Has anyone ever had to defend yourself on route??

coldworld · 07-06-2008, 12:32 PM

Has anyone ever had to " step up" and defend yourself out on route? If so, what did mgt do. What is ups' policy on defending yourself from folks out in the wild???

Hedley_Lamarr · 07-06-2008, 12:47 PM

I'm not sure, but I think if you get into a fight you pretty much get fired. But don't quote me on that...

tieguy · 07-06-2008, 02:58 PM

not necessarily. It would be a good idea to let them throw the first punch.

Baba gounj · 07-06-2008, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tieguy

not necessarily. It would be a good idea to let them throw the first punch.

Had a extremely angry resident once chased me ( him on foot ) down a side street, on to a main road about a half mile total, where I got stuck in traffic. He threw open my passenger side door screaming at me, I put the car in park and jumped out of the vehicle and confronted him. ( all the time keeping my hands & arms folded in back ) , he kept screaming something about I was a danger to kids { it was school vacation week, & I haven't seen 1 kid anywhere in that town all week, very rich town they all go away }.He kept screaming that he was going to take away my job.......which made me laugh as I told him...." nobody wants my job " .
He never called in a complaint . I did report it to my sup.

looper804 · 07-06-2008, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baba gounj

Had a extremely angry resident once chased me ( him on foot ) down a side street, on to a main road about a half mile total, where I got stuck in traffic. He threw open my passenger side door screaming at me, I put the car in park and jumped out of the vehicle and confronted him. ( all the time keeping my hands & arms folded in back ) , he kept screaming something about I was a danger to kids { it was school vacation week, & I haven't seen 1 kid anywhere in that town all week, very rich town they all go away }.He kept screaming that he was going to take away my job.......which made me laugh as I told him...." nobody wants my job " .
He never called in a complaint . I did report it to my sup.

Once had a lady accuse me of hitting her car (which I hadn't) and say she was friends with a corporate bigwig and was going to get me fired.I told her to wait while I called the police to file a repot.She said never mind and left.I wrote down the license plate and the police checked it and said it was stolen.Guess she was having a bad day.(If they caught her I guess it would get worse LOL)

outamyway · 07-06-2008, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tieguy

not necessarily. It would be a good idea to let them throw the first punch.

Absolutely true on that if you want to keep your job. Even so, you'll be walking on thin ice with what ever you do AFTER the first punch is thrown. Better to avoid a confrontation while on the clock when ever possible.

If the situation involves more than fists and you have no choice but to fight back. I would take life over my career any day.

looper804 · 07-06-2008, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by outamyway

Absolutely true on that if you want to keep your job. Even so, you'll be walking on thin ice with what ever you do AFTER the first punch is thrown. Better to avoid a confrontation while on the clock when ever possible.

If the situation involves more than fists and you have no choice but to fight back. I would take life over my career any day.

I know quite a few drivers in Brooklyn over the years that had to "defend themselves".None lost their jobs.

outamyway · 07-06-2008, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by looper804

I know quite a few drivers in Brooklyn over the years that had to "defend themselves".None lost their jobs.

Good to hear.

At the moment, I don't have much faith in our union to believe that would happen here.

soberups · 07-06-2008, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tieguy

not necessarily. It would be a good idea to let them throw the first punch.

Sorry, but I disagree. I will always seek to defuse the situation by negotiating, apologizing, or even walking (or running) away if possible, but if some loudmouth announces that he is gonna "kick my ass" and he moves into my personal space or raises a hand, I'm going to take him at his word and do unto him before he does unto me. I'm not interested in getting my nose broken or my teeth knocked out by "allowing" him a free swing.
I once had an irate customer who didnt understand why he had to pay full price for the COD that he ordered. He was ranting and raving and spit was getting in my face. He was also drunk. He then started poking me in the chest with his finger. At that point I very calmly told him that I wasnt going to participate in the argument any longer, and that if he poked me with his finger again I would break it. He knew I wasnt joking, and he shut up and left me alone. The next day he was sober, and he paid for his COD and kept his mouth shut. I have never had a problem with him since.

soberups · 07-06-2008, 04:35 PM

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soberups · 07-06-2008, 04:37 PM

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Diegotron · 07-06-2008, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soberups

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You're awesome. Ok time to go to work.

Midnight shift starting at 8:30, that's just wrong.

Bad Gas! · 07-06-2008, 06:29 PM

I knew a driver in early 2000's that got fired for defending himself at a dock.Some one came at him with a 2 by 4.He was a big guy who would talk smack.,,,He got his job back after a week....But he was fired the next year for somehting else..not fighting...for good.

dannyboy · 07-06-2008, 06:56 PM

I was assaulted once by a guy, from behind.

I had attempted a COD NDA at 9:15, 10:20, and was there again at 11:45. At which time I told him I would be back tomorrow and of course he objected. As I began to walk out of the business, he nailed me from behind, knocking me into the door and onto the floor.

While I am no prude to defending myself, I am also one to notice the odds and do the math. With 6 employees, the odds were not in my favor, so I went to the truck, called 911 and the center. Filed a complaint with the cops for the guy having taken the packages by force without paying for them and assault. Center team did nothing, I guess they didnt want to drive down.

Anyway, long story short, the guy ends up having a tumor in his brain, so in many ways, I am glad I did not retaliate in kind.

Another time I was delivering the mall when I noticed this punk beating the hell out of a girl, with an old man and woman trying to stop him. I got up behind him, and shoved him to the ground, and got between him and the girl. The guy got up, and made like he was going to bring it on, then turned and ran. Unknown to me, but Scotty, a 6'5" feeder driver had seen what was going on and was running to the scene as well.

Even though I swung first, nothing was ever done.

It depends on the common sense your management team uses to judge what happened. And we all know how much sense, common or otherwise management has.

d

Cementups · 07-06-2008, 07:28 PM

I had a tractor trailor driver at a stop come up to my driver side door (summertime) and start cursing at me and eylling about how I was hogging the dock and drive like an ass and all kinds of stuff. I had no idea how any of this ever started either. the guy kept egging me on trying t get me to start something. He was trying to get me to step out of the truck and even throwing around crap about "Don't worry, your fvcking Union will get your job back after I kick your ass." I kept trying to ignore him but finally told him that if he made me get out of my seat he wasn't going to like it. So after a couple more minutes of mindless banter I undid my seatbelt and hopped down. As soon as the guy realized I was about 8 inches taller and 80 lbs. bigger than him he had better thoughts and spent the next 30 seconds going back tot he cab of his rig turning back and swearing at me before he climbed up in and drive off flipping me the bird. when I got inside the warehouse the workers had witnessed the whole thing were laughing their asses off about the whole incident.

I'm only 6'2" and was about 230lbs. at the time so he was a little fella of a truck dirver. Not your usual. All mouth. It's a good thing he didn't really want to fight cause I am not a fighter, just a big guy.

jw55wags · 07-06-2008, 07:29 PM

I had a customer that came to the door and grab me by the neck , started screeming at me saying I scared his wife when I knocked on the door. I knew the guy had a bad hearing problem, so I tried to talk to him. But all the time I could feel his finger nails cutting into my neck. He just kept drawing his fist back saying I"m going to hit you you Son Of A Bit##. So I just kept talking to him- ( I think he had a few mental probs.) He finally let go of me long enough to ask his wife where his pistol was. Well take a guess as how long it took me to get to the truck. Bad news was I had to go around a circle to get by his house. I never stoped for the stop sign. I told mgt. and they wanted me to file charges but I wouldn't. I did report it to police, they took pictures of my bloody neck. Then 2 yrs later I found out they but him in a mental ward cause he had threatened a CVS delivery boy with a knife. And people tell us we got it made out there. The whole worlds full of nuts that get packages every day.

hammye · 07-06-2008, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baba gounj

Had a extremely angry resident once chased me ( him on foot ) down a side street, on to a main road about a half mile total, where I got stuck in traffic. He threw open my passenger side door screaming at me, I put the car in park and jumped out of the vehicle and confronted him. ( all the time keeping my hands & arms folded in back ) , he kept screaming something about I was a danger to kids { it was school vacation week, & I haven't seen 1 kid anywhere in that town all week, very rich town they all go away }.He kept screaming that he was going to take away my job.......which made me laugh as I told him...." nobody wants my job " .
He never called in a complaint . I did report it to my sup.

Newton or Wellesley?

UpstateNYUPSer · 07-07-2008, 02:41 AM

Why do I live up here in the middle of nowhere? For all of the reasons listed above.

Baba gounj · 07-07-2008, 04:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hammye

Newton or Wellesley?

Wellesley

disneyworld · 07-07-2008, 06:11 AM

I was backed up to a stop and had a guy park nose to nose with me while I was inside. I sorted while I waited for him, when he came out he started playing with his paperwork. When I asked him if he was leaving today he said "F*** Y**". After some arguing, he got out, grabbed my jacket and before he knew what happened he was being dragged through the snow. I wanted to hit him but held back. Went back inside to ask if anybody saw what happened and to call the police. Nobody saw it but I guess he did say to the owner "watch this, I'm going to piss the UPS guy off". Funny thing was, It didn't piss me off, I was having too good a day.

Fishbulb · 07-07-2008, 06:20 AM

only had two close calls while on route & both ended without confrontation thankfully. 1st time i was parked in front of a strip mall sort of near the mailbox, wasnt blocking the mailbox but was close enough to it that people couldnt drive up & just drop their mail in the slot, was nowhere else to park. Some fat lazy redneck guy got out & started screaming at me because he had to walk 5 feet to put his mail in the box, yelling that UPS drivers think we own the road & if I parked there again he'd do more to me than just yell at me. I walked away & waved with a sh** eaten grin. Second time I was in a "not so nice" neighborhood & i had just gotten back into the truck when some 16 year old or so punk kid jumped onto the drivers side door & asked me about 7 times(literally) if i had a package for him, getting more confrontational each time he asked. I just kept laughing at him & saying "No man, i dont but please get off the truck I'm real busy today". Then he asked me to give him a lift up the street to the liquor store. Finally I said to him "Get the f*** off the truck or you're gonna have a package shoved down your throat" & I started slowly rolling away & he eventually got the message. I prolly should've kept my cool a little better but when you're having a bad day that kinda crap is the last thing you need. Its like those a-holes who ask you "Hot enough for ya out there?" when its about 95 degrees with 85% humidity.