Comments on: Tales of a Grumpy Mailman

By: Charly

Charly — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:15:26 +0000

I’ve noticed the date when I posted my first entry on this blog site. Almost a month later to the day I had an aortic valve replacement. Stress related? Hmmm…evidently I was born with my problem that no one ever found and mine kept getting worse because of stress in our PO. I’m good to go now. The partly stress causee is not in our office at the moment.

Carriers are timed on every single thing they do, even rural carriers. That could be the reason he/she cuts over your lawn. Chances are that if you complain, he’ll get in trouble. No matter if he was told to cut across or not. That’s the postal way. I’ve learned that rules change as they go along and it’s usually rules that benefit management. But, on that note, I’ve got to go. All of you reading this blog site have a glorious day and God bless.

By: jennyw

jennyw — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:54:32 +0000

Alot of city carriers are required to cut across lawns by management. They are timed on every step they take and if they go over their time they get in trouble.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:51:31 +0000

I am in south Florida where we are experiencing the worst drought since 1932. I am in a city where we are only allowed to water our lawns once a week. The grass is now in the growing season. I have a mail carrier who refuses to walk on the pathway and told me today that he will continue to cut across my grass. It would literally take him 2 seconds more to take the path or he could pull his truck up more and be in direct line with the path. He said that he checked with his lawn guy as well as mine and they both told him that he would NOT kill the grass by constant trampling on it. He never called my lawn guy who laughed when he heard about it and confirmed that, yes, he would definitely kill my grass. The mail carrier said that he was “going to forget that we ever had this conversation.” Was that a threat?

I always thought this carrier was an okay guy until this incident but he is arrogant, has no respect for my property and probably knows that there is not much I can do. I went out to his main station today to file a formal complaint and all I was allowed to do was leave my name and phone number. Needless to say, NO one called me. So around 5:30 I went on line, got their 800 number and filed a complaint. We shall see what happens next.

I can’t get over the fact that this guy has no respect for my property and defies me. Unbelievable to me and I will take this to the Post Master General in Washington DC if need be. These people are protected by Unions and protected by their bosses. It is not a tough job delivering mail in Florida.

By: Charly

Charly — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:08:23 +0000

What a good post. I am a rural carrier also. Sorry you were having such a hard time with your carrier. I think most all carriers get calls at some point. I’ve had my fair share. I have to tell you that this job can get to you at times. Especially if you have a PM that has no business in the business. Your mom was right…the postoffice is an unpleasant place to work a lot of the time. But there are good times also. I have to keep telling myself that. Until you’ve worked at the post office as a carrier, you have no idea of the stress it takes to carry out your job in some sense of normalcy. There are a lot of mailboxes on routes, that when you slam the lid, it pops back open. After a while, the plastic mailboxes are just pain. As far as trying to get the postmaster on the phone, I feel your pain. You’d be hard pressed to get ours on the phone either. The PM is usually on the phone all the time anyway, and I’m not sure it is postal related either. I keep looking for an implant in the ear.

Grit your teeth and smile at your carrier. Tell him to have a nice day. Leave him a cold drink in the summertime. Cold ice water would do. He is truly doing a thankless task and probably never gets told a good word from anyone. Be the first. As for your mom, I would bet that if she is a rural carrier, that after 20 years her health has taken a nose dive. It creeps up on you. You just never know until you walk in their shoes.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:22:52 +0000

Thanks for this blog entry. We’ve gotten very official mail (and magazines — which you then can’t read) sopping wet for the past month or so because the mail carrier keeps leaving the lid on our mailbox wide open. Thankfully we’re moving, so we won’t have to deal with it much longer.

Your story made me less crabby at my mail carrier. It was like some kind of vicarious venting — or just knowing I’m not alone.

So thanks!

By: ursula

ursula — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:43:57 +0000

I found your blog through google when I googled “shitty mailmen”.

I have the grumpiest, rudest, most hostile and contemptuous mailman ever. When he hands you a package, he throws it out at you, he won’t speak and is horrible. His nasty behavior upset me for days. I hate the bastard, I really do. And I am not one to generally feel or talk that way about people. I can’t believe he has a job, I can’t believe his supervisors allow him to stay on. I suppose they’re hard-pressed to find people to do the job.

But oh my, I completely sympathize. Hateful old rude bastards should retire instead of having a job where they get to show contempt and hostility toward the public.

By: jen

jen — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 07:01:24 +0000

Great post! I really enjoyed it. I hope your mailman gets over whatever’s bugging him.

Life’s too short.