[img]583|left|Eric L. Wattree||no_popup[/img]In a recent column, I pointed out how on the day after Thanksgiving, the Postal Service took the unprecedented action of closing the doors on its customers at both the Barrington and Bicentennial stations two hours before its scheduled closing time without prior notification.
Employees were outraged by the irresponsibility of that action. One employee said:
“We were discussing the situation among ourselves. Nobody could believe that things have gone downhill so far, so fast. I've been working for the postal service for twenty-eight years. I have seen them do crazy things. I didn't think it would ever get to the point where they would just close the door in the customers' faces. Doing something like that used to be unthinkable. We used to give priority to customer service during riots, floods, and earthquakes. Now they're thumbing their noses at the public just to pad their bonuses.”
Another worker said:
“No one in a position of responsibility could be so unprofessional and clueless through ignorance alone. I think they're purposely trying to sabotage the postal service to make it easier for them to privatize us. The craft employees are the only thing holding the Post Office together. Management seems to be doing everything they can on a daily basis to make that harder to do. It's like trying to do your job with a bunch of bad kids running all over the place, getting into everything. Eric, a person would have to actually come in and see it to understand what I'm saying. I know this is an overused phrase, but it is really unbelievable. Management doesn't care about customer service. All they want is to save money. When they get customer complaints, they want to write up craft employees, even though they know that they caused the problem. This district's management has become a liability to the Post Office. I want you to write that.”
Since I reported these employee comments, workers from the Wagner Station (Century Boulevard/Van Ness in West Los Angeles) contacted me saying that they had further evidence of their validity. Their station management has removed all postal collection boxes in front of the Post Office, leaving only one box for customer convenience, from FedEx.
Even though I had five independent confirmations, the action they reported was so stupid I drove thirty-three miles, from Covina, to see it for myself. The decision is tantamount to Sears putting a Bullocks catalog stand in front of their department store.
Time to Change the Lineup
How can the Postal Service hope to meet their goals with such decisionmakers at the top?
Employees said the move was made because people were sticking objects into the lip of the boxes and pulling out mail. This shows they are trying to save money again at the expense of customer service. If they would spend the few dollars to collect the boxes in a timely manner, vandals wouldn't be able to reach the mail.
Or they could install boxes with the long lips that they use for customers to access the boxes from their cars. The people in charge are neither thinkers nor interested in customer service. They saw an opportunity to save money even though their actions advertise FedEx as a more efficient way to move mail.
Management's judgment is having an even more profound impact on the Postal Service decline. To survive, each employee must give 110 percent. This will not happen because workers detest them.
An Ugly Historic Throwback
Whenever employees have a telecom, I am told what was discussed five minutes after they get off the telephone. One manager told me the thought of her CSO getting credit for her efforts makes her nauseus.
Many African-American employees feel a resentment cultural in nature. Hatred is a more accurate description. I have saved their emails to a file. I will publish their remarks in the near future.
A clerk gave me the idea of referring to the Postal Service as a “latter-day plantation.” She told me many co-workers refer to the Postal Service as “The Plantation.”
She said: “It reminds me of what it must have been like during slavery. The slavemaster is sittin' up in the big house, tellin' these turncoat overseers to just get the work done. They don't care how they do it. Then they start grinnin' and bowin', and sayin' 'Yes, sir, Massa. Yes, sir.' It makes me sick to think how hard we fought during the sixties to give some of these turncoats a chance to hold these positions. Now they're walking around tryin' to look down they're nose at us, especially Anderson and the one they call Tyrone the Tyrant. I ain't never met him, but I can't even sleep at night thinking about some of the things I've heard about him. It just makes me sick.”
Money is the least of the serious problems facing the Postal Service. They've lost the respect of their employees. They have harassed, cheated and pushed a little too far. Now they have a Tea Party brewing within their ranks. Since they no longer have anyone left with the intelligence, foresight or common sense to address the issue, it's gonna to explode. Mark my words.
Eric L. Wattree is a writer, poet, and musician, born in Los Angeles. A columnist for The Los Angeles Sentinel, The Black Star News, a staff writer for Veterans Today, he is a contributing writer to Your Black World, the Huffington Post, ePluribus Media and other online sites and publications. He also is the author of “A Message From the Hood.”
Mr. Wattree may be contacted at wattree.blogspot.com or Ewattree@Gmail.com
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