Why do you stay?

[sano]

Originally Posted by NHDRVR

This job is a soap opera if you let it become one.

My truck is parked between the 2 most polar opposite drivers you could ever encounter. The gentleman to my right, and he is a gentleman, is a man of few words, involved in his church, a 'great' guy to b.s. with in the morning and he honestly does not carry any baggage with him as it pertains to this job. Yes, he is tired as I am at the end of the week but it isn't a mental grind for him other than the general day to day that is in every career. He is quick with a joke (Billy Joel is on the radio right now...) and is also quick to help the new guys if they ask. He is never, never, ever, one to stand on a soap box and bitch and moan about his job. He knows what he signed up for. (He has about 25 years in or so and I have known him for about 15 of those)

The guy on my left, here we go. He has a horrible attitude, although he makes you laugh when he complains, he is still clearly frustrated as if he had no idea when he worked 7 years part time what the driving gig was all about. He has been fired/working terminations on 2 different occasions, complaints up the wazoo and every week is a new chapter in the aforementioned soap opera.

You are so right that IF you let this job become a soap opera it will.

Another question is how many of us do either A) engage in the drama or B) keep your head down and just try to coast out the door every day.

I choose B.

Isn't that the truth?
I load for a driver that comes in every morning and acts startled and appalled that his truck is full. Um yeah that's what we do here, fill the truck in the morning, you empty it, then fill it, then bring it back...

Another driver has just as heavy of a route and is happy as a lark. when I apologise for the load (nothing I can do, bulk stops fill the center from bulkhead to rear door) He just grins and say "we ain't afraid of the big bad wolf"
I can only imagine which one enjoys his day more.

[MobileBA]

Union Seniority, wages, pension, medical, vacation and a timeclock. Each day I punch out and take nothing home!

[jennie]

Originally Posted by NHDRVR

This job is a soap opera if you let it become one.

My truck is parked between the 2 most polar opposite drivers you could ever encounter. The gentleman to my right, and he is a gentleman, is a man of few words, involved in his church, a 'great' guy to b.s. with in the morning and he honestly does not carry any baggage with him as it pertains to this job. Yes, he is tired as I am at the end of the week but it isn't a mental grind for him other than the general day to day that is in every career. He is quick with a joke (Billy Joel is on the radio right now...) and is also quick to help the new guys if they ask. He is never, never, ever, one to stand on a soap box and bitch and moan about his job. He knows what he signed up for. (He has about 25 years in or so and I have known him for about 15 of those)

The guy on my left, here we go. He has a horrible attitude, although he makes you laugh when he complains, he is still clearly frustrated as if he had no idea when he worked 7 years part time what the driving gig was all about. He has been fired/working terminations on 2 different occasions, complaints up the wazoo and every week is a new chapter in the aforementioned soap opera.

You are so right that IF you let this job become a soap opera it will.

Another question is how many of us do either A) engage in the drama or B) keep your head down and just try to coast out the door every day.

I choose B.

I try and do the B thing, but sometimes its hard! I want to engage in the drama, but avoid eye contact, and then talk to myself when I leave

[MechanicForBrown]

Originally Posted by jennie

I try and do the B thing, but sometimes its hard! I want to engage in the drama, but avoid eye contact, and then talk to myself when I leave

Talking to your self is ok as long as you don't talk back! LOL

[22.34life]

we are spoiled at ups but after years there you forget this.we work at a job where we make more the the national average for income most of us well over,get great benefits good vacation time and great job protection.I mean lets face it you have to be pretty bad to get fired at ups and not get your job back.at other places you mess up once and your history.i have worked at ups for over ten years and while you have problems alot the positives outweigh the negetives by far.people complain all the time about ups and i tell them if you hate it that much quit and find something better, if you can

[NHDRVR]

Originally Posted by 22.34life

we are spoiled at ups but after years there you forget this.we work at a job where we make more the the national average for income most of us well over,get great benefits good vacation time and great job protection.I mean lets face it you have to be pretty bad to get fired at ups and not get your job back.at other places you mess up once and your history.i have worked at ups for over ten years and while you have problems alot the positives outweigh the negetives by far.people complain all the time about ups and i tell them if you hate it that much quit and find something better, if you can

With all due respect, we are 'far' from spoiled at UPS. In regards to your workplace description, yes, you're correct about the wage, benefits, vacation, etc., but I challenge you to find me another employer that gives equitable benefits that demands as much as our employer.
Specifically, I know that Budweiser and a few of the other union based companies that I have delivered to in the past give about the same pay to their minions but they don't come close to our workload, hours, or social demands that we have to put up with daily. Not even close.
I am honestly quite tired of the 'There's the door if you don't like it' because the majority of us do not mind what we do, our problem, and it's the important point that probably got this site started in the first place is...

wait for it.....

UPS does not treat employees with very much repect and they burn a dollar to make a dime with their silly dispatch decisions.
This is completely seperate from what we earn in our paychecks.

I like my job, I like most of the people on my cushy little run in the sticks of southern NH, and I earn every damn bit of it. I only have to go as far back as a winter storm to know what I do and how hard our jobs can be. I ain't curing cancer but I am delivering the meds that might...

[Big Babooba]

Originally Posted by MechanicForBrown

Talking to your self is ok as long as you don't talk back! LOL

I talk back

[purplesky]

Originally Posted by 22.34life

we are spoiled at ups but after years there you forget this.we work at a job where we make more the the national average for income most of us well over,get great benefits good vacation time and great job protection.I mean lets face it you have to be pretty bad to get fired at ups and not get your job back.at other places you mess up once and your history.i have worked at ups for over ten years and while you have problems alot the positives outweigh the negetives by far.people complain all the time about ups and i tell them if you hate it that much quit and find something better, if you can

Dude we are not spoiled at UPS. We earn every penny we make! Why do you think UPS is hiring right now in this economy? Because its a terrible place to work. The national avg. income thing is a joke because you cannot compare working at UPS to anywhere else.

[ReLooped]

Why do I stay?
because of the pay and benefits. quitting just because management is clueless is stupid...i mean what job doesn't have an idiot in charge somewhere? It's just in the case of UPS we seem to have a large concentration of them. can you tell i'm a bit jaded? :P

[Hoaxster]

Originally Posted by MechanicForBrown

Talking to your self is ok as long as you don't talk back! LOL

I don't talk back but one of those co-hosted personalities does ... I think it's Alice.
Especially on the golf course.

[Pip]

The reason I stay...


Pay & Benefits
Retirement
Normalcy (M-F same hours. 8 and skate)
Challenging with something new everyday
The people/co-workers
More time to do my favorite hobby. Catfishing.

[brownrodster]

Originally Posted by NHDRVR

wait for it.....

UPS does not treat employees with very much repect and they burn a dollar to make a dime with their silly dispatch decisions.
This is completely seperate from what we earn in our paychecks.

This is my one complaint with UPS. How idiotic and stupid the dispatch is on a daily basis yet it's us drivers not maintaining SPORH that is bringing the company down. I contend that we could achieve higher SPORH with less effort if the dispatch and preload were not as completely retarded as they currently are.

It's not my SPORH that is going to make UPS bankrupt. It's the stupid supervisor who thinks sending me off route 15 miles to do a pickup (while driving through 4 other routes) when there are 20 closer drivers is a good business decision. Then I have to drive 15 miles back and complete my route. I know, he's probably just trying to sham up the numbers by adding miles and huge pickup numbers to my route. But it's his fake numbers that will be the death of this company not me being .7 SPORH less than they want.

[Mike23]

Originally Posted by purplesky

Dude we are not spoiled at UPS. We earn every penny we make! Why do you think UPS is hiring right now in this economy? Because its a terrible place to work. The national avg. income thing is a joke because you cannot compare working at UPS to anywhere else.

Wrong! Ever worked at a landscaping company? Longer hours AND less pay. Only good thing is the boss jokes with you and treats you with A LOT of respect cause he knows he's underpaying you.

Try labor on a construction site? Same deal.

Try roofing? Same deal.

Try laying Asphalt? Again, same deal.

We have a good paying job and, honestly, a GREAT job. The only downside is dealing with managements politics. You get rid of that and we're overpaid compared to the actual hard workers.

[dilligaf]

Mike, while I agree that those jobs are hard manuel labor those workers do not have a 10th of the responsibility we do, so even though they don't get paid as much as we do, we DO earn every penny we make.

[1989]

Originally Posted by Mike23

Wrong! Ever worked at a landscaping company? Longer hours AND less pay. Only good thing is the boss jokes with you and treats you with A LOT of respect cause he knows he's underpaying you.

Try labor on a construction site? Same deal.

Try roofing? Same deal.

Try laying Asphalt? Again, same deal.

We have a good paying job and, honestly, a GREAT job. The only downside is dealing with managements politics. You get rid of that and we're overpaid compared to the actual hard workers.

The problem with labor is you can't pay the employees more than they produce.

[UpstateNYUPSer]

[QUOTE=Mike23;565146]Try labor on a construction site...[quote]

I'm glad you mentioned this one. During the strike, I worked for a construction company. I worked 46 hours and earned a whopping $253. I then had to hand my ex-wife $250 for child support. She was kind enough to ask me how much I had made and handed $100 back. Point is, I busted my butt for 46 hours for what I would have grossed in 8 + OT. The construction supervisor even asked me how much I would have grossed at UPS for 46 hours and when I told him ($1500+) he was blown away.

Now, for those of you asking why I wasn't on the picket line, that is a story for another thread.

[What'dyabringmetoday???]

[quote=UpstateNYUPSer;565328][QUOTE=Mike23;565146]Try labor on a construction site...

I'm glad you mentioned this one. During the strike, I worked for a construction company. I worked 46 hours and earned a whopping $253. I then had to hand my ex-wife $250 for child support. She was kind enough to ask me how much I had made and handed $100 back. Point is, I busted my butt for 46 hours for what I would have grossed in 8 + OT. The construction supervisor even asked me how much I would have grossed at UPS for 46 hours and when I told him ($1500+) he was blown away.

Now, for those of you asking why I wasn't on the picket line, that is a story for another thread.

I am sure it is not much of a story. You have made it very clear how you feel about the union. Only good when you pull a lunker and need to get out of a bind.

[UpstateNYUPSer]

[quote=What'dyabringmetoday???;565355][quote=UpstateNYUPSer;565328]

Originally Posted by Mike23

Try labor on a construction site...
I am sure it is not much of a story. You have made it very clear how you feel about the union. Only good when you pull a lunker and need to get out of a bind.

What the hell is a lunker?

I did not support the strike. I did take my place on the picket line for the first 2 days but after I watched guys drinking beer out of coffee cups and one of our employees who had too many cups of "coffee" go in to the middle of Rt. 3 to express his displeasure at a passing motorist who found it incredulous that a bunch of "overpaid" employees were on strike to become more "overpaid" (his words, not mine), I thought my time would be put to better use if I actually did something with it. I was told that if I didn't sit on the picket line I wouldn't receive my $55. Funny thing is I did receive it but ended up giving it right back (and another $55) for Union dues.

I never once thought of crossing the line.

[Mike23]

Originally Posted by dilligaf

Mike, while I agree that those jobs are hard manuel labor those workers do not have a 10th of the responsibility we do, so even though they don't get paid as much as we do, we DO earn every penny we make.

I can't recall the post but there was a former driver working at the zoo putting down some padding who got his hand cut off by a saw.

Many of these jobs are A LOT more dangerous then ours. We putter around in a vehicle all day that's bigger then 90% of the ones out there. It's a lot safer then, say, working high rise construction of some sort balancing on beams.

Also, they have contracts to fulfill just like we do. Theirs is just months instead of overnight. It's almost the same stuff just we're union so get paid better.

[What'dyabringmetoday???]

[quote=UpstateNYUPSer;565362][quote=What'dyabringmetoday???;565355]

Originally Posted by UpstateNYUPSer

What the hell is a lunker?

I did not support the strike. I did take my place on the picket line for the first 2 days but after I watched guys drinking beer out of coffee cups and one of our employees who had too many cups of "coffee" go in to the middle of Rt. 3 to express his displeasure at a passing motorist who found it incredulous that a bunch of "overpaid" employees were on strike to become more "overpaid" (his words, not mine), I thought my time would be put to better use if I actually did something with it. I was told that if I didn't sit on the picket line I wouldn't receive my $55. Funny thing is I did receive it but ended up giving it right back (and another $55) for Union dues.

I never once thought of crossing the line.

With all due respect, I think your math is somewhat fuzzy. I only mention this because I know how detail oriented you seem to be. You mentioned in your previous post that you would gross $1,500 or more for 46 hours of work. You must have been paid a lot more than the rest of us in '97 because those numbers do not add up. I also highly doubt that you paid $110 dollars in union dues back then. Of course, that may explain why you made so much money. Sorry, but you put this stuff out here for the whole world to see.

[UpstateNYUPSer]

[quote=What'dyabringmetoday???;565371][quote=UpstateNYUPSer;565362]

Originally Posted by What'dyabringmetoday???

With all due respect, I think your math is somewhat fuzzy. I only mention this because I know how detail oriented you seem to be. You mentioned in your previous post that you would gross $1,500 or more for 46 hours of work. You must have been paid a lot more than the rest of us in '97 because those numbers do not add up. I also highly doubt that you paid $110 dollars in union dues back then. Of course, that may explain why you made so much money. Sorry, but you put this stuff out here for the whole world to see.

The $110 was 2 months of dues. The $1500 was my best recollection from something that took place 12 years ago. The dollar figure is not as important as the disparity between what I made working construction and what I would have made at UPS. I'm getting old--give me a break.

[Mike23]

[quote=UpstateNYUPSer;565362][quote=What'dyabringmetoday???;565355]

Originally Posted by UpstateNYUPSer

What the hell is a lunker?

I did not support the strike. I did take my place on the picket line for the first 2 days but after I watched guys drinking beer out of coffee cups and one of our employees who had too many cups of "coffee" go in to the middle of Rt. 3 to express his displeasure at a passing motorist who found it incredulous that a bunch of "overpaid" employees were on strike to become more "overpaid" (his words, not mine), I thought my time would be put to better use if I actually did something with it. I was told that if I didn't sit on the picket line I wouldn't receive my $55. Funny thing is I did receive it but ended up giving it right back (and another $55) for Union dues.

I never once thought of crossing the line.

Sorry, meant lunkhead. I was likely drinking that night

[brownrodster]

[quote=UpstateNYUPSer;565328][QUOTE=Mike23;565146]Try labor on a construction site...

I'm glad you mentioned this one. During the strike, I worked for a construction company. I worked 46 hours and earned a whopping $253. I then had to hand my ex-wife $250 for child support. She was kind enough to ask me how much I had made and handed $100 back. Point is, I busted my butt for 46 hours for what I would have grossed in 8 + OT. The construction supervisor even asked me how much I would have grossed at UPS for 46 hours and when I told him ($1500+) he was blown away.

Now, for those of you asking why I wasn't on the picket line, that is a story for another thread.

When I worked construction 10 years ago I made 25$ an hour... But this was on federally funded jobs that cost tens of millions of dollars. And I had to travel all over the region to different jobs our company was doing. I wasn't pure day labor but I did a lot of that along with driving trucks and operating heavy equipment.

[dilligaf]

Originally Posted by Mike23

I can't recall the post but there was a former driver working at the zoo putting down some padding who got his hand cut off by a saw.

Many of these jobs are A LOT more dangerous then ours. We putter around in a vehicle all day that's bigger then 90% of the ones out there. It's a lot safer then, say, working high rise construction of some sort balancing on beams.

Also, they have contracts to fulfill just like we do. Theirs is just months instead of overnight. It's almost the same stuff just we're union so get paid better.

You are talking about Danny, a senior member here.

I never said their jobs weren't dangerous especially when there are stupid people doing stupid things (Danny please forgive me for saying it, I know you were not doing something stupid). Any job can be dangerous. I said that we have far more responsibility. We are paid at a higher standard and we are held to a higher standard. Don't take my words out of context.

[Mike23]

Originally Posted by dilligaf

You are talking about Danny, a senior member here.

I never said there jobs weren't dangerous. Any job can be dangerous. I said that we have far more responsibility. Don't take my words out of context.

Sorry, didn't mean to take your words out of context I did make the point in my post though to show their job IS as responsible as ours. If you're building a house and the contracts late it = lost money for the company and cranky sups. It also means the people can't move into their new house so it costs them extra $$$ so = cranky customers.