89 Days and You're Gone

[vantexan]

OK, trying to stay away, but thought I'd add this. I believe it was '94, I was assigned to deliver by 8 a.m. special deal we had with IBM at the time. I was in Santa Fe, NM, it was winter, Santa Fe was known for letting snow melt by the sun rather than spend money/make effort to clear streets, sidewalks, etc. One of three locations i delivered IBM to was a unit in a storage facility. The unit's door was in the shadows so snow had melted just enough to turn into ice. It was very slippery, went to knees 3 times before getting door open. Relieved that I had finally managed to get delivery off and door closed, I turned back towards truck, feet shot out from under me, landed very hard on left shoulder. It popped like a rifle shot and I immediately knew something was very wrong. Arm was just hanging, unable to move it, severely dislocated as doctor described it.

Facility mgr called an ambulance, given morphine at hospital, put under and arm popped back into place. Doctor told me that under no circumstances was I to work for 3 weeks, not lift anything over 5 lbs with my good arm, keep injured arm in sling except to take shower. Arm was numb, felt like a noodle. Senior mgr showed up, first thing he says is "you need to be more careful." Gives me a ride home. Thought I was off for several weeks due to injury but my mgr called and said she had talked to my doctor and he said it would be ok for me to do light duty at station as long as I was very careful.

At the time I was using a motorscooter for transportation. But it had snowed again, 6 inches on ground. City bus only ran on the hour wasn't convenient to my start time and only would take me halfway. Santa Fe cab service was terrible even when weather was good, usually waited one to two hrs for cab. So under heavy medication, in 6 inches of snow I walked the mile to work. When I got there I was shocked to find what they wanted me to do. They had about 50 pkgs behind the front counter, mostly boxes, half of which were over 20 lbs, maybe 10 were 50 lbs or more, that they wanted me to carry back to the back and fill out airbills to return to sender. I told mgr I couldn't lift them with my arm and she insisted, and said CSA's were too busy to assist. So with bad arm out of sling I carried several pkgs back to breakroom to work on them. While there I saw the yellow pages and decided to call attorneys. Talked to two who were all excited about my fall until they heard it happened on the clock. Under New Mexico law I couldn't sue anyone, only collect workman's comp. I mentioned to second one what was happening at work, how she called my doctor. He literally yelled "THAT'S ILLEGAL!!!" I went to her immediately and told her "my lawyer" just told me what she had done was illegal. Sent me home, didn't bother me for 3 weeks. Amazing thing was I had FedEx dead to rights, could have sued, possibly, most likely gotten a large settlement. But I was younger, still thought my future was good with them, wanted to be a nice guy.

I'm kind of curious if anyone will explain the above actions as totally valid. One thing I know about FedEx, they don't like paying out money without getting something in return. Thus the light duty. Probably believe it discourages people from taking advantage. But when you are really injured, on meds that make you groggy, last thing you want to do is spend time at the station, especially if mgr is going to show reckless disregard for your well being.

 

[FedEx2000]

Your manager was an idiot. This is in no way acceptable, or company policy. Could you have been more careful during the delivery? Maybe, maybe not....you were trying to do the right thing by the customer. FedEx try's to avoid putting itself in positions that could lead to a lawsuit, unfortunately many managers (and hourlies) follow their own rules which lead to circumstances like you described. Doesn't mean that FedEx approved of it....no one above your Sr mgr likely knew anything about it. Also, it was 1994......before people sued for anything and everything...mgr probably never even thought that might happen, doesn't excuse it though.

Also, MrFedex, I wasn't referring to the people who make it back in 90 days.....I was talking about the ones who are out longer and have no timetable for return.....hence no end in sight.

 

[vantexan]

Your manager was an idiot. This is in no way acceptable, or company policy. Could you have been more careful during the delivery? Maybe, maybe not....you were trying to do the right thing by the customer. FedEx try's to avoid putting itself in positions that could lead to a lawsuit, unfortunately many managers (and hourlies) follow their own rules which lead to circumstances like you described. Doesn't mean that FedEx approved of it....no one above your Sr mgr likely knew anything about it. Also, it was 1994......before people sued for anything and everything...mgr probably never even thought that might happen, doesn't excuse it though.

Also, MrFedex, I wasn't referring to the people who make it back in 90 days.....I was talking about the ones who are out longer and have no timetable for return.....hence no end in sight.

1994 was only 16 years ago, and I assure you people were suing for anything and everything. Be that as it may, FedEx mgrs, at least in the past, were under great pressure to meet their goals. I've seen plenty examples of mgrs going outside of policy to try to please people upstairs. And I know of at least one situation that affected me directly that went as far as the director. I've been told that when a customer complains it's routed to the director's office of the district the complaint originated from, and to the station involved. So when a former mgr told me of the complaint he received about what I had told a customer, the director knew it too. She was actually complaining that he wasn't allowing me to deliver in her area, and I had confirmed to her that her area did indeed have service. He told her on the phone that due to changing business conditions FedEx could no longer deliver there, which was a lie. The director was trying to get a directorship in Florida, and had ordered them to produce zero overtime. So I was ordered to stop delivering in a number of rural zipcodes. Mgr threatened my job if I ever told customers the truth again. The conflict escalated from there, he's no longer with the company, senior was demoted. I could go on and on, point is if you are only familiar with your immediate chain of command you may not be aware of lengths many mgrs will go to to further their careers, and the unnecessary pressure they are willing to put on their employees to do so. Either I'm extraordinarily unlucky, or there's a systemic problem, as I've seen too many things over the years. And most likely these guys count on fear for their jobs to keep employees quiet about what they've seen. I'm a firm believer in just telling the truth, let the chips fall where they may. If I get ousted for that I can walk away knowing I did the right thing, what they did was over money.

P.S. That mgr was entering phoney exceptions on pkgs to those rural zips, rewrapping them and mailing them, using Post Office service that got a signature for pkg. Once he had the sig he entered a phony POD. And was pressuring me to go along, even as I had customers stopping me and screaming about us mailing their pkgs. That lady who complained? She was told she had to drive 40 miles to meet me or drive over 100 miles to the station. Bunch of big boxes that were too big to mail. She had to borrow a pickup from a friend to meet me. Can't begin to tell you the stress that guy put me under. And due to previous mgr I felt i had no recourse, just had to take it, led to some blowups. Eventually transferred. Also he drove me under 35 hrs and falsified timecards.

 

[MrFedEx]

There is so much illegal crap that has gone on at FedEx and still goes on despite them being terrified of lawsuits. I won't bore you with more stories, but suffice it to say that I've seen plenty of managers (and above) tell injured people to work, lie like a rug about it, or otherwise break the law. TRW is a joke, and to make someone come-in who probably isn't feeling up to it or making them lift beyond their doctor-imposed weight limit is just plain wrong. It's just another way for them to pressure you back to work, and if they are short-handed behind the counter, why not put that "lazy" injured courier to productive duty lugging pkgs to the cart? Sure, there are some slackers who milk it or are just faking but most people are genuinely hurt.

The reality is that injured people work every day at FedEx because the system forces them to do so. Under current policy, it's always going to be your "fault", and few are willing to fight what they know will be a losing battle. So you work hurt, and then the injury hopefully gets better. Some couriers I know never report the injury and get treatment on their own to avoid the system.

Your comments on the manager who had you under 35 hrs and falsified are classic. If Memphis really wanted to look at what's really going on, most of them would be canned pronto. There is so much falsification out there right now, especially pertaining to fake breaks and doing pickups during 13/14 time (and processing them later) that management knows about and fully tolerates because it makes their numbers look good.

How about it, FedEx2000. Got any couriers who are doing pickups during 13/14, or using bogus PowerPad exceptions to avoid lates on P1? I'll bet you do, and I'm guessing you just look the other way.

 

[bbsam]

There is so much illegal crap that has gone on at FedEx and still goes on despite them being terrified of lawsuits. I won't bore you with more stories, but suffice it to say that I've seen plenty of managers (and above) tell injured people to work, lie like a rug about it, or otherwise break the law. TRW is a joke, and to make someone come-in who probably isn't feeling up to it or making them lift beyond their doctor-imposed weight limit is just plain wrong. It's just another way for them to pressure you back to work, and if they are short-handed behind the counter, why not put that "lazy" injured courier to productive duty lugging pkgs to the cart? Sure, there are some slackers who milk it or are just faking but most people are genuinely hurt.

The reality is that injured people work every day at FedEx because the system forces them to do so. Under current policy, it's always going to be your "fault", and few are willing to fight what they know will be a losing battle. So you work hurt, and then the injury hopefully gets better. Some couriers I know never report the injury and get treatment on their own to avoid the system.

Your comments on the manager who had you under 35 hrs and falsified are classic. If Memphis really wanted to look at what's really going on, most of them would be canned pronto. There is so much falsification out there right now, especially pertaining to fake breaks and doing pickups during 13/14 time (and processing them later) that management knows about and fully tolerates because it makes their numbers look good.

How about it, FedEx2000. Got any couriers who are doing pickups during 13/14, or using bogus PowerPad exceptions to avoid lates on P1? I'll bet you do, and I'm guessing you just look the other way.

"pickups during 13/14 or using bogus PowerPad exceptions to avoid lates on P1" I have no idea what that means, but I bet I could teach my drivers how to do it. Are you sure Express couriers are that much more professional than Ground drivers? Doesn't sound like it to me. Or is that the mark of professionalism today, learning how to make the numbers?

 

[MrFedEx]

"pickups during 13/14 or using bogus PowerPad exceptions to avoid lates on P1" I have no idea what that means, but I bet I could teach my drivers how to do it. Are you sure Express couriers are that much more professional than Ground drivers? Doesn't sound like it to me. Or is that the mark of professionalism today, learning how to make the numbers?

13/14 is the timecard code for "break". The PowerPad has numerous "exception code" possibilities that allow a courier to avoid being charged with late stops. We also don't have to honor our money-back guarantee (another joke) when there is a qualified exception.This is what happens when couriers are pressured to become more productive along with later start times and longer "breaks". When it becomes impossible to do it all, couriers creatively cheat and also do pickups during their 13/14 time and then process them later with a fake time. Let's say that Courier X has way too much to do but also has to take a extended break. Rather than deal with his/her manager, X does a few pickups during their 13/14 and then waits to process them until they are back "on the clock". If they're smart about it, nobody will be the wiser. Many managers are fully aware of this but allow it to continue because it ups the productivity numbers. Making the numbers is all that matters. Rolling-back start times just adds to the pressure by making everyone drive faster and pushing productivity up once again. This means that ISR residentials seldom get a redirect attempt (lousy service), packages get thrown and released from 50 feet away, and fake "security delays" or "construction delays" get entered instead of the truth, which is that you weren't given adequate time to do your job safely and in a quality manner. Like I said, management is fully aware this goes on, and as long as nobody gets caught it's all good. If you do get caught, your manager just lies and throws you directly under the bus.

 

[Brown287]

Yes this sort of thing exists at a lot of places. The pressure of coded breaks and logging out for lunch can be a real problem at times. But then again your Ground counter parts wouldnt know much about that since there is NO break option in their scanner to begin with. Besides another point I would like to make is in regards to the continual pressure for productivity, when you are a properley compensated employee there can be real pressure on upper management to be sure that they are working at peak production. Once again the poor guys and gals at Ground dont fall into this category so they are aloud to gat away with a lot more.