above and beyond the call of duty..... - Brown Cafe

GUTHREE · 04-13-2009, 08:22 AM

anybody have interesting stories that has happened while @ work? please share...example.......

one day i'm delivering a package over in a ritzy neighborhood. i'm a young driver, just trying to get the job done. also, i'm a reactor, can't help it. i pull up to this stop on a cul de sac, and notice one small kid, maybe 8-9 running out of his garage into the neighbors, yelling call 911. instinctively i get out, go running over there and notice a pole in the backyard and some tree branches were on fire. something shorted out i guess, and it lit up. me and this kid go and get the hose and turn it on, and he's trying to untanble it, and we start putting the fire out. kinda funny now i think about it. fire/police show up, of course blocking me in, and finish it up. i remember telling them i gotta go. they're laughing.

GUTHREE · 04-13-2009, 08:28 AM

i think we've all seen this. i am delivering to a area where i know a older woman lives alone. i knock on the door, and the door was not closed all the way, and it opened. like a old haunted house, it just slowly opened, and next thing i know the house alarm goes off. ****. i'm thinking if i just take off, it might look suspicious, but kinda worried about going in. i remember yelling out the womans name, but don't ever wanna just go walking in. let the police do that. go walking back to my truck, kinda slow, thinking the customer would come to the door. she didn't. police/fire show up a few minutes later, and go rushing in. now, knowing me, i have to stay. very nice old woman, and i'm totally worried now. maybe she's not even home. anyways, short version, gives me chills just thinking about it, they come wheelling her out on a gurney. she had fallen and hit something and had been knocked out. omg. older people can just fall and their bodies can't recover from it. she was ok after her fall, and we became really good friends until she died a few years later. aw. never hurts to (kinda) keep a eye on some of your customers that might just need it.

PassYouBy · 04-13-2009, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GUTHREE

never hurts to (kinda) keep a eye on some of your customers that might just need it.

Never hurts to keep an eye on anyone. This should be an everyday thing, no matter if you are working or not.

I was covering a route the other day after working Pre-Load and I am 12 hrs into work coming back to the center. I see a car on the other side of the Interstate and notice a older gentleman as I go by. So, me being me I go down 3 miles to the next exit and turn back around to go help. When I get there I asked the man if there was something I could do, and he responded that AAA was coming. So, I sat there with him for about 15 minutes till they came to help him.

I just always put into perspective that this could be my Father, Mother, Grandparent of maybe even "God"

Just remember what you do ALWAYS comes back in one way or another!

DS · 04-13-2009, 08:04 PM

I had a sig req pkg at a house with an elderly lady just before Christmas, as she was signing the diad,she started shaking and passed out.She was heavier than me,but I managed to get hold of her and eased her to the floor.I told her I was calling 911 and she begged me not to,and said if you get me on my feet I'll be ok,which I did.I dropped by a half hour later and she was up and about.The next day some family members were dropping off gifts and I told them what happened,and they seemed quite unconcerned...weird.

dilligaf · 04-13-2009, 09:26 PM

Last year I had just pulled up to a resi del. As I was walking down the driveway I heard someone hollering from across the street. At first I didn't pay much attention but before I got halfway down the driveway it was quite apparent that someone was in trouble. I went back to the truck and set my diad and package down in the truck and hurried across the street. An elderly women of considerable size had been carrying a box into the house and her foot slipped out from under her. She was in a precarious position and could not move. After getting a good position with my feet and body and after some considerable heaving, she finally got her feet back under her.

soberups · 04-14-2009, 05:54 PM

Lets see....

I have "delivered" at least 10 dogs that were running loose back to their owners, I recognized the dogs and was able to get them into the truck by offering them treats.

I once used my package car as a moving shield to prevent a horse from running out onto a highway....it had escaped the pasture and was in someone's yard that was fenced on 3 sides, I kept going back and forth along the open side to contain the horse until a neighbor showed up with a lasso and a trailer.

An elderly woman had fallen on her porch and couldnt get up, so I helped her....but the only way I could lift her was from behind wth my arms going under her arms and across her chest. Kind of embarrassing to be "groping" her like that but I had no other choice.

I stopped my package car one night on a windy, unlit road for a woman who waved me down after rolling her car down an embankment and into a stream. Her car wound up underwater on its roof, and she had to crawl out thru the window and up a muddy bank. It was snowing and she was wet and hypothermic so I gave her my coat and let her sit in the seat while I ran the heater and called 911 on my phone. We had to wait almost 1/2 an hour for the EMT's to show up. I *almost* risked my job on that one because I could barely get a signal on my cell phone and I considered driving her back to town myself, but I was finally able to get thru.

BLACKBOX · 04-14-2009, 06:55 PM

While on lunch and standing in line behind a heavy set woman, all of a sudden she goes down like a sack of potatoes with her grocery cart tipping over. I grabbed her as she was falling and man! dead weight, I made sure she didn't hit her head on the floor. She was a diabetic and just passed out, fire Dept. showed up within minutes.

As I was gathering the things from her cart I had to laugh. Only snacks and junk food, nothing healthy.

GUTHREE · 04-27-2009, 05:54 PM

i have delivered a dog once or two also. gorgeous golden retriever and a labrador running back and fourth all over a 4 lane road. i pulled over and they came running up, imagine that. (they probably thought i had a delivery for them, lol) they easily jumped on in, and i looked at their tags, and their address was on them. drove over and pulled up and the homeowner came out and said they were doing construction in the backyard, and left the gate open. she was in shock, in tears, and gave me $50. aw.

edd_tv · 04-27-2009, 07:04 PM

i had a lady collapse when she came to the door as i delivered. i had to call 911 and go and wait for them to come and show them where her house was( rural area about half mile off road) anywho, turns out she was almost the victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. i still stop by and talk with her and her husband everytime im up that way. they are always saying how lucky she was that i was there.

by the way, what was your managements responses? my cm actually had the cajones to tell me i should have kept on going because it made me go over 9/.5 that day. i told him his little report looking bad is a lot worse than the negativity of a ups driver leaving a woman for dead because his bosses numbers need to look good

GUTHREE · 04-27-2009, 08:12 PM

alot of these interesting things happened back in my young rookie, running and gunning days. you know, when bonus was still around. my boss loved me because i produced numbers. 3 years ago, though, i had a guy pass out right in front of me, while i was talking to him. he hit the cement floor in the warehouse and i knew something was wrong. i ended up giving cpr on him, until the ambulance arrived. he's ok now, but had a massive stroke, and is wheelchair bound him for life. funny how you tell ups what happened and they're like "oh." sickening.

Dagoof · 04-27-2009, 10:24 PM

One day I Had just left the center not even to my first stop yet the car in front of me gets T-boned. The guy was trying to beat me across the street and didnt even see the honda in front of me. I stopped called 911 and waited with the young girl until police and EMT's showed up. She was ok just shaken up when I got back to the building that night her mother had called to thank me it happend to be our old OMS who had gone driving out of another center. So remember the people we help could be someone closer than you think. Its a small world after all. Now every body sing

ol'browneye · 07-20-2009, 08:59 PM

Pulled up to a house after dark last winter to find their flu on fire. I delivered the pkg and let them know about their flu fire. I helped them got their hoses hooked up and get the fire put out. Good thing I showed up when I did since the house and chimney were cedar-sided!

hurricanegunner · 08-14-2009, 08:34 PM

I witnessed an accident at an intersection(one car ran a red light and t-boned another). I ran to the t-boned car and another witness ran to the other car. There was not much for me to do, other than call 911 and try to calm the driver, who just had an arm injury from air bag deployment. But because I was a witness, I had to stay there for about 45 minutes and give statements to a couple of different cops. I called and told the cm, and he said fine. This was after I had sent in my eta. The next day, I was called into the office, by the cm, to explain why I went over my eta. Oh well.....

brown bomber · 08-14-2009, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dilligaf

Last year I had just pulled up to a resi del. As I was walking down the driveway I heard someone hollering from across the street. At first I didn't pay much attention but before I got halfway down the driveway it was quite apparent that someone was in trouble. I went back to the truck and set my diad and package down in the truck and hurried across the street. An elderly women of considerable size had been carrying a box into the house and her foot slipped out from under her. She was in a precarious position and could not move. After getting a good position with my feet and body and after some considerable heaving, she finally got her feet back under her.

brown bomber · 08-14-2009, 08:49 PM

hope you used proper lifting techniques....otherwise, if injured ...there would be an investigation

dilligaf · 08-14-2009, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brown bomber

hope you used proper lifting techniques....otherwise, if injured ...there would be an investigation

LOL Yes, as much as possible anyway. It is much easier to get a box to cooperate with proper lifting than it is to get a live person to.

Eclipz · 08-16-2009, 09:06 AM

Kinda sad that saving another human being seems less important than producing good numbers for your cm. Must be a totally different situation too in the US than over here. As long as you deliver your package's on time and don't miss any pu's, you can take hours of breaks without anyone complaining.

Can't recall any heroic deeds I or a colleague driver have done btw.