100 Days - (90th) Workiversary

 

It was Christmas jumper day at work today. I don't own a Christmas jumper, but may acquire a santa dress for next year, as Pauline looked fab in hers. I went in on my day off to try and make a dent in the unsorted Christmas cards. Managed to empty about one york. Jeff went home at 10 saying he had been there for 12 hours. I carried on with the letters until the "boss" asked me to do packets instead and then did a few hours on packets. It's my workiversary today; I have been with Royal Mail for eighteen years, and have never experienced anything like what is happening now. It is like an avalanche. I walked past Langdale frame yesterday and it was all clear (having not been out for three weeks) but you turn round and management have learned nothing from that experience and other walks have been abandoned instead, or posties told to concentrate on the packets and leave the letters. We even had the "big boss" tell someone to prioritise the door-to-door advertising! Management have had ten months to prepare for this. Right from the beginning of the pandemic, when everyone was stuck at home and all the shops were shut, we knew what was going to happen. It took 8 months to get some extra high capacity trollies. A couple of weeks ago we got some more PDAs (but they are only on loan apparently). More agency staff keep turning up, and a couple of people from other offices, but they can't do letter delivery, and some of them struggle to get many packets done, just bringing them back at the end of the shift. I feel stressed knowing that people's Christmases are going to be spoiled by things not arriving. There is no way we will be clear on Christmas eve. The discussion this morning was about how much was being offered for people to come in and work Boxing day. 

Oh yeah, by the way, sorry but the postman does not know where your friend lives. If you don't know the address don't waste your time sending a card. And just to be on the safe side don't order anything else now, go to a real shop instead.

Stay safe. See you tomorrow.

#100DaysToOffload