I have finally left UPS.

[Penguin]

As of last Saturday, I am no longer an employee of UPS. That was the end of my two week notice.... I'm not sure if I'm happy about it even though I grew to completely hate my job... I've been feeling all weird and antsy because normally, I'd have gone to work on Tuesday morning and be sleeping and preparing to leave for work later this morning. I only missed 6 days of work in over two and a half years and I'm not used to not going in to work. I'm assuming it's going to take me awhile to get used to not being under lots of stress to perform and produce. I know I'm a type A personality, but I didn't think I'd get soooo bored and want to go back to the work I hate so quickly.

-Penguin

BTW.... I don't trust the management to have properly notified each other that I put in my two week notice... too much screwiness within the employee records and all that jazz. I keep expecting to get a phone call in the middle of the night asking why I'm not at work.

 

[RockyRogue]

As of last Saturday, I am no longer an employee of UPS. That was the end of my two week notice....

CONGRATS! You made bail!!!

I've been feeling all weird and antsy because normally, I'd have gone to work on Tuesday morning and be sleeping and preparing to leave for work later this morning.

Trust me....you will be happy that you left. The first time I left UPS, I literally couldn't stop moving. The first two weeks were like a vacation, then I became restless and couldn't stop moving. It took awhile to settle down. You'll get used to it. Try redirecting that energy into something else. You might be surprised what that energy can do. For me, it was a brutal pace to finish my degree before my parental support ran out. My college degree posted four years to the day after my high school diploma.

I'm assuming it's going to take me awhile to get used to not being under lots of stress to perform and produce. I know I'm a type A personality, but I didn't think I'd get soooo bored and want to go back to the work I hate so quickly.

Yeah, it'll just take a little while. And once you have settled down, whatever you do--no matter how physical or mentally challenging it is--will feel like you've got your feet up reading the sports page all day. I finally reconciled with that part of my own personality just recently. You'll be fine.

BTW.... I don't trust the management to have properly notified each other that I put in my two week notice... too much screwiness within the employee records and all that jazz. I keep expecting to get a phone call in the middle of the night asking why I'm not at work.

LOL....you're not the only one to have that fear. The first time I quit, I told my folks that if UPS called looking for me to get the name and phone number of the person that called and I'd take care of it. The week after I quit, I took a nap and got up at the same time I would have if going into UPS. For me, getting out of the 'work schedule' took about two weeks but the 'Type A personality' took substantially longer. Three months after I left UPS, a female classmate told me, "You need to smile more. Above all, you need to RELAX." That was a tall order. I'm still working on it.....three years later. A few months ago, my academic adviser told me, "You've come a long way, X. The people at the State of Colorado commented on how much calmer you were at this last interview compared to a year ago."

Take it one day at a time, Penguin. -Rocky

 

[FAVREFAN]

As of last Saturday, I am no longer an employee of UPS. That was the end of my two week notice.... I'm not sure if I'm happy about it even though I grew to completely hate my job... I've been feeling all weird and antsy because normally, I'd have gone to work on Tuesday morning and be sleeping and preparing to leave for work later this morning. I only missed 6 days of work in over two and a half years and I'm not used to not going in to work. I'm assuming it's going to take me awhile to get used to not being under lots of stress to perform and produce. I know I'm a type A personality, but I didn't think I'd get soooo bored and want to go back to the work I hate so quickly.

-Penguin

BTW.... I don't trust the management to have properly notified each other that I put in my two week notice... too much screwiness within the employee records and all that jazz. I keep expecting to get a phone call in the middle of the night asking why I'm not at work.

Sorry you couldn't take it anymore. Best of luck to you in your future.

 

[Penguin]

Sorry you couldn't take it anymore. Best of luck to you in your future.

One of the last straws for me was when two FT managers and a supervisor were saying it's "impossible" for me to be allowed to have any vacation time this year.

 

[Bad Gas!]

I always wish people a good life after brown.Your getting out while your young but you will always remember the company that has few easy jobs and gets more than thier money's worth out of just about every employee...Good luck and I'm sure with you won't miss seeing packages anymore.....Gas

 

[longlunchguy]

Penguin..congrats on moving on. I've never known anyone who quit the brown brigade that wasn't happier afterward.....but since we're both in (sunny) Fla if you still miss us in December, you can be my helper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[UpsSuP1]

Best of the luck to you, enjoy being you!

 

[Gone Baby, Gone]

Penguin:
I left UPS two months ago. Trust me: you made the right move! I was a supervisor, and had been with brown for almost seven years. I never took a sick day, always worked hard, treated my union people fairly....never even got a single "thank you." Last year, I started looking for a new job after our manager started to slowly put the screws to us. He wouldn't let us take our discretionary days, and kept moving our vacations, and when we complained to HR, he said we needed to plan "around peak and planning periods" (which, ironically, is ALL THE TIME), and HR agreed with him. He wouldn't let me leave "early" after an eleven-hour day to go to my sister's confirmation. He let two of our admin positions go through attrition but guess what: their work never went away.

So I got a new job with a new Fortune 500 company. Sure, it's a little less money salary-wise, but on an hourly scale, I'm making more here. The new company has an incentive program like the MIP, but instead of working to meet "fuzzy" corporate goals, half of my incentive is based SOLELY ON MY OWN PERFORMANCE. I also negotiated for my vacation time, plus I get sick and personal days that I can bank for the rest of my career. Mostly though, the new job has much less stress, and I have yet to be screamed at for a mistake.

You made the right choice. Don't even look back.

 

[dillweed]

Congratulations to you and best of luck! UPS is like quicksand, isn't it? We're drawn to it and once in, difficult to get out of our blood. Take that great ambition of yours and try something new. Enjoy every minute!

 

[Braveheart]

One of the last straws for me was when two FT managers and a supervisor were saying it's "impossible" for me to be allowed to have any vacation time this year.

If you did not take that vacation then they owe you a check per contract. Get a grievance in now!!!!!

 

[Braveheart]

Penguin:
I left UPS two months ago. Trust me: you made the right move! I was a supervisor, and had been with brown for almost seven years. I never took a sick day, always worked hard, treated my union people fairly....never even got a single "thank you." Last year, I started looking for a new job after our manager started to slowly put the screws to us. He wouldn't let us take our discretionary days, and kept moving our vacations, and when we complained to HR, he said we needed to plan "around peak and planning periods" (which, ironically, is ALL THE TIME), and HR agreed with him. He wouldn't let me leave "early" after an eleven-hour day to go to my sister's confirmation. He let two of our admin positions go through attrition but guess what: their work never went away.

So I got a new job with a new Fortune 500 company. Sure, it's a little less money salary-wise, but on an hourly scale, I'm making more here. The new company has an incentive program like the MIP, but instead of working to meet "fuzzy" corporate goals, half of my incentive is based SOLELY ON MY OWN PERFORMANCE. I also negotiated for my vacation time, plus I get sick and personal days that I can bank for the rest of my career. Mostly though, the new job has much less stress, and I have yet to be screamed at for a mistake.

You made the right choice. Don't even look back.

God bless both of you guys. I am glad to hear from former management that tell it like it is. Please feel free to send us some info on your new job after you have settled in.

We need to hear those success stories about life after UPS. They act all pompous like none of us could get a good job outside of UPS or that we would not dare to take less money. HA!!!

We had a couple full time managers quit last year and they said it is like working on a defferent planet. UPS is just a nightmare to work for as a manager they say. They have no union to protect them and they can not take an option day to get away from it all like we can. They can't bid out of a bad center or off a bad route either.

Teach your new companies on how NOT TO TREAT EMPLOYEES, unless of course you want them to become disenfranchised and quit.

 

[hoser]

good. i did the same and i have not looked back since. i gave them 2 hours notice. i asked for a reference letter stating nothing more than my date of hire, my date of resignation, that i had no discipline on my file, and that i am welcome to re-apply for a position, and they wouldn't do that "because it's against policy."

i'm glad i left, and for not giving me a reference letter, i'll be sure to pass on all future business to fedex.

a true employer that wants you will foster your type a style to get results. it has for me. this company is run too much like a warehouse and not like a transportation company. it works for their bottom line it seems, but definitely not for their HR.

 

[UPS Lifer]

Penguin - good luck to you - there is life after brown!
Gone Baby, Gone - i wish you the same but I find it hard to understand that you could not get any vacation time. Your leaving is probably for the best... if you cannot convince your boss how important your time off is then you probably need to re-evaluate your communication & supervisory skills as well as salesmanship.

See ... you do have the state & federal labor laws behind you!

I personally believe that most large companies are very similar in the way they run their business. The things that affect us the most are done at a local level.

It depends on how your team responds to the corporate or upper level dictates on how you feel about your job and your importance as a cog in the machinery.

When someone leaves any company there is usually a great deal of dissatisfaction or frustration that prevailed before the separation. This to me, taints the comments made.

To play the devils advocate - out of 400,000 employees, how many are willing to do the same thing.... not to many!

So - each and every person who stays has their own particular reasons why.

I am not belittling either of you for leaving. It takes courage to start new and some of the reasons that people stay are because they don't have the courage to leave.

 

[Leftinbuilding]

I too, congratulate you. I think the fact that so many who leave, feel it necessary to come back and "toot their own horn", is interesting. I also think it is to the companies advantage that unhappy people do leave. They usually are not pulling their weight, so it falls on someone else to carry them. UPS is not for everybody. The quicker you figure that out, and move on, the better it is for everyone. So again, congrats on finding your niche.

 

[HazMatMan]

As of last Saturday, I am no longer an employee of UPS. That was the end of my two week notice.... I'm not sure if I'm happy about it even though I grew to completely hate my job... I've been feeling all weird and antsy because normally, I'd have gone to work on Tuesday morning and be sleeping and preparing to leave for work later this morning. I only missed 6 days of work in over two and a half years and I'm not used to not going in to work. I'm assuming it's going to take me awhile to get used to not being under lots of stress to perform and produce. I know I'm a type A personality, but I didn't think I'd get soooo bored and want to go back to the work I hate so quickly.

-Penguin

BTW.... I don't trust the management to have properly notified each other that I put in my two week notice... too much screwiness within the employee records and all that jazz. I keep expecting to get a phone call in the middle of the night asking why I'm not at work.

Only worked there 2 and a half years?? And gained all that hostility and distrust?? Good luck in your future.

 

[brownmonster]

I quit once to go and "find myself". The wife told me to get my butt back to work.

 

[Average at Best]

Gone Baby, Gone - i wish you the same but I find it hard to understand that you could not get any vacation time. Your leaving is probably for the best... if you cannot convince your boss how important your time off is then you probably need to re-evaluate your communication & supervisory skills as well as salesmanship.

I agree with you UPS Lifer, but there are some positions that make taking time off next to impossible. I used to work in the Accounting Department. Accounting is, among other things, responsible for the monthly closing of the cost books (making sure the expenses that hit the district for the month are correct and in the right places) and the annual budget planning process.

Now, the monthly cost close takes up the first two weeks of each month, so 26 of your weeks are already blocked from vacation. Then, the annual budgeting process is done on a quarterly basis and takes another two weeks, so that's another 8 weeks gone. Then there's peak season, so the entire month of December and the last two weeks of November are gone. In the end, out of 52 weeks, you have 14 weeks to choose from.

However, your manager and controller pick their vacations first, and they block you.

Then, corporate changes their original planning schedule, so the weeks you THOUGHT were available for vacation are actually planning periods. Now you have to come in.

Before you know it, it is the end of October, you have three weeks of vacation that you haven't taken yet....

Your controller isn't going to FORCE you to take time off, because he got to be a controller by not taking his own vacations as a sup. In his mind, giving up personal time is dues to pay to move up.

Again, not saying I disagree with you, but there are some departments where it's nearly impossible to finangle regular time off. And true, one needs some spine to go to HR when the problem persists, but that's tough too when the Controller and HR manager go bass fishing every weekend...

 

[UPS Lifer]

Average at Best,
I understand the situation you were in in accounting. There are very few good times to take vacation.... and at UPS if they sense you are flexible they will use it to their advantage.

This is what I suggest you do. When you pick your vacation - make sure you let your boss know that this time can not be changed. You have plans!
If you are OK with changing vacations well that is up to you. As long as you are up front and tell your boss that your plans cannot be changed then everything should be OK.

Basically, you are setting the guidelines or parameters and conflict resolution is much easier when you do this.

Hope this helps anyone who is in the same situation.

I had a t/w every boss I had about this. I told them they would get 110% from me but just don't screw with my time off. I never had a problem because I set the tone from the beginning.

 

[tieguy]

One of the last straws for me was when two FT managers and a supervisor were saying it's "impossible" for me to be allowed to have any vacation time this year.

I wish you had hung around and challenged that point. Best of luck in the future.

 

[RockyRogue]

I wish you had hung around and challenged that point.

I do, too, Tie. I actually had a UPS supe tell me I couldn't take my vacation PERIOD, no matter when I had it scheduled. He backed down seconds later when I reminded him I hadn't been late in 9 months, hadn't asked for days off in 6 months, worked an unholy number of hours per week in the summer heat AND gone to school full-time. When he approved it, he said, "Hey, you do a great job for me. Thanks," and shook my hand.

I had a t/w every boss I had about this. I told them they would get 110% from me but just don't screw with my time off. I never had a problem because I set the tone from the beginning.

Good suggestion, Lifer. Usually, I don't make that clear of a point about my time off but its a great suggestion. I've never had a supe refuse to honor my vacation OR tell me, "You gotta cancel your vacation." When I was in retail, I was worried my boss might blow up my parent's home phone calling for me while I was on vacation but it never happened. When I was at UPS, I told my mother that if UPS called for me to get the name of the person calling, to give them my e-mail address but NOT the number to get a hold of me through and that it was her decision to call me to pass on a message. She nodded and said, "I'm not calling you to pass on messages from your boss while you're on vacation a thousand miles away. What can you do from there? No, it'll keep. I'll give them your e-mail address if they want to get a hold of you while you're out. Its up to you about calling them but I wouldn't." And I was NEVER disturbed on vacation by my boss. Eighteen months ago, I had to call my manager after I'd cemented the driver-helper job to put them on notice but other than that, I drop off the face of the earth when I'm on vacation. H*ll, I turn my phone off when I leave town! And it feels gooood! -Rocky