WWJD

[toonertoo]

Ok, its late, 7pm, I wanted to be out of my bad area by now but for some reason, I have too much workIve got 20 left, and I am heading down a road, and about 25 to 30 people thought that they should block the road so no one could go by. Not that they were trying to block it, just that they decided to meet and hang out together and nothing else matters than their "life". Just oblivious, just entitled to block egress for roads they most likely have never paid a dime for. Cars and truck on both sides of the road. I sit and wait while other cars turn around and go the other way. They do not even acknowledge me. I see a path.......its a slim one but I am not going to be blocked in here, more cars from the same group behind me, I have no where to go but forward. The "music" is so loud my truck is vibrating. We got a Bunch of high rise olds , a few lexus with disability tags, a couple Montes, a bunch of fat women with big bubble butts, and juvenile "men" with long shorts and blunts. And not a single person realizing , Gee maybe we ought to move so this person can go through.
Lets see I can get high by breathing, or I can call 911 and be a target from then on, or I can just plow my way through.
WWJD, Im not sure, but I , plowed through. I had them yelling at me, "hey man dont hit my ride" "" is she doing? I calmly said I am going through, one "girl" in a car, with a clear way to back up, didnt think she needed to move, and I told her to move Or I would move her, and she did. I guess she liked her "ride" the way it is. you know life is hard enough Im sick of idiots. I could have lost my job or my life, Guess which I choose? All I know if you take the crap from them it gets worse, Im not taking it.
So to you seasoned drivers who live through this crap on a daily basis, what do you do?

 

[satellitedriver]

I have no good response to your question.
I would lose my job or my life under those conditions.
If I lost my life, at least I would not be going alone.
Damn, tooner you need a nose gunner and a tail gunner with pit bulls chained to the bumpers.

 

[hseofpayne]

Ok, its late, 7pm, I wanted to be out of my bad area by now but for some reason, I have too much workIve got 20 left, and I am heading down a road, and about 25 to 30 people thought that they should block the road so no one could go by. Not that they were trying to block it, just that they decided to meet and hang out together and nothing else matters than their "life". Just oblivious, just entitled to block egress for roads they most likely have never paid a dime for. Cars and truck on both sides of the road. I sit and wait while other cars turn around and go the other way. They do not even acknowledge me. I see a path.......its a slim one but I am not going to be blocked in here, more cars from the same group behind me, I have no where to go but forward. The "music" is so loud my truck is vibrating. We got a Bunch of high rise olds , a few lexus with disability tags, a couple Montes, a bunch of fat women with big bubble butts, and juvenile "men" with long shorts and blunts. And not a single person realizing , Gee maybe we ought to move so this person can go through.
Lets see I can get high by breathing, or I can call 911 and be a target from then on, or I can just plow my way through.
WWJD, Im not sure, but I , plowed through. I had them yelling at me, "hey man dont hit my ride" "" is she doing? I calmly said I am going through, one "girl" in a car, with a clear way to back up, didnt think she needed to move, and I told her to move Or I would move her, and she did. I guess she liked her "ride" the way it is. you know life is hard enough Im sick of idiots. I could have lost my job or my life, Guess which I choose? All I know if you take the crap from them it gets worse, Im not taking it.
So to you seasoned drivers who live through this crap on a daily basis, what do you do?

Talk to your driver sup, ask them if they can move that section up in your ED or swap it to someone in the area earlier. We have really bad parts of town our management doesn't want us in after dark. Some of our guys have been attacked over some East Bay tennis shoes! I have had the police come get me in one particularly bad area and tell me to leave the area, it wasn't safe. If the sup won't do anything, talk to the police and see if they will talk to your sup about your safety. If all else fails, just run it early and hold something safer back for late. I wish you luck, I have been there.

 

[toonertoo]

My sup was with me yesterday, and he left at 3. Smart.
After that I got chewed on by a pit bull. No puncture, just bruised. Stray, loose, dont know.
They know and dont care.
I could not run it early, this part is usually one I save for late, its not usually as bad.
Its a blind eye, no one cares, no one listens, cops dont care, they just stay away, unless there is a shooting or something they have to go to.
Mgmt doesnt care, not that they wouldnt like to care, they dont know what to do, they just ignore it.
And this week they have given me too much work for whatever reason, I cant even get the bad areas done early.
I was the last one in, and Im sure it was an 8hr plan it just took me 11.

 

[hseofpayne]

My sup was with me yesterday, and he left at 3. Smart.
After that I got chewed on by a pit bull. No puncture, just bruised. Stray, loose, dont know.
They know and dont care.
I could not run it early, this part is usually one I save for late, its not usually as bad.
Its a blind eye, no one cares, no one listens, cops dont care, they just stay away, unless there is a shooting or something they have to go to.
Mgmt doesnt care, not that they wouldnt like to care, they dont know what to do, they just ignore it.
And this week they have given me too much work for whatever reason, I cant even get the bad areas done early.
I was the last one in, and Im sure it was an 8hr plan it just took me 11.

I am sorry for your trouble. I can remember walking off residentials in one of our bad hoods and turning around to see a guy yanking on the bulkhead door chain trying to get in. What are you gonna do? If someone wants that damn pkg car bad enough, I ain't gonna get hurt trying to stop them. What I did probably wouldn't work on your rte these days, get in too much trouble. I just started breaking off and running the bad parts and missing biz stops but thatwas before ED. After riding w/ me, my sup pulled the bad section and gave it to an extended rte to run on the way out, get 'em early before they wake up! I hope you can work something out , this job is stressful enough w/o having to be afraid ,too!

 

[JustTired]

Might as well get used to it. It is only bound to get worse. As long as we keep shipping our jobs overseas to communist China and India, nothing will get better.

My...how the mighty have fallen!!

 

[DS]

Tooner,I don't know how you deal with crap like that all the time.Surely there is someone higher up that could help you either by rearranging your area to allow you to get in and out of that part of town early,or just taking it off altogether and giving you something else.Do you have access to the DM's phone number?Maybe tieguy has some suggestions.

 

[toonertoo]

Im going to find someone to talk to on Monday.
I knew it would get worse when it warmed up.
I butt up to the next center, so there is really nowhere else to send me.
And with the standards being what they are, they think they have to keep giving me more of the worsest work, and more commercial. I guess if I start blowing commercial, they might listen. And if they wont make an attempt to listen, that is what I will have no choice but to do.

 

[cino321]

I deliver in the ghetto all the time. Stop count and work needs to adjusted to reflect the fact that you can't driver release, etc. Commercial needs to be done early so you can do you worst buildings/blocks first.

If you really feel uncomfortable, go there earlier. Break off trace, explain to your on car you don't feel safe, or let them come out with you at night. Trust me I have had a ride from a stubborn on car as to why my numbers weren't good, he didn't believe me, I showed him at 8 at night what the problem was.

Sheet packages as emergency conditions, hold for will call, whatever. Doesn't matter do it in the name of safety. Strangers giving you problems? Don't worry about it call the police, call the center say you're scared to get out of the package car, etc.

On a more personal note, I wouldn't want to deliver any where else . Always busy, most of the people are great, I enjoy it.

 

[helenofcalifornia]

Do you ever think of giving up your route and bidding on another route when one comes up? I know you probably like most parts of your route, but if you were on another route or even covered other routes (until another route came available), wouldn't you be under alot less stress? When was the last time you have been on a route without the problems you face daily? I don't know Tooner, you are a much stronger and tougher woman than I-I would have bailed on your route years ago. Life at UPS is hard enough without the daily stress you are forced to endure.

 

[tieguy]

Ok, its late, 7pm, I wanted to be out of my bad area by now but for some reason, I have too much workIve got 20 left, and I am heading down a road, and about 25 to 30 people thought that they should block the road so no one could go by. Not that they were trying to block it, just that they decided to meet and hang out together and nothing else matters than their "life". Just oblivious, just entitled to block egress for roads they most likely have never paid a dime for. Cars and truck on both sides of the road. I sit and wait while other cars turn around and go the other way. They do not even acknowledge me. I see a path.......its a slim one but I am not going to be blocked in here, more cars from the same group behind me, I have no where to go but forward. The "music" is so loud my truck is vibrating. We got a Bunch of high rise olds , a few lexus with disability tags, a couple Montes, a bunch of fat women with big bubble butts, and juvenile "men" with long shorts and blunts. And not a single person realizing , Gee maybe we ought to move so this person can go through.
Lets see I can get high by breathing, or I can call 911 and be a target from then on, or I can just plow my way through.
WWJD, Im not sure, but I , plowed through. I had them yelling at me, "hey man dont hit my ride" "" is she doing? I calmly said I am going through, one "girl" in a car, with a clear way to back up, didnt think she needed to move, and I told her to move Or I would move her, and she did. I guess she liked her "ride" the way it is. you know life is hard enough Im sick of idiots. I could have lost my job or my life, Guess which I choose? All I know if you take the crap from them it gets worse, Im not taking it.
So to you seasoned drivers who live through this crap on a daily basis, what do you do?

the crazy technique can actually be very effective.

Hey who's lexus is that right here....Mine why?....

Cause I ain't had my medication and that lexus is the first car I flatten if You A-holes don't get out of my way.

Sounds like you need to get that section moved up to BDWU in your route.

(before druggies wake up.)

 

[DS]

the crazy technique can actually be very effective.

Hey who's lexus is that right here....Mine why?....

Cause I ain't had my medication and that lexus is the first car I flatten if You A-holes don't get out of my way.

Sounds like you need to get that section moved up to BDWU in your route.

(before druggies wake up.)

Tie,I know you are being funny,but I got a code 14 last month and a pending days suspension for saying,jeez lady,I hope I'm not as grumpy as you when I get older.

 

[BrownSuit]

Yeah, I would definitely make sure that you talk with somebody and that this is in writing as to the conditions on your route.

To follow-up on what DS said in response to Tie (I got the sarcasm BTW ) even the "Move or I'll Move it" could have been taken way out of context and caused some issues if that lady called 800 or the Center.

If you have something in writing that these conditions exist, they can't come back and say "You should have told us this was a problem before taking it out on the general public."

 

[tieguy]

Tie,I know you are being funny,but I got a code 14 last month and a pending days suspension for saying,jeez lady,I hope I'm not as grumpy as you when I get older.

Streets different. We're not talking normal people here thus Tooners approach was actually very effective.

Honest answer is there are parts of the city we should automatically will call rather then try to deliver them.

But if you do go out you mind your own business and when confronted with craziness you act a little crazier then them.

 

[Mike Hawk]

I think Jesus parted large bodys of stuff(water) with a stick, or maybe that was Moses, been awhile since I read that stuff. Anyhow the modern equivalent is a baseball bat, I think that would move them if you came out swingin'.

 

[JustTired]

Rule #1 when bidding an area.

Never bid an area that contains a town that has more than one grocery store. That usually soves the "bad section" problem.

Rural routes can suck in the winter, but they are so much more pleasant in the warm months. I tried to lead a sheltered UPS life by staying out of the city as much as I could. Biggest stress out in the boonies is getting stuck in someones 1/2 mile driveway.

 

[New Englander]

As others have said. Go to your center manager turn it into a personal SAFETY issue. When he or she starts stuttering say you'll need to make an issue of it with your safety team AND his/her boss. Then you will use the Hot Line number.

You may need the route rewritten. Time consuming but doable.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Do you ever think of giving up your route and bidding on another route when one comes up? I know you probably like most parts of your route, but if you were on another route or even covered other routes (until another route came available), wouldn't you be under alot less stress? When was the last time you have been on a route without the problems you face daily? I don't know Tooner, you are a much stronger and tougher woman than I-I would have bailed on your route years ago. Life at UPS is hard enough without the daily stress you are forced to endure.

Helen, while this suggestion may indeed work out for Tooner, and I most certainly would not blame her for following your advice, it does not solve the problem of someone having to deliver that part of town at an unsafe time of day. The new driver may not have the tact that Tooner has and may try to take matters in to his own hands with not so pleasant results. Or, on the other hand, he may not have the ability to deal with this situation and may find himself in over his head. The center team needs to address this issue now before somthing happens that they may have to address later.

 

[toonertoo]

I think I will write a letter addressing my concerns, as no one seems to have much time for me in the AM, since I am too busy trying to convince someone why I cannot take all the work they keep putting on me. And how late I will be out.

I always have had these areas done early since I started getting them, but most days now I do commercial til 5, or Ill miss it. No 1 Is on paper it says I need more work, I do not. When I took my route 5 yrs ago, it was fine, mostly commercial til pickups and a small section of resi. It was fine.
There are/have not been any routes in recent times to bid on. Here they only go up when someone dies or retires.
My route now is nothing like I bid on. And I do not mind the as someone called it ghetto. I have a very good way of telling where I will be in trouble and where I wont. I Have only started getting the real bad parts about 1 yr ago, then only occasionally, now daily. I look at the yard, the decoration on the porch, if some effort has been made to make the houses look "cozy" I know im most likely safe. Some of the nicest people are the truly poor, I agree. They are the truly disabled, the ones who need my delivery. Its not the people who I deliver to who in any way for the most part, that have given me problems. Its the people around them who give me the problems.
The ones who sit on thier porches, and let their kids climb on my package car.
The ones who let their dogs charge at me.
The ones who wont let me pass and do my job.
I can be tolerant when two cars meet and stop and carry on a short exchange, thats not what this was, it was a party that decided to start in the middle of the street, in one of my better areas that I still like to be out of by 5. Someone tried to rob an old man and take his vehicle, when he stopped for a stop sign here at this block a few weeks ago. The house was for sale, I guess it sold to a bunch of losers. And now its party alley.
Any way, I appreciate the advice. Thanks tooner

 

[1989]

Know of a driver who was pistol whipped on route about 10 years ago...It was about noon while doing his businesses...He was out for about a month then was sent to a different building...Nothing about the route changed.