him out of victimhood. Nothing was his fault or responsibility, it was always his mamma's fault.
If you show up for work with your hands grasping your ankles every day, what makes you think you will not be a target to get a good screwing? You want to be under the gun, its your comfort zone. I have found, with some few exceptions, that the drivers that garner a lot of negative attention, usually brought most of it upon themselves. Not always, but usually.
Try an attitude change. Quit letting the dissatisfaction with your job dictate how you will perceive your job.
Once your perception changes, so will the reality.
Enough ranting.
d