Vent: Absurd workload, lazy partner, stolen overtime, I'm done.

[KalusSchwabisms]

If I didn’t have a mortgage I'd walk out, this job has become absurd. Below is an optional read; basically a vent/my typical day. The workload and conditions are causing me burnout, mental health is in the toilet, I'm constantly dehydrated because I forget to drink, I'm working in the heat in a van with windows that don't roll down and which they won't fix because it's "not a priority", I'm working with a lazy bstrd. Meanwhile the teachers pets get all the cushy overtime they want. They've even been cancelling peoples leave, people have had to miss booked holidays, its madness. Union rep doesn't care, does nothing. Wondering how many offices have seen such draconian change in recent years?

A typical day for me at RM 2026:

Getting in at 8:30, person throwing my walk in is still throwing in the sequence, not scanned a single parcel yet, other walks are tying up not long after I arrive. Managers say nothing because they're scared of him.

I get 150 tracked scanned in, the 1st class has been left in no particular order, I have to check the frame anyway because 1st is always thrown in accidentally, partner is absent for 40 minutes of the hour that has now passed. Managers say nothing because they don't want confrontation.

9:40: My tracked and 1st are now sorted into around 15 boxes, my partner has not even put an elastic band on his first bundle. He stops to eat a pot noodle. 10am and I'm ready to go, partner 'takes a break' [whilst other walks have gone out he has only just finished non-sequenced].

10:35 I've been sat in the van for 30 mins having loaded up all the stuff partner left on desk, knowing the time pressure is all on the driver, I could have delivered some parcels but he said he was back in 5 mins.

My partner has, like many of us, got a beef with the business, so he drags his feet barely doing 2 loops a day, he's non-driver so I have to do 14 loops of tracked and 1st class, drive back for all the tracked he forgets or with the right bag, because he picked the wrong one up/forgot his regs etc.

Its 1pm, I've barely done any 1st class, I've got 34 parcels and 2 boxes left. I remember that partner has a trick - he goes extra slow at the end, making sure I have to do a bag full of his tracked in the last 10 mins.

I don't want to do overtime but it would make my life much less stressful, but the manager will steal 20 mins of whatever overtime I book, so there is pressure to finish on time, because arguing about ~£3 worth of overtime is stress I don't need, just gets me angry.

Get back the office no earlier than 2:18, but the van needs a re-gen, i've got to unload 3 oversize, overweight 40kg "small parcels" that I don't have the equipment to lift safely, and unload the 2 extra loops partner took out (to make it look like he's taking out more to managers) whilst partner watches because he "doesn't know" where to put day 1 DNAs or box mail".

I've got about 20 out of 50 1st class I brought back to explain to the DOM, it's 50/50 whether I'm going to be pulled in the office the next day for the failed 1st class, and patronisingly told I'm not performing to expectation by someone with about 6 weeks of delivery experience.

Finally, clock out 7 minutes late (for which I won't be paid) and look forward to repeating the same thing again tomorrow.

The DOM has got us where he wants us, pressured to go fast because they shave the overtime, so you want to clear tracked to avoid arguing about 40 mins overtime, threats of refusing to deliver if you want to bring tracked back, a union rep who could care less about anyone concerns. Add in a partner with a grudge who drags feet putting more pressure on the driver and constantly gets out late. Managers who bully people with a work ethic so they are pressured to compensate for those who are lazy... Removal of perks like taking vans home, clocking in/out, regular calls into the office for some to tell them they need to do more whilst people doing FA are unchallenged... It's the 'perfect' delivery office.

No wonder we have so many on long term sick, or who have left recently. I'm working on my CV this evening, can take no more, and its going to get lot worse soon.

[qwerty2]

Start on your time
Take your full break
Finish on time

[Hitcher]

Getting in at 8:30, person throwing my walk in is still throwing in the sequence, not scanned a single parcel yet, other walks are tying up not long after I arrive.

That's where you need to go straight to a manager and explain you won't be able to complete.

[Snake149]

The job is dead mate. Sorting your cv out is the way forward, redid mine tonight. It is time to find a new job and move on.

[Saturn1]

As much as you loathe your colleague he has the correct attitude. Go as slow as you can without them doing anything.

Time in the business tells you one thing, the managers don't want to manage. They'll try to make everything your problem. But if you quiet quit and do what you can in the time you have alotted, there's nothing they can say.

If you're planning on leaving anyway, try it, you have nothing to lose.