Buck Fifty
Well-Known Member
When I snap my fingers you won't remember anything.
. Your obviously easily amused and impressed .
a question to ft management
- Thread starter RolloTony Brown Town
- Start date
When I snap my fingers you won't remember anything.
. Your obviously easily amused and impressed .
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
It has been a matter of routine around here for years to use TAW employees for shuttling misloads.
I'm pretty sure they code us out as "clerks" for accounting purposes. We are given DIADS in order to allow us to communicate with the center, along with a stern lecture to not scan or deliver any packages with those DIADS so as to keep the center's SPC number within compliance.
The stupidity of this lies in the fact that a TAW employee is automatically being paid for 8 hours whether he delivers anything or not...so any packages that he does deliver are essentially "revenue neutral" in terms of labor cost.
A simple administrative change would remedy this. Any stops delivered by a TAW employee...up to a maximum of 5 or maybe 10 per day...should not be counted towards the center's SPC quota. If we are already paying that employee, there is no reason not to allow him to do useful work that is within his medical restriction.
Catatonic
Nine Lives
Amused - Yes, definitely. Mostly at myself but with almost everything else as well. Once one learns to laugh at themselves, they stay amused all the time.
Impressed - Probably. I am a skeptical person so when things are as promised, I am impressed. Mayne pleasantly surprised is a better description.
RolloTony Brown Town
Well-Known Member
I can't predict whether or not i will get to the level of center/sort manager or whether or not i will come across an opportunity which pushes me into leavinng ups. I can say that my experience driving has taught me a lot about customer service. There are shmucks on both sides of the fence (center manager's cutting routes and over dispatching and drivers not trying their hardest for fear of being asked to do more are a couple of simple examples.) I will also say that no arbitrary number or pressure from a division manager would convince me to not deliver a NDA, period. The customer paid for that service and if its me then they will receive their package.
I can't concern myself with corporate directives and agenda. They don't know what it takes, nor do they care to know. I can't help but care about my coworkers, employees, and now the customers. Its never going to be perfect, but caring goes a long way with everyone.
I can't concern myself with corporate directives and agenda. They don't know what it takes, nor do they care to know. I can't help but care about my coworkers, employees, and now the customers. Its never going to be perfect, but caring goes a long way with everyone.
Catatonic
Nine Lives
Maybe you should reconsider management.
You will not be paid to execute based on your personal beliefs or feelings.
Nobody really cares what you think!
curiousbrain
Well-Known Member
I preface this with a hefty "I'm-not-real-management", just a part-time supervisor.
Hoaxster is right: nobody really cares what you think. Or, perhaps in a more convulated way: maybe some one cares what you think, but no one cares what they think, ad infinitum. At a certain level in Operations, service still matters to the members of management and the hourlies; however, there is a level above at which the orders/pressure/demands/threats begin, and eventually it will become clear to you that service does not matter anymore. It's never direct, but it's just this sort of cloud of indifference that exerts constant pressure to extract more labor from less working hours.
As a member of Operations, you'll probably work with methods, OJS, and less formal ways of trying to meet these seemingly random metrics. However, it will never be clear to you (or, at least, it's not clear to me yet) where these numbers come from - or, more importantly, the method or logic of how these metrics are created - it will just be a wall, from which numbers regularly emerge. Worse, the more academic of those among your superiors, will actually hold you in contempt because ... who cares why, but they will - and they will do crazy things like change PKG without telling you, then berate you for missing a number they changed two days ago when you plan two weeks out.
If there is one thing Hoaxster said that I agree the most with (and I'm paraphrasing here): your personal convictions and ideals are not what matter - the most important thing, bar none, is results. How you achieve those results is (barring totally ridiculous things) largely irrelevant, so long as you don't get caught.
SignificantOwner
A Package Center Manager
I suggest either re-thinking that line of thought or skipping management. That's like a wide receiver saying that they can't be concerned with the play call that the quarterback makes.
I'm no fan of the way our upper management is handling this company's affairs, treating employees, and padding their own pockets while we get BS raises. Having said that, we'll get nowhere if everyone just does their own thing. Corporate calls the plays, we run them, and then they get fired if the plans don't work...and that's where my analogy breaks down.
Catatonic
Nine Lives
Essentially the same advice I gave him.
That statement is naive, ignorant or just plain stupid ... regardless, not a fit for management.
Come on man are you serious?
Do you really think that all upper management has never been on the floor?
Gray and Brutto both started from the bottom. One of my old managers used to be a FT sup under Brutto when he was a manager.
This job is a lot easier than you guys make it out to be.
Are the hours long? Absolutely.
Is there a lot of paperwork bs? Of course.
Does it require a sharp mind? Nope.
At the end of the day all we do is move packages, not exactly brain surgery.
curiousbrain
Well-Known Member
At the moment, I lack the motivation to type a huge response; so, I will just say that this post strikes me as being very ignorant about so many issues that directly relate to being "on the floor".
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
I'll bite.
Moving packages may not be brain surgery, but moving millions of them per day nationwide in an efficient manner is pretty close.
Too many important operational decisions today are being made from a distance, by people who have never done our job and cannot comprehend the ramifications of their actions.
Loops are being written by people who have never done our jobs, who have no knowledge of the area in question (terrain, location of pickups, location of bulk stops etc.) and who regard the process as being no different from playing a glorified game of Pac Man on Google Earth.
Package cars are designed and ordered by people who will never use them. Facilities are designed by people who will never work in them. Numerical quotas, operational policies and "stops per car" mandates are imposed by people who dont have to actually implement them. There is a fundamental disconnect between those who make the decisions and those who actually have to go out and do the work in the real world.
TxRoadDawg
Well-Known Member
Funny I thought the crap just rolled down the chain until it went plop on some poor part timers head for not being good enough to meet his numbers while overseeing a cluster of hourlies making as much or more than him. 8 years and I still cannot recall anyone over center manager level being fired for any reason....
curiousbrain
Well-Known Member
Ok; I think I found it now.
1) Do you think all upper management has never been on the floor?
Yes and no; yes, in the sense that some of them have, in fact, been on "the floor." No, in the sense that some of them have, in fact, not been on "the floor." I think that this is just a result of the sort of corporate structure that exists nowadays - management largely consists of a few from the "inside", with most from the "outside." That's not to say that I'm advocating either way, but rather just making an observation.
2) This job is a lot easier than you guys make it out to be.
That, if nothing else, strikes me as ignorant about issues on "the floor." Being a full-time manager who barks orders: yep, that's easy. Being a part-time sup who has to balance actual workers with actual lives who happen to be actual human beings: difficult. I'm not attempting to imply that managers don't have to balance personal relationships, either; but, I am attempting to imply that to say that this balance is "easy" is a gross misconception of a large part of what being on "the floor" is about.
3) Are the hours long? Absolutely.
I agree; especially when you work part-time hours for full-time pay. Of course, that's not something "they" are allowed to ask, imply, or even really talk about; and yet, it happens constantly. Today is the day after Thanksgiving - maybe it happened a lot today. Whatever the case may be, the hours are insane.
4) Is there a lot of paperwork bs? Of course.
I do a decent amount of my full-time managers paperwork, and it's ... amusing? Yeah, amusing.
5) Does it require a sharp mind? Nope.
I'd be lying if I said that, even in my small little slice of UPS, I haven't driven home some days and asked myself if the human race was slowly devolving. But, the people I meet in this company that people have speaken the most highly of, have been extremely dedicated individuals who are very sharp.
6) At the end of the day all we do is move packages, not exactly brain surgery.
You're right - the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of man-hours that have probably been spent developing the technologies and delivery network that services millions of people is a lucky accident. Nothing to see here.
Almost all of my managers worked as an hourly at some point - and if I may interject my own observation, that's the problem: "at some point." So, yeah, they worked Preload in 1985 or 1989, and they were on "the floor." Obviously (or perhaps not so obviously), things are so insane now that beyond a certain level, people aren't even really allowed to "see" how things work, for reasons of deniability.
That's the long answer.
My short answer would be that, based on my observation of the management apparatus so far, a more accurate statement might be that most upper management already know what their upper management want to hear.
You're right - the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of man-hours that have probably been spent developing the technologies and delivery network that services millions of people is a lucky accident. Nothing to see here.
Almost all of my managers worked as an hourly at some point - and if I may interject my own observation, that's the problem: "at some point." So, yeah, they worked Preload in 1985 or 1989, and they were on "the floor." Obviously (or perhaps not so obviously), things are so insane now that beyond a certain level, people aren't even really allowed to "see" how things work, for reasons of deniability.
That's the long answer.
My short answer would be that, based on my observation of the management apparatus so far, a more accurate statement might be that most upper management already know what their upper management want to hear.
UnconTROLLed
perfection
This is one of your most shallow posts yet. The one reason I decided not to give management my soul as a youngster, was to be able to TAKE risks in the future. however, risk being outside of the workplace.
Executing corporate tyranny, being owned by upper management, and "living" to work are not idealistic life goals for most people. I could see a follower with no imagination and a money-above-all-else mentality going through with it, though.
island1fox
Well-Known Member
Wow,
I myself never did it --but I am an expert on it ??? How sad
This would be like a dopey management person claiming all hourly people are liars, lazy and no good. How do people become so bitter ???? If you hate Management, hate corporations --you have one life --why have you stayed ???
I myself never did it --but I am an expert on it ??? How sad
This would be like a dopey management person claiming all hourly people are liars, lazy and no good. How do people become so bitter ???? If you hate Management, hate corporations --you have one life --why have you stayed ???
Catatonic
Nine Lives
You're crazy and full of it! I can show you hundreds of post where I was more shallow!
This one ain't even close!
Furthermore, I can show you at least several more thousand posts where I was more serious.
UnconTROLLed
perfection
how about , easily provoked?
Catatonic
Nine Lives
how about , easily provoked?
You just hit a sensitive spot for me ... I work hard at being shallow and the statement you referenced was not even my top 10% of shallow posts.
I felt you were belittling my effort and contribution.
Nimnim
The Nim
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