What can I do? (Aggressive customer)

[billyboy123]

I would refuse to deliver to the second address and would take the mail from the 1st address back to the office. mail only to be delivered to the address on the letter unless a live redirection is in place. tell your dom you feel intimidated going to the second address therefor a safety issue.

[BingBong]

Hi all,

I'm a reserve in my office and one of the rounds I often cover is a shared van round. There's one loop which consistently is problematic, and today was the last straw - here's what happened:

Number 45 has a gate you have to open to get into their garden, so you can walk to the door and deliver their mail. The gate is tall and you have to open it to see through. Now, they normally leave their front door open, so as soon as their dog hears me open the gate it rushes out into the garden and goes for me. This started happening a few months ago, and every time I took the mail back and endorsed it as 'Dog at Large'.

When this had happened for a few days, my manager went up there to speak to them, and it was arranged that if the dog was out, their mail could be delivered to Number 33 (a few doors along, within sight) as they are related.

So, a couple of weeks later (in July), the dog was out again - I can always hear the owner calling it from inside, but she never comes out and gets it no matter how long I wait - so I put the mail back in my trolley to deliver to 33 when I got to it - but before I got a chance, the man who lives at 33 came out and started having a go at me because I was being 'lazy' and according to him, I hadn't even checked to see if the dog had been out (which I had). His body language and tone of voice was quite aggressive, and he told me I was talking bullshit, so I reported this to my manager when I got back, who went up and had a word with them - he got there to find they had all written a letter of complaint in which they called my manager rude, and me a spineless wimp.

Now, cut to today:
I'm back on this duty for a while, and last week I opened the gate at 45 only to see that the front door was open, and to hear a load of barking. So I closed the gate, and delivered their mail to 33, as instructed (this is what they'd kicked such a fuss up about before, so I made sure to get it right.)

Today, the same happened - but just as I arrived at 33, the man (same as before) came out and asked if he could have a word. He told me that I shouldn't have delivered it there last week as they were all away, so there was no way the dog could have been there (but it was, I'd swear on my life). I told him there must have been some mistake, but I definitely heard a dog.
'Shut it and listen to me!' he cut me short, so I just put the mail on his doormat and started to walk away, telling him he could talk to my DOM if there was a problem, as I wasn't going to be spoken to in that manner. I got out my mobile and called my manager, and the man chased after me demanding to know my name (also getting a bit close for comfort). I told him I was on the phone, so I'd answer in a minute. He said 'Just f**k off back to your manager then, you think you're so well-spoken now, don't you?' (a personal attack on my accent). At this point, another postman was walking past on his way to work and he went to talk to him and ask him my name. I went away, and my manager went to see him immediately - he told me we'd have a chat about it on Wednesday.

Question: what can I do? I feel unsafe delivering to these people, as they are aggressive and behave in a threatening way, and try to intimidate me by swearing at me, shouting at me and making personal comments. I don't want to deliver there any more. If I can choose not to deliver somewhere because of a dog, or because the path is overgrown, can't I do the same because of this?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Call the police.

[k979aaa]

Do this
IF DOG OUT KILL OFF MAIL ON RETURN TO OFFICE
DON'T DELIVER TO ANOTHER ADDRESS JUST KILL IT OFF
IF THE IDIOT FROM 33 SAYS ANYTHING TO YOU REPORT IT TO YOUR MANAGER
IF HE CHASES YOU DOWN THE STREET AND THREATENS YOU PHONE THE COP'S
IF THEY SET THE DOG ON YOU PHONE THE COP'S ABOUT A DANGEROUS DOG AT LARGE.

[S6 Stroller]

I think the problem, (as illustrated by both non-Royal Mail parties involved in this case), is that a lot of the general public think that circumnavigating people's pets is part of our job description. Mix into that stupidity and selfishness and we have the ingredients for a disaster. It's the old 'hilarious' cartoon-of-a-postie-with-a-dog-biting-his-arse syndrome. They just do not have a clue about our job.

No.45 should get a box for outside the gate. If they don't, they collect their mail. If the tool at No.33 doesn't wind his neck in, the whole street can collect their mail too and be told exactly why.

[k979aaa]

I think the problem, (as illustrated by both non-Royal Mail parties involved in this case), is that a lot of the general public think that circumnavigating people's pets is part of our job description. Mix into that stupidity and selfishness and we have the ingredients for a disaster. It's the old 'hilarious' cartoon-of-a-postie-with-a-dog-biting-his-arse syndrome. They just do not have a clue about our job.

No.45 should get a box for outside the gate. If they don't, they collect their mail. If the tool at No.33 doesn't wind his neck in, the whole street can collect their mail too and be told exactly why.

What if 45 has a packet and you have to knock? I say stuff them.

[S6 Stroller]

I think the problem, (as illustrated by both non-Royal Mail parties involved in this case), is that a lot of the general public think that circumnavigating people's pets is part of our job description. Mix into that stupidity and selfishness and we have the ingredients for a disaster. It's the old 'hilarious' cartoon-of-a-postie-with-a-dog-biting-his-arse syndrome. They just do not have a clue about our job.

No.45 should get a box for outside the gate. If they don't, they collect their mail. If the tool at No.33 doesn't wind his neck in, the whole street can collect their mail too and be told exactly why.

What if 45 has a packet and you have to knock? I say stuff them.

If it won't fit in the box, leave a card. As long as they know the postie isn't going to open the gate because they always have the door open, that's their problem. We're not there to wipe their arses or think for them. Like you say, stuff 'em :D We had a similar case where if there was a parcel that would not fit in the box and/or required a signature, it didn't even leave the office. They were just left a card to collect ASAP. This was on the instruction of management, I hasten to add. The dog had bitten two posties, the owners still couldn't be trusted to keep it in and the drive was very long. If you walked down there and it was out, you were in trouble.

[k979aaa]

I think the problem, (as illustrated by both non-Royal Mail parties involved in this case), is that a lot of the general public think that circumnavigating people's pets is part of our job description. Mix into that stupidity and selfishness and we have the ingredients for a disaster. It's the old 'hilarious' cartoon-of-a-postie-with-a-dog-biting-his-arse syndrome. They just do not have a clue about our job.

No.45 should get a box for outside the gate. If they don't, they collect their mail. If the tool at No.33 doesn't wind his neck in, the whole street can collect their mail too and be told exactly why.

What if 45 has a packet and you have to knock? I say stuff them.

If it won't fit in the box, leave a card. As long as they know the postie isn't going to open the gate because they always have the door open, that's their problem. We're not there to wipe their arses or think for them. Like you say, stuff 'em :D We had a similar case where if there was a parcel that would not fit in the box and/or required a signature, it didn't even leave the office. They were just left a card to collect ASAP. This was on the instruction of management, I hasten to add. The dog had bitten two posties, the owners still couldn't be trusted to keep it in and the drive was very long. If you walked down there and it was out, you were in trouble.

Good advice.