Community Chat

[SahmIam]

I can and will only speak about the USPS centers in my area. 

There are 6; 3 are large or main hubs for their zones, the other 3 are very and I mean VERY small branches that serve the farming/rural communities. These small centers have limited hours, have very few employees and tend to know EVERYONE in their area because it's small town farm people.

The 3 near me are rated 1 out of 5. If you could give them a 0, people (including me) would. There is usually 1 or 2 people working no matter the time or day. There are, however, 6-8 stalls set up but never manned. In addition, you can hear people in the back area but no one is ever available to help. I have yet to go to any of these 3 where a manager was NOT dealing with angry customers. You can call but you will never get a pick up; it just rings and rings and rings. We have not, in 10 years, seen the same person deliver our mail. We are a boarder area so we get whomever has nothing to do and so our mail delivery is a mess. Yes, I've complained. Yes, I"ve sent emails, letters, spoken to the person in charge at our delivery center. No difference. Why? I don't know. Seriously. I don't.

Now, when I go in to my local PO (which is not the one that delivers my mail), there are 2 women who work there. Always the same two. I say hi, they smile, they chat, I have ZERO issue with them. But others are not so lucky and often it's because once they get to the counter (after a long wait), the first they do is bitch. Yep, no hi no nothing just complain. The attitude comes out from the PO employee and  we're off to a great start....not.

On slow days, they've chatted to me, especially if  I'm mailing quite a few things. I've heard about poor management, serious schedule issues, the fact that since the boss doesn't care- I'm not going to care, the sex in the parking lot (yes, that was overhead and well, cameras are everywhere so I guess they'e into that) and overall, it just comes off that no one really likes their job but...it's a job. And they need a job. The one woman has a spouse who is disabled and she is the sole breadwinner; she also supplies the family with health insurance. The other woman is a single mom living in a not so great area and works to send her child to a very good boarding school so he will escape the issues where she lives. 

Knowing about them puts a different spin on what I see when I'm there. Doesn't change the fact that overall, they service STINKS but at least when dealing with these two employees, there is never a problem

[NycVixen]

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@Cakers3 wrote:

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@NycVixen wrote:

I just had a similar issue with USPS on Monday when I called to inquire about a missed pick up. I was disrespected by the woman that answered the phone. I wasted no time putting in a complaint online with USPS and with the postal inspector. I also informed the manager at the post office when I went in to drop off the packages they failed to pick up. I will not accept being disrespected by USPS period.

Someone called me yesterday from the post office to apologize and I received an email from opening a case online.

I'm an online seller and I depend on the post office. I pay for postage. It's not free. I demand to be treated with respect, for USPS to do their job well and provide the customer service I deserve. It may be a monopoly but it's completely unacceptable. I will not tolerate it and I will make sure management is aware of what is going on.

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@NycVixen  Wow.  I would suspect that the woman at the other end of the line "demands" respect, too.  She didn't lose your package.

You know sometimes stuff  happens. 

Were you pleasant?  Your annoyance at a lost package could very well have carried over to her.  Your words "demand" "completely unacceptable" "won't tolerate it" indicates a bit of impatience that most likely carried in your tone.

Remember-people deal with all kinds of behavior from customers, too.

Of course they apologized.  And guarantee you were then out of any other thought on their part.

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@Cakers3. You have no idea what happened.  You should read my OP.

The post office was completely at fault and showed disrespect towards me. I never disrespected the postal employee or had a tone. Stop trying to blame me when you have no clue what happened.  Your post is out of line. You are making assumptions that are entirely incorrect. I don't know why you're defending rude post office employees at my expense.

It is completely unacceptable and I won't tolerate it. The manager at the post office I talked to in addition to the call I received yesterday offered their apologies and assurances they are working on a known problem of disrespect towards customers.

The USPS manager agreed with me 100%. She said the younger generation of USPS workers don't take the same pride in their work and have told her point blank they don't really need the job because they live with their parents.

It's mind boggling that now I need to deal with an anonymous poster trying to give me a hard time simply because I demand respect and I stand up for myself as a paying USPS customer. Please move on and pick on someone else because I'm not the one.

[RespectLife]

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@JBKO wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it hard to get fired if you are a post office employee?

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DING, DING ,DING!  Exactly...in two words...Union Protection.

I go to the PO every day for work.  I made friends w/ 2 long time employees who were, shall we say...gruff!  Many times I saw them snap...sometimes deservedly so. 

Told me right out...they can't do anything to me except put a bad boy note in my file.  I have seniority and union protection.

[haddon9]

Neuman from Seinfeld explains why postal workers can be rude...LOL!...the mail just keeps coming!

I've encountered rude postal workers but my current mail carrier is the best!

[CatsyCline]

I simply will NOT stand for that type of talk!!!

[2blonde]

@Cakers3  I work in the admissions office of a community college.  I have a regular job I have to do, but we also are a call center and have to answer a lot of outside calls for just about anything.  I try to be pleasant and helpful to everyone, but one thing I've noticed is the occasional caller who says I'm rude is generally the caller who actually was very rude to me from the get-go.  People sometimes just need to take a good look in the mirror.

[Cakers3]

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@2blonde wrote:

@Cakers3  I work in the admissions office of a community college.  I have a regular job I have to do, but we also are a call center and have to answer a lot of outside calls for just about anything.  I try to be pleasant and helpful to everyone, but one thing I've noticed is the occasional caller who says I'm rude is generally the caller who actually was very rude to me from the get-go.  People sometimes just need to take a good look in the mirror.

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@2blonde  Oh I agree that being in any customer service type job has rude customers.  I'm not saying that the customer is always right.

I'm just saying that how we present ourselves on either side of the line is crucial and sets up the tone.

One tip people could use-always say to the rep "I bet you get a lot of angry people in your job" or something to that effect.  It really breaks down barriers and defensive vibes.

I think sometimes we just need to take a step back; I don't condone rudeness, either, and I could flip some skirts around here with stories DH and I experienced.

But it's not important.  Most people are generally nice; and we are all just human beings.   Unless somebody has actually called me a name or refused to wait on me then I just keep a good attitude and maybe a the person just needed a smile.

I understand what you are saying in your situation but it really doesn't matter who was rude first; it can be frustrating but generally I bet you have more nice people than rude ones.

Picking our "thought battles" is key;  we don't always see ourselves as instigators but mostly we see ourselves as victims.

All the best to you.

[NycVixen]

I didn't even get a chance to say why I was calling when I was cut off and put on hold for 10 minutes when I decided to hang up and call back. I politely stated I was on hold and no one came back. The same rude postal employee cuts me off again and proceeds to put me on hold.

I call two more times then no one answers. But somehow this is my fault and I'm blamed for having a tone that carried over when I never even got a chance to say why I was calling in the first place. This is completely unacceptable. Customers shouldn't be treated like that. I have a right to know if USPS is really coming to make the pick up or not. They never showed up and I had to run to drop off the packages, which greatly inconvenienced my schedule.

It's so easy to judge and make assumptions because some people think they know what happened when they weren't there.

[JBKO]

I'm reminded how one often has to call 2-3 times to get in touch with someone. I had to do that today. 

[CrazyDaisy]

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@NycVixen wrote:

I didn't even get a chance to say why I was calling when I was cut off and put on hold for 10 minutes when I decided to hang up and call back. I politely stated I was on hold and no one came back. The same rude postal employee cuts me off again and proceeds to put me on hold.

I call two more times then no one answers. But somehow this is my fault and I'm blamed for having a tone that carried over when I never even got a chance to say why I was calling in the first place. This is completely unacceptable. Customers shouldn't be treated like that. I have a right to know if USPS is really coming to make the pick up or not. They never showed up and I had to run to drop off the packages, which greatly inconvenienced my schedule.

It's so easy to judge and make assumptions because some people think they know what happened when they weren't there.

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She may have been helping another customer who had been there first.  Perhaps if you had not repeatedly hung up and called back she could have finished with the other customer and been able to handle your question.  Demanding immediate attention is a little much.