Can you reject a supervisor's order?

[Grey]

Yesterday I was blind on a route and got a message that I needed to take 15 stops off someone at 4:15. We met up and 7 of them were business and an apartment office so I had to get them off by 5. I end up being 20 minutes late to one of my PU's and they call the center and complain cause they had to close.

Management didn't give me crap about it but in the future can I say "no" to an order if I'm not positive I can make my commits on the route I'm doing that day?

I don't mind helping take stops after I'm done with my route but breaking off in the middle of my day (especially when I'm blind) is/was too stressful for me. Thx.

 

[baklava]

Sure. I do it all the time. But if they instruct you, do it.

 

[FrigidAdCorrector]

Work as directed. But make them aware of the issue. Most of it is just covering yourself.

 

[johnny_hotdog]

In that situation I think the best thing to do would be to make your case saying I don't know this route well and I might have missed pickups if I have to go help. Try to convince them it is a bad idea, but if they insist you probably should just do it.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

Put the decision back on them. Say if I do this, then this is going to happen. What do you want me to do? If they try to come down on you for the aftermath, you can say, I told you so.

 

[Jones]

Put the decision back on them. Say if I do this, then this is going to happen. What do you want me to do? If they try to come down on you for the aftermath, you can say, I told you so.

That question should always be on the tip of your tongue.

 

[ArcherUTR]

Yesterday I was blind on a route and got a message that I needed to take 15 stops off someone at 4:15. We met up and 7 of them were business and an apartment office so I had to get them off by 5. I end up being 20 minutes late to one of my PU's and they call the center and complain cause they had to close.

Management didn't give me crap about it but in the future can I say "no" to an order if I'm not positive I can make my commits on the route I'm doing that day?

I don't mind helping take stops after I'm done with my route but breaking off in the middle of my day (especially when I'm blind) is/was too stressful for me. Thx.

No, you meet the driver. Take the stops, and call the center and say it's 4:15 so-and-so gave me x number of stops. Y number of those stops I will not be able to make service on. What are my instructions?

Then do that.

 

[Number24]

Yesterday I was blind on a route and got a message that I needed to take 15 stops off someone at 4:15. We met up and 7 of them were business and an apartment office so I had to get them off by 5. I end up being 20 minutes late to one of my PU's and they call the center and complain cause they had to close.

Management didn't give me crap about it but in the future can I say "no" to an order if I'm not positive I can make my commits on the route I'm doing that day?

I don't mind helping take stops after I'm done with my route but breaking off in the middle of my day (especially when I'm blind) is/was too stressful for me. Thx.

No you can't because if you do, they'll cry to their FT sup and tell them that you disobeyed his or her order. I witnessed an incident like this at my HUB, it was quite funny to be honest.

 

[joeboodog]

Let them know your situation and let them make the call. Also if you are going to be late to a pick up give them a quick call and explain the situation. Most customers can be very understanding especially if it's a new guy.

 

[oldngray]

Yesterday I was blind on a route and got a message that I needed to take 15 stops off someone at 4:15. We met up and 7 of them were business and an apartment office so I had to get them off by 5. I end up being 20 minutes late to one of my PU's and they call the center and complain cause they had to close.

Management didn't give me crap about it but in the future can I say "no" to an order if I'm not positive I can make my commits on the route I'm doing that day?

I don't mind helping take stops after I'm done with my route but breaking off in the middle of my day (especially when I'm blind) is/was too stressful for me. Thx.

They would try to pull that crap on me sometimes too. Tell me I have to go help someone else deliver business when I'm busy making my own pickups. I would bounce it back to them and ask if they want me to miss my own stops to go help? They would get irate and try to insist I should be in 2 places at the same time but when I pinned them down to a yes or no answer they would tell me to finish my own work first. And the funny thing is that the driver who always cried for help was a whiner and would amazingly enough get it all delivered by himself and still get in before me. He was the kind of person who would spend all day on his phone crying for help instead of working.

 

[Indecisi0n]

Give the customers the direct number to your center manager so they can complain to him.

 

[Richard Harrow]

You can refuse to work as directed only if what you're being told to do is unsafe, immoral, or illegal.

In the future, before you accept work off of anyone that may include a missed commit or business, call your supervisor ahead of time while you are with the other driver and make them aware. Let them make a decision. That's their only function at UPS.

They might not have cared yesterday, but there will come a day when they will. Bet on it.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

. And the funny thing is that the driver who always cried for help was a whiner and would amazingly enough get it all delivered by himself and still get in before me.

That was true for the guy who parked beside me when I was package. He would whine and complain every day, and they would give me a split off his route (our areas were next to each other, but they were like 20 miles from the building) and everytime I'd get in, there would be his package car, parked in it's spot. I'd feel the grill and the engine was cold as ice. Back then when we dropped our cash, we had to sign off with the time we dropped it in the safe, and he would sometimes get off an hour and a half before me after I took work off him. Must have worked out for him. He became a center manager and was fired for doing his side job on company time-selling real estate.

 

[Cementups]

Whenever it's something I don't really want to do I always get a clarification and ask, "Are you asking me or telling me?" That way I know for sure and when I go over 9.5 because of it it's not on me.

 

[rod]

Explain your situation (don't lie or exaggerate) and ask them what you should do. Make them cut their own throats.

 

[3 done 3 to go]

. I would say no. If I had an 8 hr plus day. I did my fair days work for fair days pay. I would offer to meet him for his pick ups. But, I don't need to help with stops

 

[undies]

First, you need to delay the whole thing as much as possible. If they send an ODS, "will contact asap". Do not use your personal phone at all!
Second, keep doing your route and wait for another message to come in. Then respond with "please provide a meet point with directions".
Third, keep delivering your stuff.
By the time they do THEIR job and setup a meet point for you through ODS you will be deep in pick ups and/or done with your own work. Usually they tell me to forget it after a certain amount of time has passed. If you make their job too easy, they will keep coming back to you!