I feel the need to let off steam!

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 3:41pm

I just went out to do some errands, namely mail a package and pick up some groceries.

I came home with the same package because of the same reason I always do. Perhaps some of you can relate. There are two, count 'em, service people at "work". There are over 30 people on line. While I was standing there, I noticed that both service people were carrying on pleasant little conversations with their customers. You could hear that the convos had nothing to do with mail. Everyone else is standing there shifting weight from foot to foot. Finally those two customers left, and what did the service people both do at the same time? Take out some rolls of coins and wads of bills and start counting them out slowly.

Then another employee came out from behind the scene and proceeded to have conversations with the two money counters. that's when I left.

Off to the market. There are two cashiers working and several people on line. My cashier gestured toward a bag I had which contained 4 bagels. she apparently didn't speak any English so it took a while for me to realize what she wanted to know, so I said "four." She didn't know what four meant so I had to wait until a Spanish speaking employee came over and said "quatro."

Then in the elevator in my apt house, I was reflecting on the new security measures in place. This is because 1. some one or more than one person did not do their job re: the underwear bomber, and is in line to be fired. 2. Some inept "security" guard left his post when the person strolled through the wrong way .

So now we have to suffer with these ridiculous new plans for security. Because of those inept people.

Yes, I know, that's how things are now but it makes me so angry. I guess I'm looking for company, as in "misery loves....."

Updated On: 1/7/10 at 03:41 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 3:46pm

Every time I need to go the post office for anything, I feel like I've stepped into the ninth circle of hell.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 3:53pm

My local post office is the one where everyone goes to die.

None of them care one bit, they've lost mail, detroyed packages and every piece of mail that I put into the box takes at least a week longer to get where it's going.


No wonder people don't mail letters any more.

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 3:58pm

yes, and the sense of power that they know they have over us makes them more obnoxious. And they can't be fired!

[bdwaygirl]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 4:00pm

I don't have many rants against the post office I use anymore, simply because for about two years now they're open until 7 during the week and 4 on Saturdays, so if I have to go there, it's usually about 6 or so and I basically walk right up to the counter. I even went in the Monday before Christmas to mail my bro some cookies, walked in about 2:00 and had one person in front of me and one being waited on. Not bad at all.


ETA: Grocery store checkers are a whole other story. If they stopped being Chatty Cathy's with each other, and paid attention to what they're doing, they'd get people out much quicker.

Updated On: 1/7/10 at 04:00 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 4:00pm

I detest the post office, any post office really. I avoid the U.S. mail at all costs.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 4:02pm

I filed a complaint against one of the workers at the 42nd St post office a few months ago. I had my headphones in but turned pulled them out of my iPhone when I got up to the window so I could hear the man and he was talking to me behind the glass with his back half turned and in a really soft voice. He said something and I didn't hear him so I said "excuse me" and his response was something like "If you'd take your Goddamn headphones out you'd hear what the hell I was trying to say to you". I showed him they weren't plugged into anything and he said "You must still be deaf". That's when I lost my SH*T and started an all out fight with this man in front of an entire line of people. I left there and immediately went home to find out what I could do to file a formal complaint, which I did. And I didn't let it go either. I called his boss every single day for two weeks to make sure they were going to do something about it. I don't know what happened but I haven't seen him at that post office again since.

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 4:07pm

Well, you're lucky, Jordan, that something seems to be done. I sure hope he wasn't promoted which is what happens sometimes when an employee proves inept at their job. they are then placed in a different position.

Being public service workers, I don't think they can ever be fired. oy.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 4:09pm

No, they cant be fired but they can be transfered to another office or department etc. I have no idea if my constant complaints had anything to do with it but I'm guessing if that's how he responded to a simple question I wasn't the first one he'd done that to.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 4:09pm

I had 5 boxes of stuff shipped to me once. 4 of the boxes showed up fine. The fifth was full of my dead grandfathers things. That box showed up shaped like a kidney, with a hole that was taped over and a wet spot, like someone peed on it.

It was insured, but they wanted me to turn over my grandfathers items for appraisal. How do you appraise smashed antiques that can never be replaced?

I never saw a dime. Those fcukers.

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 4:11pm

"No, they cant be fired but they can be transfered to another office or department etc"

Yes, that's what I just said!

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 4:12pm

Diva, that would have made me so mad that I wouldn't give up fighting with them!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 4:22pm

Oh, I fought, and fought hard, but they said they have to appraise everything. I asked them how they can put a price on things that cannot be replaced.

AND they said I would not get the damaged items back either.

Needless to say, I never ship anything thru USPS.

Updated On: 1/7/10 at 04:22 PM

[James885]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 4:27pm

My local post office is absolutely terrible. They've lost my mail several times and they're rude. Going there is a nightmare because the lines are always long and the one or two workers that are at the counter move as slow as molasses.

And about grocery stores....what irks me more than ever is people who go into the express checkout line with a cart filled to the brim. And because the cashier knows them, he or she doesn't say a word and is only too happy to ring them up. I've had it happen to me several times.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 4:28pm

I don't have anything really horrible to say about the post office where I live, but UPS is bad. They get lazy around Christmas, and just start chucking packages wherever. One year they didn't even get a package at least near the front walk of the house, or near the bottom of the driveway. They got to the top of the hill and threw it near the bushes. It took 5 of us a week or 2 to notice that it was there. It was cosmetics for my sister's business, so she couldn't even conciously feel right to sell it.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 4:58pm

...and so many here want the same folks who run the usps to run healthcare.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 5:28pm

Jane that is so frustrating!

I usually don't have too many problems in the post office because I live in a smaller community. But when I lived in DC, I dreaded going there.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 5:30pm

A doctor would still have to complete medical school under a single payer healthcare system, papa! It's not like post office clerks would be performing your surery. Well, maybe elective surgery.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 5:50pm

"I had my headphones in but turned pulled them out of my iPhone when I got up to the window so I could hear the man and he was talking to me behind the glass with his back half turned and in a really soft voice. He said something and I didn't hear him so I said "excuse me" and his response was something like "If you'd take your Goddamn headphones out you'd hear what the hell I was trying to say to you"."

All due respect, Jordan, those earphones still impede your hearing even if you're not listening to anything and I think it's rude to carry on a conversation while wearing them, period. It certainly doesn't justify the worker's response, but you can hear better when you don't have something plugging up your ears, especially if you're talking through glass.

I have a strange issues with Post Offices...my local one is a nightmare with outright abusive employees, but every other one I've been to in NYC, they've been as sweet and efficient as can be. Especially the big one on 33rd and eighth. Plus it's gorgeous.

Posted: 1/7/10 at 6:08pm

My post office has a "Self-serve" area in the lobby. I can't remember the last time I had to actually go to the counter to do anything. I slide my debit card, weigh the package, print out the little postage sticker and dump it all in the box.

I wish dealing with Blue Cross was one tenth as easy.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 6:09pm

Wow Joe! I've never seen that before, but that's a great idea!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 6:13pm

They have one of those in my P.O.

Nothing worse than getting stuck behind some moron who doesn't know how to use it...

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 6:14pm

We have one of those, but because it takes so long for the two clerks to do anything, the self-serve line is now just as long. I often drive fifteen miles each way to a small rural post office because the lone clerk is a doll and there's never a line.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 6:41pm

I don't go to the post office for packages. Not since I paid to have a package overnighted and it arrived 3 days later.

I solely use the UPS Store and have never had a problem. Yeah, it's a little more money but they're more reliable and they're tracking is much better. And unless you're going right around Christmas or tax time there's rarely ever a horribly long line

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 1/7/10 at 9:13pm

Our post office counter is now open from 10-4 Monday-Friday. I suppose people who work are supposed to go on their lunch break when there is a line out the door. Fortunately we have one of the automatic machines and I mail things at night. However, without fail, I have to teach someone in front of me how to use it.