HELP!!! My mailman smokes crack!

[panda81]

Okay, so today was the last straw. I have been recieving my mail only about 3 days a week for the past 5 months. However, for the past ten days, my mailman, for some reason, opted not to deliver the mail. (I honestly believe he has a drug habit, as I once saw him in street clothes smoking an undisclosed substance behind a tree with a few students who are notorious for doing just that). Well, today he shows up with no less than 4 interview invites....dated November 19. So I decide to clal the school's, only to find out that they only have slots left in late march (and these are NOT school's that accept a lot of people).

The last time I did see him delivering mail, I actually watched as the mailman accidentally dumped his entire bag of mail all over the street (he was--get this--SWINGING IT OVER HIS HEAD as fast as he could.

I always knew there was something wrong when I'd meet him at the box and listen to his slurred speech and the blank look in his eyes...and when I'd recieve approximately 3 pieces of incorrect mail a week, but this is ridiculous!!!

I am pretty furious right now, so I was wondering if anyone hear (I'm sure this isn't an everyday type of question) has ever had to confront their mailman about his effort at work and "habits". What would you do? Should I call the police as well as the USPS?
ANY info. or ideas would be great!

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[BobbyDylanFan]

Wow, that is one crazy story!! It reminds me of the movie where they bought the new house and the mailman would drive bye all drunk and never deliver the mail correctly......Funny Farm I think! Anways, I would report that dude to the USPS, it is illegal I think and moreover, nobody messes with med school mail!

 

[Perseverant 1]

what's their motto??? in rain or snow or hail, the post office delivers? Sounds like you need to make some phone calls to the post office. You aren't from NYC, are you? there was a story on the 5 o'clock new yesterday about this!

 

[guitarguy]

Hey Panda81--

I can relate to your problems. For the last few years that I've lived in my apartment, I've had major problems with my mailman. He would only deliver mail when he felt like it--in the meantime just stockpiling it at his house. When I complained to my postoffice, the clerk laughed at me....it turns out she and most the people there are good friends with my mailman and refused to do anything about it. Well...things got worse. I think the clerk told my mailman that I had complained and he must have gotten angry because my mail would arrive after that always smelling like ****. Literally. I tried complaining to people higher up in the USPS and there was really nothing they could do about it. I did manage however to have my mail canceled all together. I no longer have a postal address--all my bills and med school stuff arrive only electronically.

 

[SouthernGirl]

Originally posted by guitarguy
I did manage however to have my mail canceled all together. I no longer have a postal address--all my bills and med school stuff arrive only electronically.

Wasn't there a Seinfled episode about this?

 

[DW]

greatest thread title....EVER!!!!

yeah panda, call usps, thats just wrong

 

[ziadp]

CALL USPS!!!

I HAD A PROBLEM, AND THEY CLEARED IT UP RIGHT AWAY. THERE IS AN 800 NUMBER, I DONT HAVE IT. JUST CALL INFORMATION, AND FILE A COMPLAINT. THE SOONER YOU FILE THE COMPLAINT, THE SOONER YOU HAVE PROOF THAT THERE IS A PROBLEM. Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[GDL]

Oh my GOD man O_O.....

That's like the kind of stuff nightmares are made of...My advice is to talk about it your neighbours, obviously this doesn't only affect you. Get together, get clear as crystal evidence ( like videotape him and such...) and get him FIRED. What he is doing is ILLEGAL!!!
Other extremly important mail comes thru. I am sure other people on your street have been having problems....God this is just plain wrong man....Imagine if your were an international student and your student VISA renewal was in there....oh god man the horror....Imagine if you've had gotten those interviews even later...

 

[Yogi Bear]

i feel your pain.

the mailman that serves my neighborhood back home takes a 2 hr nap every day and then delivers the mail at around 5pm.

 

[kaos]

Man, I am SO lucky to have a really nice, reliable mailman Go report that sob who's keeping u from ur all-important med school mail!

 

[klp14]

LOL!!!

Panda you had me cracking up (and getting dirty looks from the other, SDN-lacking people in my office) but then guitarguy really had me rolling. Mom always told me it's not nice to laugh at other people's misfortunes, so man that sucks. Thanks for the amusement, though.

 

[manicmaven]

Good god that sucks. Messing with mail is a federal offense. His ass should be fired. I can't believe you had 4 invites from last month just waiting to be delivered. Makes you appreciate all of the reliable mailpeople out there.

I was just reading about christmas tips for the people around you (apartment super, mailman, garbage pickup). I think my mail deliverer will be getting a tip this year.

 

[lola]

maybe you can explain the situation to the schools you have interviews at? they might be able to put you on a waitlist for an earlier interview if a slot opens up. just a thought.

 

[SunnyBunny7]

Sorry panda, I know it's not supposed to be funny and I do really feel bad for you, but your post really made me laugh. I'm in the library right now and I was trying not to laugh out loud. It was just so funny. I thought those kinds of things only happened on tv. Sorry. But I think it's just me. Finals week does weird things to a person.

I hope things work out okay for you. Fortunately I have a decent mailman, but I would be kicking some ass if my mail was messed up. Good luck with everything!

 

[panda81]

Thanks for the outstanding support, everyone. Now I have an update: I went in and talked to my academic advisor today about my next semester. I happened to mention the mailman incident (my advisor lives in the same neighborhood as me, and the same mailman delivers to him as well). So he tells me that the mailman took about 2 weeks off in late November because he was bitten by a dog (a small poodle albeit), rolled his ankle on a patch of ice, and was HIT BY A CAR... ON THE SAME DAY! (SERIOUSLY!!)

Apparently the post office forgot to put someone new on his route, so the entire neighborhood just went without mail for a couple weeks. It's a good thing it wasn't the beginning of the month when everyone has to pay bills.

Anyways, I sort of feel bad now, because I did call the post office yesterday, and like guitarguy's situation, they seemed to be incahoots with the mailman, and the lady I spoke to me laughed at me.

Thanks everyone for the support, and I'll keep you all updated.

 

[Saluki]

I've had the mailman problem for years. Sometimes our mail would come at 6 in the morning other times at 7 o'clock at night and sometimes it wouldn't come at all. After a year or so, my mom finally called the post office. Apparently our culdesac of around 10 houses is on the border between two different mail routes and noone really considers it their responsibility. It just kind of switches around to whoever has the least work. A wonderful system in my mind....

 

[Tim the Impaler]

Guys and Girls there is not much of a chance of anyone ever being fired from a USPS position.

My mom has been a mail carrier for 15 years and she has some stories that would make you think the USPS is run by chimps and staffed by some real winners if you know what I mean. Like alot of government jobs, there is a pretty powerful union presence and, at least in my mom's experience, non-productive employees are almost never fired. They usually get transferred around until they are in a position to do the least damage. Again, this is only my mom's experience. It could be different somewhere else. I personally think that the postal service is going to be bought out by UPS or some other entity eventually. Then alot of mail personnel will lose their jobs and service should get better.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[X]

Dude just smoke crack with your mailman, that way he will be sure to get you your mail. A little sacrifice for med school mail

X

ps my mailman (actually mailwoman) just told me that people are breaking into the mailboxes in our area - great!!!

 

[tms]

If you suspect that your mailman is performing illegal actions, contact the usps police department. There actually are postal police. They are trained just like any other federal law enforcement personnel (i.e. INS agents, surpreme court police, etc.). Any postmaster should have the number...if you are having trouble with your particular post office.

 

[HouseHead]

After being in the same apartment for 5 years, I got a new mailman. He then decided that the stem to the lock on my box was too long and *cut it off*. I now have a mailbox with a broken lock- something that is definitely not recommended in NYC. Suppose I really should get around to replacing it...

Mailman also does all the other typical stuff, from delivering mail addressed to totally different addresses to leaving delivery notifications when I'm home so I know he never rang my bell (I'm on the 1st floor so he has no excuse). Then when I try to get the package, half the time it is at the wrong post office!

Even worse was one time when an important package was coming via FedEx. I was inside and my fiance was sitting on the front steps. The FedEx guy put a note on the building's front door and turned around to leave. My fiance stopped him and asked if any of the packages were ours. FedEx guy's response: "I rang the bell but there was no response." Needless to say, my fiance let him have it for that lie and we reported him to FedEx.

 

[CaNEM]

"Dear Medical Schools,

I kindly ask that from this point forward, you send all correspondance to an alternate address. You see, my mailman smokes crack. I'm sure you understand. Thanks."

 

[badgergirl]

Hey, just a suggestion -- can you get a post office box? I grew up in Jersey, and we had to do that. Our mailbox was knocked over twice by a mail truck, again by a snow plow, egged every single year on mischief night, and then our mailman went on a bender and started delivering the opposite side of the street's mail for 2 weeks. Yeah, it costs money, but we never had problems after that.

 

[kaos]

Whoa, that's harsh! I wonder why he didn't just quit with all that bad luck! But I think that's a pretty good reason for his little ploy. The whole mailman on crack thing is NOT.

 

[Chieka]

What would you do? Should I call the police as well as the USPS?

Move to Canada. Our mailmen rock! Actually, that's a lie. My mailman takes his time socializing with everybody on the street. But I do get the mail each day.

Maybe you can ask schools to send interview notification via email.

C.

 

[smilez428]

I really feel for all of you with the problems with the mail.... thankfully, my problems have been resolved from the summer. (My mailbox was knocked down twice by "hoodlums" this summer. This was the same week that my mother's car broke down and my father and I were both commuting an hour to work- needless to say- I didn't get any mail for a few days...) I'm thankful for my maillady- she's a nice one. I think the Post Office Box thing would be a good idea- at least then the crack smoker wouldn't be touching your mail!

Good Luck!

 

[ckent]

This reminds of me of the idiots that were working in the mailroom when I was applying. I was having my parents mail large packages of secondaries to me since I was away for the summer. Well, the idiots in the mailroom didn't even bother looking for my name on any of the boxes and kept crossing out my name on the packages my parents were sending me and writing in someone with my same last name but completely different first name. This person with my same last name got multiple packages with my first name crossed out and her name written in, and her last name, and would just sit on these packages for several weeks before she would return mail them back to my parents. I even went to the mail room people and asked them if they had seen any packages for me and they both said no. So this whole process took 2-3 months, and I ended up having to call every school that I applied to and asking them to send me another secondary. The disturbing thing about it all was that something stupid like a mailroom person who doesn't do his job can drastically change the outcome of someone's whole life by determining where he does or does not get into medical school. Fortunately, I eventually got all my secondaries, but had to send some of them later then I would have liked to. I guess that the moral of my story is:
1. make sure that you have a reliable mailing address. If that means slipping the mailroom people or the mailman 20 bucks to make sure that your mail is put into your box, it's well worth the money.
2. if you don't have a reliable mailing address, call the school and tell them that you have a problem with your mail. Ask if the secondary has already been sent out ( a lot of schools will get mad at you if you try to do this, but it's just the secretary who gets mad at you and that won't matter too much in the end).

 

[banannie]

my mailwoman will not deliver our mail if the steps leading up to our apartment are not totally clear.

in theory i understand this. i do not want to put any mailperson in danger. but really, if it snows during the day while i am at work and then the steps freeze up before i can even get home, what can i do? salt can only do so much. i do not think it would be so bad for her to stand about 50 feet away and throw my mail onto my porch. i wish there was some way i could tell her this.

i think that over time, mail people must become callous and unfeeling toward those of us who depend so much on them to deliver our mail. they forget how much it means to us to have the mail everyday. much like the mean bus drivers who will not stop and open the bus door for you once they've started to pull away, leaving you standing in the cold for 20-30 mins waiting for the next one. really it astounds me how easily they can inflict suffering on poor commuters all for the sake of a few seconds of efficiency.