Written Up for the First Time

[Rain Shield]

Guys, this is our workforce now. I am not knocking on the OP.

Americas workforce has come to believe that they determine what defines a good employee. I can not imagine believing I am a good employee when I am constantly late. We were raised in a different generation. This is our country now.

My best friend is a college professor. Not one of those that teaches because he can not work. He was in corporate America and did very, very well. He is now the chair in the business school at a college. We had the following discussion just two weeks ago.

He says his students have no idea what the real World has in store for them. 99% of them are in dream land. They believe they are going to graduate and become a "Leader" in some fortune 500 company.

He is trying to breakdown the real World for them. He tells them, you will have a hard time finding a job doing what you want. You better get ready to do what you do not want and try to move in a direction that you want. You will start out as a peon. Your boss, or some other person will take credit for a lot of what you do and be rewarded get use to it. You will probably be doing so called work that has nothing to do with your job. Go pick up my laundry, go get lunch, etc. You will be at the bottom of the pole.

You want to move up in the World? Do the stuff your boss does not do well or does not want to do and do it well. Make your boss look good.

Thses things do not apply very much with us at UPS, but he had a point. Our workforce has gone in the crapper, and part of it is that we are raising coddled future workers.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Guys, this is our workforce now. I am not knocking on the OP.

Americas workforce has come to believe that they determine what defines a good employee. I can not imagine believing I am a good employee when I am constantly late. We were raised in a different generation. This is our country now.

My best friend is a college professor. Not one of those that teaches because he can not work. He was in corporate America and did very, very well. He is now the chair in the business school at a college. We had the following discussion just two weeks ago.

He says his students have no idea what the real World has in store for them. 99% of them are in dream land. They believe they are going to graduate and become a "Leader" in some fortune 500 company.

He is trying to breakdown the real World for them. He tells them, you will have a hard time finding a job doing what you want. You better get ready to do what you do not want and try to move in a direction that you want. You will start out as a peon. Your boss, or some other person will take credit for a lot of what you do and be rewarded get use to it. You will probably be doing so called work that has nothing to do with your job. Go pick up my laundry, go get lunch, etc. You will be at the bottom of the pole.

You want to move up in the World? Do the stuff your boss does not do well or does not want to do and do it well. Make your boss look good.

Thses things do not apply very much with us at UPS, but he had a point. Our workforce has gone in the crapper, and part of it is that we are raising coddled future workers.

This is exactly why I am a huge supporter of internships, whether paid or unpaid, either while they are in school or shortly after graduation. Internships give them a glimpse in to the reality of the business world today.

My son had an internship while in his MBA program and is on the first of 4 rotations as part of the GDP program through his employer. He will be exposed to parts of the company outside of his degree area to give him a greater appreciation of the company as a whole. It is a paid program and he is taking full advantage of this as he knows full well that successful completion of this program will open up doors with other much larger corporations.

 

[728ups]

as a part timer all you have to do is show up on time every day,dont steal and you pretty much have a job for life.

 

[FrigidAdCorrector]

He says his students have no idea what the real World has in store for them. 99% of them are in dream land. They believe they are going to graduate and become a "Leader" in some fortune 500 company.

You nailed it. My mom does mid to upper level hiring for a Fortune 500. My favorite story from her is a kid who walked in, fresh out of graduate school with his MBA. My mom asked him what he thought his starting salary should be. He said 125,000. She told him the most they would hire him for his amount of experience was 60,000. He found it unacceptable and left. He came back two weeks later begging for another interview because every other HR person laughed him out of the room.

 

[oldngray]

You nailed it. My mom does mid to upper level hiring for a Fortune 500. My favorite story from her is a kid who walked in, fresh out of graduate school with his MBA. My mom asked him what he thought his starting salary should be. He said 125,000. She told him the most they would hire him for his amount of experience was 60,000. He found it unacceptable and left. He came back two weeks later begging for another interview because every other HR person laughed him out of the room.

There is a glut of MBA's and too many more people are still getting those degrees thinking they will slide right in to a top executive job.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

You nailed it. My mom does mid to upper level hiring for a Fortune 500. My favorite story from her is a kid who walked in, fresh out of graduate school with his MBA. My mom asked him what he thought his starting salary should be. He said 125,000. She told him the most they would hire him for his amount of experience was 60,000. He found it unacceptable and left. He came back two weeks later begging for another interview because every other HR person laughed him out of the room.

When my son graduated with his MBA he was told that the average starting salary was just under $100K. He told me that and we both thought that was a bit high for someone just out of grad school with little to no experience. His starting salary was $55K plus full benefits, which included subsidized housing.

 

[Rain Shield]

That is the way it is and will always be. Very few exceptions. You start out at the bottom in salary depending on experience and education.

This is one of the reasons the economy went in the tank.

You had a many people laid off or let go with years moving up the ladder and getting raise after raise.

They get let go and can not find a job making anything close to what they were making. Happened to another friend after 18 years with the same company. He is Noe selling cars, because he was over qualified and made too much at the other job to come anywhere close to what he was making.

We fall into that in a way as well. It is a rare, rare thing for people to lose a full time job at UPS and end up not losing everything.

 

[clean hairy]

In the above case, working a job for less $$ is better than working no job for no $$.
Just tighten the belt and learn to live on less.
I have had to do it before, no fun, but adjust to living on your new income until things pick back up.

 

[rod]

Anyone ever noticed higher seniority people never get disciplined while lower seniority people are always targeted? Seen it too many times at my hub.

Its all part of learning how to play the game Grasshopper----observe the senior people closely and learn to do exactly as they do.

 

[greengrenades]

So, I was working on the bulk line today and someone got pulled in the break room and they were written up for something earlier in the week. A supervisor told us that they are writing up people for infractions in the past two weeks. I began to worry because..

I have a FT sup who is EXTREMELY lenient. Like, I have taken a day off every week for the past few weeks and sometimes show up a few minutes late every day. I am not a bad employee as I work my ass off there and usually the last person to leave, but since he is so lenient, most other people on my dock do the same thing. So, I never felt too threatened. But I am worrying because I have never been written up before in the 3 years I have been there but in the last two weeks I have come in late and called Off twice.

I am an extremely good employee. I feel like I have to reiterate that because I dont know if that will reflect on my write up. I feel like I am going to go from no write ups in 3 years, to being fired just because of the last few weeks. I work at the Hodgkins location and I am freaking out. I feel like I dont understand all these infraction rules. I know all my supervisors will stick up for me due to how much I help them. I just want to know if I should be worried???

I do have a past of calling off here and there, but no one has ever brought it up to me. I have never done a no call no show and always call in. What do I do?

First, rules are rules. No matter how hard you work management doesn't care. If they are asked by higher ups to start cracking down, they will write you up for anything they can find. Second, any time UPS is on a kick, whether it be uniforms, safety issues, attendance etc, it only last about two weeks then they move on to the next flavor of the week, so worry about that sort of thing during that time period. Third, if you have sick days you can use them whenever you want. No matter what management tells you, you can use your days and they can suck it. Fourth, a write up is just a write up, honestly it doesn't mean jack. Just make sure you have union steward with you, and you have the choice to refuse to sign, which I usually do, you can just sign it though if you feel like you should. Fifth, just take the write up and wipe your ass with it next time you have to take a dump. Follow this guideline and you won't be stressed out anymore.

 

[barnyard]

When I signed my FT bid, my PT supe said that she was sorry to see me go, as I had gone more than 2 years without ever being late or calling in sick.

It can be done.

 

[you aint even know it]

First things first, if you have a history of calling out once a week, there needs to be disciplinary action taken against you.

 

[jbg77]

If you have a staggered start of ten minutes after start time and you show up inside that ten minute window would you still be considered on time? My start on Monday is 420 but my stagger would be 430 so normally ill get there between 425 and 428. Am i still considered on time? Ive called off 3 times in 4 years and option days i give typically a days notice.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

If you have a staggered start of ten minutes after start time and you show up inside that ten minute window would you still be considered on time? My start on Monday is 420 but my stagger would be 430 so normally ill get there between 425 and 428. Am i still considered on time? Ive called off 3 times in 4 years and option days i give typically a days notice.

I assume the stagger is due to that fact the unload has to start 10 minutes before the others as it takes that long for the first wave of packages to reach the belt.

If you are an unloader with an 0420 start and you show up between 0425 and 0428 you would be late.

If you are a preloader with an 0430 start and you show up between 0425 and 0428 you would be on time,

 

[jbg77]

I assume the stagger is due to that fact the unload has to start 10 minutes before the others as it takes that long for the first wave of packages to reach the belt.

If you are an unloader with an 0420 start and you show up between 0425 and 0428 you would be late.

If you are a preloader with an 0430 start and you show up between 0425 and 0428 you would be on time,

Awesome im a loader so i should be good.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Awesome im a loader so i should be good.

It wouldn't kill you to show up a few minutes earlier.

 

[jbg77]

Well technically that is 2 to 5 minutes early. When i drive i show up 30 to 45 minutes early.

 

[Dr.Brownz]

Well technically that is 2 to 5 minutes early. When i drive i show up 30 to 45 minutes early.

Why? I drive everyday and show up about 5 to 10 minutes early. If I'm going out blind on a route, well it, that is UPS's fault for not training me. Guess I'll have to spend a bunch of time on the clock looking at google maps.

 

[box_beeyotch]

Why? I drive everyday and show up about 5 to 10 minutes early. If I'm going out blind on a route, well it, that is UPS's fault for not training me. Guess I'll have to spend a bunch of time on the clock looking at google maps.

That's exactly how I feel. I show up 5 min before start time everyday to find my assigned route or find work. I won't even go on the belt or to the truck until I hear start time. Certain guys have their opinions and work off the clock. I will not, and if it makes my day longer and harder so be it. Just more money in my pocket.

 

[jbg77]

Because im new to driving, it eases any nerves i may have and i like to take a dump before i leave. To each his own. This is the routine that suits me as of right now. I may change after more windshield time.