Incompetent Mailman Deliberately Leaves All The Heavy Stuff For A Temporary Worker Who Nails The Route And Gets Him Fired
Regardless of where you work, chances are, you have to communicate with people daily – and it just so happens that sometimes, their personalities are so strong that you start your mornings with pep talks, just so that you won’t lose it.
Many workplaces still struggle with a couple of issues: micromanaging higher-ups, an environment that causes frequent burnout, and of course, the star of the show – backstabbing and/or ill-mannered colleagues.
For many employees, it’s a serious problem that hinders their productivity, which ultimately could lead to a job replacement; however, if you’re satisfied with everything else your position offers, perhaps there’s a thing or two that you can do:
Find a healthy way to cope or plot sweet-sweet revenge, just like this guy did back in the 90s.
More info: Reddit
Sometimes plotting an act of perfect revenge is the only thing that can teach a bully a lesson
Image credits: Deutsche Post DHL (not the actual image)
“‘I got you a souvenir.’ Yeah, I got you fired from the post office” – this online user turned to one of Reddit’s communities to reminisce about a sweet revenge story where he got his bullying co-worker canned by doing his job better than him. The post has managed to receive nearly 12K upvotes, as well as a couple of comments discussing the situation.
A temporary worker perfects this entitled mailman’s route and later gets him fired for slacking off
Image source: u/Rknot
The man began his tale by sharing that in 1991, he found a summer job as a “casual carrier” for the USPS, which used to hire summer temps to cover for all the full-timers on vacation.
The USPS had/has a rule about goods that had to be delivered within a certain time frame; it was extremely vital, and people could’ve been fired if they took too long to complete their duties.
The OP said that carriers were monitored and timed, sometimes even secretly followed, to ensure that everyone was working hard the entire time they were outside the post office. Moreover, the employees were expected to punch in and out of tasks so that management could track their productivity.
Folks were supposed to do their jobs quickly. The better routes went to those who were quick and speedy, whereas slow carriers were hassled to be faster and disciplined for slowness.
Apart from doing his set routes, the author was also delivering packages for full-timers who were vacationing
Image source: u/Rknot
The author then added that there used to be a huge volume of mail, and that back then, he was a broke student and was willing to work any hours the company gave him, which led the supervisor to like him. Plus, he was very friendly with most full-timers because he always strived to do his job well and “didn’t rock the boat.”
He was a big guy, 6’5″ to be exact, and could carry a lot of weight, which ultimately made management happy. The OP had a regular route that he’d deliver in the afternoons, and he’d also do some stuff in the morning – help with the heavy things, etc.
As well as that, he would also deliver for full-time carriers who were on vacation.
The OP was assigned to help a mailman who was quick to dump all the hard work on his shoulders
Although he escalated the issue to the postmaster, he was told to deliver things as fast as he could without worrying about the time frame
Image credits: Official U.S. Navy Page (not the actual image)
Image source: u/Rknot
One day, the man was assigned to do some work for “Dave.”
Now, the OP despised Dave and said to picture him as a failed physical education teacher in his 40s with a bad moustache and a very opinionated head.
Naturally, when Dave discovered that he would have the author helping him out with deliveries, he decided to drop all of the heavy stuff on the poor man’s shoulders. He said that he even confronted him at some point – however, the full-timer laughed it off and said that there was nothing that he could do.
The author escalated the matter to the company’s postmaster but again, was told to just suck it up.
In his first week, some nicer colleagues took him aside and specifically told the OP to not move quicker than the full-timer, as it could cause trouble.
The author decided to “wreck” the mailman’s job and learned how to do the route in 3 hours or less
Image source: u/Rknot
At one point, the man had had enough and decided to “wreck” Dave’s job since he was such a bully. He first requested two additional over-the-shoulder mail carrier bags to be able to carry more stuff without having to go back to his Jeep to reload.
Once he got comfortable with Dave’s route, he started running it; he would load up three mail bags for each segment of the route and jog/run the entire time.
The OP mentioned that Dave’s route usually took him around 4.5 hours per day to walk – however, he’d finish it in 3 hours or less, and he would do it every day, regardless of the weather conditions and the number of packages that he had to deliver.
No one really noticed his outstanding performance, as he’d only do the route a couple of times per week, but the fun started when Dave took a 2-week vacation. He added that since he was doing the job correctly, there was never an overload of heavy stuff, which made it easier to run around.
The man ended up learning to complete the route in under 3 hours, with a personal record of 2.5 hours.
He then told management that he didn’t understand why the route was budgeted 4.5 hours when it could be done much faster
After the OP quit, a former colleague that he befriended told him that the mailman was fired for “lollygagging” and for an alleged affair that he was having with a woman on his route
Image source: u/Rknot
Once the man was noticed by the higher-ups, they started asking him about his timekeeping practices, thinking that the student might’ve been throwing mail and packages away, since only a couple of weeks before, he used to take up to 7 hours to get things delivered.
The OP explained his jogging tactic and didn’t hesitate to “drop the bomb.” He told the postmaster that he was having trouble understanding why the route was budgeted 4.5 hours to deliver when it clearly could’ve been done much faster.
The author even decided to embellish the story by saying that many people were surprised that he didn’t want a soda or to sit down and chat for a minute like Dave always did.
He then continued to jog the route for the next 6 days, until Dave found him and asked if he enjoyed doing all the hard work while he was vacationing, to which the OP clapped back, saying he’d learned a lesson about how to treat co-workers.
Image source: u/Rknot
Image credits: Carlos Ebert (not the actual image)
Fortunately, that was his last week of working for the USPS, and he then headed back to college.
The man kept in touch with a couple of colleagues that he befriended, and one of them was very happy to say that Dave was fired about two months after he left.
Turns out that due to a massive time difference, management decided to audit his route and discovered that the full-timer was slacking off, taking unauthorized breaks and apparently having an affair with a woman.
Fellow Reddit users shared their thoughts and opinions
I work for the Post Office , running or jogging delivering the mail is a big safety issue . Injuries on the job are quite costly , so I'm surprised nothing was said to this individual.
They didn't know he ran the route, he lied and said he even stopped to chat on the route. Not sure Dave is the only a.hole in this story but Dave did meet his match.
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Also, there is stuff in this that doesn't make sense. And I worked for USPS in the 90s. Sorting and delivery were not done by the same person. If Dave was pulling out heavy stuff or leaving it every day until this guy's day someone would have noticed.
Hmm maybe it's different in different areas? My step-mother did both sorting, and delivery, but she lived in a small town.
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While Dave is an exception, there's a very good reason for them not wanting you to do tasks too quickly. You were in your early 20s and at your physical peak. Imagine doing that in your 50s; especially if you had been doing it for 20+ years. The wear and year on the body is real. Look at Amazon. They have DOUBLE the average amount of work injuries of other warehouse/shipping businesses. It's all due to the pace. The human body can only take so much. Now imagine what that's going to cost us as a country in medical expenses when these current Amazon employees reach their 60s and 70s.
Yep and if you work for a place and go as fast as you can eventually you are going to slow down over the years, come 50 years old you are going to be slower and by that point they expect you to be fast and are jumping on you for slacking.
Load More Replies...
I am a carrier, some has changed and some is the same. I started with USPS in 2005. I get if someone is a d..k, but literally running a route....ok? You brought attention to his times and started an observation. Obviously, he was a bad carrier. Why revel in a family losing income?
The man who lost his income was abusing coworkers, while also cheating on his wife, on company time. Running the route was just a way to punish the guy since the company didn't care to intervene. I would say he got comuppance, and reveling in his just desserts is the cherry on top. Hopefully the guy's divorced, because he's a real a-hole. You sound like a person who would cry when a murderer goes to jail.
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I don't think there are very many jobs that have the right to expect workers to "hurry". I definitely think it's ok to fire people for going slow on purpose, but there's a big difference between a worker who is just slow and one who is a slacker. Some people are just faster. So what? It's ok to pay people like thar more, but not ok to fire people who are just slow, but not on purpose. There's definitely lots of slackers on most jobs now. Fire them, but not people who try but are just slow. It's not their fault. But yeah, better workers deserve better pay...but let's not worship workers who work fast to make someone else look bad. It's terrible to try to get people fired that innocently are just not as fast as some people. It's mean to get people fired like that, and it shouldn't be rewarded. What sucks is that management did step up and fire slackers instead of letting another employee try to make someone look bad who is just slow, but still honest.
A large part of the problem with today's economy is that workers who do twice what others do aren't paid even close to double their colleagues. I for example can do a dozen pieces of something while 2 other workers have only done 7 between them. So I should make 2-3 times others' wages. However I only make about 25% more.
Load More Replies...
During summer breaks when I was in University, I was a temp at the Post Office. The carrier who I was "assigned" to suggested to me if I finished the route early, "go home have some lunch and come back around 4". He said the Post Master asks each FT carrier if they would recommends "their temp" to be rehired for next summer's work. An obvious quid pro quo. I worked every summer at the PO during my undergraduate years.
I hadn't really thought about the days of catalogues deliveries by mail. Being a mail carrier is tough work anyway but back then, it was brutal.
Unions are a good thing. I was a shop steward and later a supervisor. Each spring I would have a meeting with the largely seasonal staff and part of it was to point out that while the agreement protected workers, it also spelled out the steps one has to take to correct performance and fire if neccessary. It is lazy supervisors who do not want to put the work in to handle problem emloyees.
My late father was a postal carrier. We never saw him during daytime around holidays, he took all the overtime he could. One day the house got a phone call from a woman on his route. She said she saw my father delivering to another area, and wanted to know if there was anything she and the neighbors could do to get him back. This was in the 60-80's. It was an area of older people and offtimes the mailman was their only outside contact. Rest assumed ma'am, he was just filling in for another carrier and will be back.
Lol, how is that what you got from this? The guy was having an affair and taking unauthorized breaks on the route, and that was without having to carry any of the heavy stuff because he was forcing others to do all his hard work
Load More Replies... I work for the Post Office , running or jogging delivering the mail is a big safety issue . Injuries on the job are quite costly , so I'm surprised nothing was said to this individual.
They didn't know he ran the route, he lied and said he even stopped to chat on the route. Not sure Dave is the only a.hole in this story but Dave did meet his match.
Load More Replies... Also, there is stuff in this that doesn't make sense. And I worked for USPS in the 90s. Sorting and delivery were not done by the same person. If Dave was pulling out heavy stuff or leaving it every day until this guy's day someone would have noticed.
Hmm maybe it's different in different areas? My step-mother did both sorting, and delivery, but she lived in a small town.
Load More Replies... While Dave is an exception, there's a very good reason for them not wanting you to do tasks too quickly. You were in your early 20s and at your physical peak. Imagine doing that in your 50s; especially if you had been doing it for 20+ years. The wear and year on the body is real. Look at Amazon. They have DOUBLE the average amount of work injuries of other warehouse/shipping businesses. It's all due to the pace. The human body can only take so much. Now imagine what that's going to cost us as a country in medical expenses when these current Amazon employees reach their 60s and 70s.
Yep and if you work for a place and go as fast as you can eventually you are going to slow down over the years, come 50 years old you are going to be slower and by that point they expect you to be fast and are jumping on you for slacking.
Load More Replies... I am a carrier, some has changed and some is the same. I started with USPS in 2005. I get if someone is a d..k, but literally running a route....ok? You brought attention to his times and started an observation. Obviously, he was a bad carrier. Why revel in a family losing income?
The man who lost his income was abusing coworkers, while also cheating on his wife, on company time. Running the route was just a way to punish the guy since the company didn't care to intervene. I would say he got comuppance, and reveling in his just desserts is the cherry on top. Hopefully the guy's divorced, because he's a real a-hole. You sound like a person who would cry when a murderer goes to jail.
Load More Replies... I don't think there are very many jobs that have the right to expect workers to "hurry". I definitely think it's ok to fire people for going slow on purpose, but there's a big difference between a worker who is just slow and one who is a slacker. Some people are just faster. So what? It's ok to pay people like thar more, but not ok to fire people who are just slow, but not on purpose. There's definitely lots of slackers on most jobs now. Fire them, but not people who try but are just slow. It's not their fault. But yeah, better workers deserve better pay...but let's not worship workers who work fast to make someone else look bad. It's terrible to try to get people fired that innocently are just not as fast as some people. It's mean to get people fired like that, and it shouldn't be rewarded. What sucks is that management did step up and fire slackers instead of letting another employee try to make someone look bad who is just slow, but still honest.
A large part of the problem with today's economy is that workers who do twice what others do aren't paid even close to double their colleagues. I for example can do a dozen pieces of something while 2 other workers have only done 7 between them. So I should make 2-3 times others' wages. However I only make about 25% more.
Load More Replies... During summer breaks when I was in University, I was a temp at the Post Office. The carrier who I was "assigned" to suggested to me if I finished the route early, "go home have some lunch and come back around 4". He said the Post Master asks each FT carrier if they would recommends "their temp" to be rehired for next summer's work. An obvious quid pro quo. I worked every summer at the PO during my undergraduate years.
I hadn't really thought about the days of catalogues deliveries by mail. Being a mail carrier is tough work anyway but back then, it was brutal.
Unions are a good thing. I was a shop steward and later a supervisor. Each spring I would have a meeting with the largely seasonal staff and part of it was to point out that while the agreement protected workers, it also spelled out the steps one has to take to correct performance and fire if neccessary. It is lazy supervisors who do not want to put the work in to handle problem emloyees.
My late father was a postal carrier. We never saw him during daytime around holidays, he took all the overtime he could. One day the house got a phone call from a woman on his route. She said she saw my father delivering to another area, and wanted to know if there was anything she and the neighbors could do to get him back. This was in the 60-80's. It was an area of older people and offtimes the mailman was their only outside contact. Rest assumed ma'am, he was just filling in for another carrier and will be back.
Lol, how is that what you got from this? The guy was having an affair and taking unauthorized breaks on the route, and that was without having to carry any of the heavy stuff because he was forcing others to do all his hard work
Load More Replies...
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