Coworker bullying

ORLY!?!

Master Loader
Heh, me and a few others harass each other as much as possible. I even give them ammo about me whenever I can to be fired at me on will. Such things as writing nuteral notes and placing them in their cages. I wrote one person ( on a piece of paper ) "MAAAAAAAAAAATT!!". I didnt just do it once, I did it several times. Of course this person is just next to me, about the third or fourth note he was like " Stop that :censored2:! I dont have time for it". It wasnt sought out as harassment or anything, just simple plain fun.

I recall the same person getting two or more totes in their cage from another person. So he started collecting them and put them together. At the end of the night he shoved them all in to a few cages, LOL. My god that was hilarious.

Btw, some people have or are going crazy at these jobs. Soups place people in the most hellish of places, it starts to go to your mind afterawhile.
 

PT Stewie

"Big Fella"
My oldest son worked the preload. He jumped across the belt and punched the bully in the face a good shot ( a discharghable offense for 2 reasons). He never got caught or the sup looked the other way we will never know.The bullying stopped immediatley and he was probably the best worker ( my kid) on his belt splitting the top and loading 2 sometimes 3 trucks.I am by no means saying this is ok but ............
 
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bitter to the bone

Well-Known Member
Givinup,

I am in a situation much like yours where I have been bullied by a coworker. I have spoken to my supe about it and in turn my supe has talked to his boss about it. They talked to the coworker about it and the bullying was toned down for about a day and a half and started again and has continued.

I finally decided that I was tired of working in a hostile environment and it was apparent to me that no amount of talking to the offending coworker by management (as the behavior by said coworker continues and said coworker has even gotten in the face of supes with no reason at all-which shows a complete lack of respect in my opinion for management and coworkers alike) was making a difference and I went directly to the union and spoke to the president and business agent (only because in past I have tried to talk to my steward about the situation and said steward has told me "I'll take care of everything" and does nothing at all even when i have said I want to file a grievance) about the issues I was having at work. He (president and BA) said he would talk to my shift supervisor about the issues I brought up.

I talked to my shift supe about the issue. He told me that this was gonna be the last time that the matter would be talked about at UPS and that he (shift supe), I, the offending coworker and our union steward would meet and after that if the situation continued, that both I and the offending coworker would be fired and the matter would have to be addressed by the union. The shift supe was also miffed becuase he said I should have talked to him first (I have talked to him about the situation previously with no resolution to the matter) .

So my best advice would be to just grin and bear it because it's apparent that Management isn't going to do anything about it-at least in my case. I was advised by the supe that "we are here to do a job-I agree-and that we must get along with our coworkers-i agree with that also. But at what point do you determine that the bullying is enough. Evidently to management there isn't a point when enough is enough. You do your job regardless of hostile work environment and don't complain because it gets you nowhere but out the door.

I know each situation is different and I'm not condoning that you put up with the BS ( involves physical threats,sexual harrassment,same sex harrassment, etc) but if it's just the coworker making fun of you because you talked to your supe about the situation or any other childish acts by said coworker towards you then the best thing you can do is just be a stronger person and ignore that coworker. I know it's hard- but complaining really gets you nowhere. Eventually it could get you out the door.

I've learned my lesson. Complaining does no good. Just do your job the best way you can.

Good luck and please post how things turn out.
 

air_dr

Well-Known Member
The way I see this situation, the bigger problem, and the one to focus on as you look to others for help with this issue, is this person ignoring you when you need to interact with him for you describe as work purposes which you did not elaborate on in your post. I'm not sure why you need to interact with this person, since at UPS, to a large degree, we tend to work as individuals and interact more with boxes and equipment trather than other people. But anyway, for example, say this person is ignoring you when you request help for over 70s, I would, after attempting to get the person's attention once on a given day, allowed the bulk pile up. When asked by a sup why the mess, I would explain that it appears to me my coworker has both a hearing and vision probem since I cannot seem to get his attention in order for him to help me... I trust you get a general sense of the approach I am suggesting and can apply it to your specific situation... In short I would seek to both demonstrate and explain how your co-worker's actions are negatively affecting production. The crying sounds or other mockery I think I would just ignore. Best wishes. Hope you have perhaps resolved something by now.
 

UnconTROLLed

perfection
Not sure what center/hub you work at but at my center we are not allowed to use I-pods. And if I'm thinking correctly don't you need headphones to listen to an I-pod????? That is a safety hazard in my book

Why is that a safety hazard? We are allowed one ear, I would imagine most buildings do allow such. All three I have worked in 2 districts allow such. Also, most modern phones have mp3 players with headphone jack (among others) as well. I didn't necessarily mean an I-Pod, specifically.
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
Givinup,

I am in a situation much like yours where I have been bullied by a coworker. I have spoken to my supe about it and in turn my supe has talked to his boss about it. They talked to the coworker about it and the bullying was toned down for about a day and a half and started again and has continued.

I finally decided that I was tired of working in a hostile environment and it was apparent to me that no amount of talking to the offending coworker by management (as the behavior by said coworker continues and said coworker has even gotten in the face of supes with no reason at all-which shows a complete lack of respect in my opinion for management and coworkers alike) was making a difference and I went directly to the union and spoke to the president and business agent (only because in past I have tried to talk to my steward about the situation and said steward has told me "I'll take care of everything" and does nothing at all even when i have said I want to file a grievance) about the issues I was having at work. He (president and BA) said he would talk to my shift supervisor about the issues I brought up.

I talked to my shift supe about the issue. He told me that this was gonna be the last time that the matter would be talked about at UPS and that he (shift supe), I, the offending coworker and our union steward would meet and after that if the situation continued, that both I and the offending coworker would be fired and the matter would have to be addressed by the union. The shift supe was also miffed becuase he said I should have talked to him first (I have talked to him about the situation previously with no resolution to the matter) .

So my best advice would be to just grin and bear it because it's apparent that Management isn't going to do anything about it-at least in my case. I was advised by the supe that "we are here to do a job-I agree-and that we must get along with our coworkers-i agree with that also. But at what point do you determine that the bullying is enough. Evidently to management there isn't a point when enough is enough. You do your job regardless of hostile work environment and don't complain because it gets you nowhere but out the door.

I know each situation is different and I'm not condoning that you put up with the BS ( involves physical threats,sexual harrassment,same sex harrassment, etc) but if it's just the coworker making fun of you because you talked to your supe about the situation or any other childish acts by said coworker towards you then the best thing you can do is just be a stronger person and ignore that coworker. I know it's hard- but complaining really gets you nowhere. Eventually it could get you out the door.

I've learned my lesson. Complaining does no good. Just do your job the best way you can.

Good luck and please post how things turn out.

Time to call the Corporate Hotline. Your sup has threatened you with retaliation (said he'd fire you) for trying to resolve workplace violence.
Call the Hotline, tell them your name AND that your management team is OK with workplace violence. Ask them WHY your management team won't uphold the zero tolerance policy. Your management team are fools and need to be put in their place.
 

bitter to the bone

Well-Known Member
Time to call the Corporate Hotline. Your sup has threatened you with retaliation (said he'd fire you) for trying to resolve workplace violence.
Call the Hotline, tell them your name AND that your management team is OK with workplace violence. Ask them WHY your management team won't uphold the zero tolerance policy. Your management team are fools and need to be put in their place.

Where can I find that corporate hotline number? I know once upon a time,long ago, there were posters with the number on them but i haven't seen one of those in quite a while.

I expected tonight would be the night that the "powwow" between myself,my shift supe ,the coworker and the steward would take place but it didn't. Management didn't say anything about it. Didn't hear back from the union either( I called and updated them about what I was told by management) That makes me kind of nervous as if mgmt is trying to intimidate me into shutting up and letting the matter drop and they aren't bringing the matter up, hoping that I will bring it up again so they can fire me.

I'll give it till the end of the week at least and if nothing is said or done then it might behoove me o call the corporate hotline number and ask them what they think of the situation.

P.S. shift supe said he was going to give both of the parties involved in this situation a copy of the anti-harrasment giudelines. Do you know where I can get that so I can look it over for myself before and if the meeting takes place.

Thanks for the advice over9five
 

helenofcalifornia

Well-Known Member
If I were you, I would go up to the supervisor who threatened to fire you and ask him for the corporate hotline. Tell him you are very interested in talking to someone since talking to these fools is getting you nowhere.

And after he has changed his underwear, tell him you are dead serious, you want that number now. I imagine if he has any thought of a career at UPS, he will try to talk you out of it. Or, he could just be a PT idiot. UPS is not doing well these days in hiring people with much integrity. Don't let him or anyone else talk you out of it. Over is right. Once you are viewed as weak, the pack of wolves will just circle until they get you. You must be prepared to do everything by the letter of the law and not cut corners. Not hard if that's the way you have always worked.

Good luck.

At the very least, document all of this in writing and verbally to a close friend at work who will back you. Don't be a victim.
 

bitter to the bone

Well-Known Member
If I were you, I would go up to the supervisor who threatened to fire you and ask him for the corporate hotline. Tell him you are very interested in talking to someone since talking to these fools is getting you nowhere.

And after he has changed his underwear, tell him you are dead serious, you want that number now. I imagine if he has any thought of a career at UPS, he will try to talk you out of it. Or, he could just be a PT idiot. UPS is not doing well these days in hiring people with much integrity. Don't let him or anyone else talk you out of it. Over is right. Once you are viewed as weak, the pack of wolves will just circle until they get you. You must be prepared to do everything by the letter of the law and not cut corners. Not hard if that's the way you have always worked.

Good luck.

At the very least, document all of this in writing and verbally to a close friend at work who will back you. Don't be a victim.

The supervisor who threatened to fire me, within the next year or so will be retiring. Figure it out yet? Once I gave it some thought, I know he's trying to protect his backside because he doesn't want to get fired so close to the edge of his career. Try to make himself look good and try to make a "lowly rank and file" member of the union look like the bad guy.

He was all friendly last night, didn't say anything about the situation at all. Acted like it hadn't been discussed at all. That's what I meant by them (mgmt) hoping if they don't bring it up, then it will either die away or I'll bring it up again and they can fire me on some trumped up grounds created exclusively for the situation. I'll give it till the end of today to see what they do next. And after that I'll do exactly as you suggested.

Thanks for the advice.
 

andrew99

Member
Document, File, Document, File....

While it is fresh in your mind document everything (names, dates, briefs/conversations) explore all avenues ( union , HR , maybe even state/federal level worker protection ? ) - if you end up being harassed to the point of exiting, you can claim whats called a willful quit, but the burden of evidence is upon you. The more you document, the more evidence you have, and the easier your unemployment gets. Harassment rears its head in many forms, for me -- I would be denied help with moving irregulars, or given unqualified/untrained help --- I was able to satisfy the burden of evidence with an unresolved safety grievance and a single report to osha... Just keep in mind that no job is worth breaking your back or brain over. Jobs are hard enough to come by, don't let yourself be forced out through attrition.
 

helenofcalifornia

Well-Known Member
So it sounds like you aren't going to do anything about this. And if I was management, this is exactly what I would hope you would do. Harassment is like a wave, it peaks and it ebbs. You are just happy it has stopped and your supe is being nice to you. But I bet you anything, it has not stopped. It will happen again. If you won't call the 1-800 number, do what Andrew says and document everything. As a driver, I have a "diary" that I fill out everyday telling me how the day went and anything unusual. Packages delivered, stops, where they were, miles driven, weather, hours worked, etc. So far I haven't had to use it. And you should have one too.
 
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