The Psychology of the BBQ

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
For something like 30 years now, the main methodology for FedEx to deal with employee unhappiness, anxiety, or fateful new takeaways has been the barbecue. You know, cheap food, bottled water, and off-brand sodas, or if you're really lucky, some gristly cheap cut of mystery meat and potato salad, all prepared with questionable cleanliness and zero refrigeration...yum. Bad food, and possibly food poisoning. For awhile, food budgets were eliminated, but apparently the almighty BBQ is rising like a phoenix from the ashes to be foisted upon us once again. Goody.

Here's the real message behind the BBQ..."FedEx Cares" and "We hear your concerns". First, no they don't care, and second, they could care less about what you think. You are units of production...nothing else, and they don't want your input or opinion, just your labor. If you think about it, what motivates most employees? That's right...money, OR the ability to take more of it home through quality benefit programs. Some people are also motivated by being "team members" as in 1+1=3 as part of a synergistic effort toward mutual goals. Doesn't exactly sound like that's happening here, does it?

For $100 or so per station on average, they think they are buying your continued loyalty and dedication, AND also defusing any sort of move toward unionization. The fact that they think this still works is disturbing enough, but to continue trotting it out forever is really pathetic. One would think the SFA results that were so horrific that they had to kill and bury them in a New Jersey landfill would be enough to provide a clue, but no, the force field that protects MEM from reality is still fully intact and apparently, incapable of being penetrated by logic and common sense.

Weenie roasts, hamburger cookouts, and the like motivate children, not adults, and that's how MEM views us...as little kids. Can you imagine what would happen if Microsoft, Apple, and other companies actually operating in reality offered their workers BBQ instead of a raise? Or if they performed a self-insurance ripoff scam on employees and tried to blame other factors to "explain it away"? There would be chaos, and the talented people would start to leave, kind of like what's happening now at FedEx.

So, the next time you bite into that delicious Costco weenie that cost Fred a quarter, and drink down that warm bottled water or soda that cost a dime, think about the motivation the corporation has for "treating you", and the ramifications of that mindset. Just don't eat the potato salad that has been setting in the sun for 5 hours...because that is analogous to what this company has become.
 

hypo hanna

Well-Known Member
FedEx has a paternalistic attitude towards the hourly employee that equates to treating us as children. Because we had bought into their lies, it reinforces that notion that we are wards of their largess. I'm a grown woman with a family to support. I can not do that on Costco hotdogs and FedEx BS campaigns.
you get what you pay for and until I receive a living wage I see no reason to provide superior customer service or put forth any extra effort on behalf of this corporation.
 
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hypo hanna

Well-Known Member
We just got the "you guys better get the numbers up or else a lot of you wont be around here in a few months" speech.

Translation; "if the station doesn't hit the arbitrary goals set for us by Memphis, your managers won't get their bonus and may be transferred."

 

Bankrupt

Well-Known Member
We are having one fri, our mgrs were so stoked to inform us this am. No reaction from the "working poor" I got no issues with our ops mgrs so I'll grab a bite before I go home. If the SR bothers to show his face I'll just go home and make tacos for the fam. I'm still working here so I'll deal with all the bs that comes with the job, but break bread with soulless backstabbing liars I'll pass.
 

SmithBarney

Well-Known Member
I starve at home, and obviously others do too.. so I eat what I can, put some in a drawer for tomorrow.. and hope that the night sort doesn't take all the left overs.. sometimes we can have breakfast the next day!
 

DontThrowPackages

Well-Known Member
I starve at home, and obviously others do too.. so I eat what I can, put some in a drawer for tomorrow.. and hope that the night sort doesn't take all the left overs.. sometimes we can have breakfast the next day!
Its nice when a customer offers lunch. That's 10 dollars saved for that day. That's how bad its getting for fx while Ups, which provides the same service, eats steak.
 

Route 66

Slapped Upside-da-Head Member
Its nice when a customer offers lunch. That's 10 dollars saved for that day.

I can honestly say that in all the years that I was a courier I think I had that happen to me a grand total of around zero times. Every so often a soft drink or a brownie tossed at me, but that's about the extent of it. I must've always worked in the wrong places.....or perhaps all my customers thought I was an A-hole
 

Catatonic

Nine Lives
I can honestly say that in all the years that I was a courier I think I had that happen to me a grand total of around zero times. Every so often a soft drink or a brownie tossed at me, but that's about the extent of it. I must've always worked in the wrong places.....or perhaps all my customers thought I was an A-hole

I guess not everyone gets their kicks on Route 66.
 

whenIgetthere

Well-Known Member
I can honestly say that in all the years that I was a courier I think I had that happen to me a grand total of around zero times. Every so often a soft drink or a brownie tossed at me, but that's about the extent of it. I must've always worked in the wrong places.....or perhaps all my customers thought I was an A-hole

The only thing I get offered is coffee when I deliver the Starbuck's payroll, but I don't drink the stuff!
 

'Lord Brown's bidding'

Well-Known Member
Its nice when a customer offers lunch. That's 10 dollars saved for that day. That's how bad its getting for fx while Ups, which provides the same service, eats steak.


Actually, there's a promo in our district right now where the centers that go injury and accident free for the month of August will get a steak dinner; it was going to be steak and crabs but they thought that was too much.
 

SmithBarney

Well-Known Member
Every single driver who "earned" perfect attendance asked for a cash option instead of breakfast from mcdonalds... They all ended up with McNuthin
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
Every single driver who "earned" perfect attendance asked for a cash option instead of breakfast from mcdonalds... They all ended up with McNuthin

The entire premise of the BBQ scheme is to give nothing, and pretend that it is something. Just like paper BZ's, attaboys and attagirls and the rest of it...worthless. No money, or very minimal money, plus the pretend "appreciation" of FedEx don't do much damage to Fred's wallet.
 

Mr. 7

The monkey on the left.
Too bad.
I used to work at a place that was family owned with about 200 employees.
If we all did good, the largest BBQ trailer you ever saw would pull into the parking lot and it was all you could eat.

Being served by guess who? The big boss. He knew everyone's name whether it was on your shirt or, not.

I even ran into this big boss twice on the street (out of uniform) and he knew my name right off the bat. I'll never forget working for that family.
 
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