Why do most of the people that work at the US POST OFFICE so rude to NICE customers?

Question

I am not a rude customer. I have been going there all my life. I always say hi and smile and thank you. Most of the time the postal employees are rude. I have encountered bossy ones and ones with major attitudes. There are exceptions but they are rare. Most of the employees I come across are damn disgruntled. OK if you hate dealing with the public and you don't like your job, then why do you work there to spread misery? You deal with rude customers too but don't take it out on nice ones.

Answer 1

Anytime someone is doing a job they do not love, chances are they will be unhappy and it comes across.

Answer 2

Just know you are a good person doing the right thing..

See in my area its the complete opposite, we have two workers at our post office at the main desk. They are two of the nicest people and I have seen them get torn apart by customers and they still remain with a smile on there faces. I am sorry you had to deal with rude people.

But here is what I figure, You smiled, where nice and thankful. Maybe you changed the service a little for the person behind you. Maybe they carried over some of your niceness to the customer in line waiting and was a little more pleasant to them.

But I would never say the postal workers are underpaid, they get paid very well. Overworked.. They are government employees that are union.. So overworked... Not hardly.. Maybe very busy around the holidays but that is part of the job.. Under educated.. they have to take the civil service test so its not like they are exactly stupid!!! So the first poster does not seem to know much..

Answer 3

You deal with people as the situation necessitates. Be nice when they are nice and be rude when they are rude. Most of them are pensioned in for life, others are earning additional income. They are after all couriers, life is nothing but a postage being moved from one end to the other. Management is pretty harsh on them and contrary to what one of the guys said, they are extremely well paid individuals for the simple profession. I would make friends with a few of the nicer ones and do that to any other business as well. Makes the transactions much more better and friendly.

Answer 4

I have had the same experience of rudeness and I am never rude to anyone (except teenagers and smart eleck juveniles). I have to assume that they live unhappy and unfulfilled lives, and I know for a fact that they have the world's worst supervisors, all of whom are on drugs. It is common for the rank and file employees to go postal on their supervisors (I know this for a fact, having been in group counseling sessions with them). They all blame privatization the postal service. When they were federal employees, things were much better and they were much nicer people.

Answer 5

What's your job? I'm just curious if you have a customer service job or not. I used to, and it's really, really tough to keep a smile on your face when people treat you like crap all day. Imagine 50 people speaking rudely and harshly to you. Then another person comes. You pretty much default to rude because it's what you expect them to do.

It's not really an excuse. I agree that they should try and smile more to the polite customers. But just try to keep in mind that they're being treated like that all day. Maybe if you keep being nice, eventually it'll spread. Cheers!

Answer 6

I have often said that many civil employees are overworked and underpaid and this is the source of their overall bad attitudes. This is not true however. Their salaries are above average and the work they do is comparable to non civil workers. i now believe that surliness is a prerequisite for employment in many civil service positions.

Answer 7

USPS is a good, secure employer. I wouldn't pass up a job there if I didn't already have a better one.

The people at my post office are always very cheerful and pleasant, and it's a large, busy post office. It most likely depends on their management and the atmosphere they create.

Answer 8

I live in a small town in Canada and the people at the post office are always nice. Bring in a batch of cookies every Christmas, they will be nice to you forever.

Answer 9

I have never met a rude mailman, but the people in the office are a different story, for some reason. The mailman works really hard all year round, and I arrpeciate them for their friendliness.

Answer 10

This is my kind of question. I was a window clerk and I was one of those people who didn't smile, I was forced into that job, I never wanted it but I had to take it or be unemployed. I left the first chance I got. Now let me tell you about the customers that came in just before you: I pay your salary when I didn't sahib you, a customer cusses you out because his check just got returned to the sender because he wanted his mail delivered to his empty house, the customer who didn't get their food stamps, the customer who wants deaf people to not take her precious time to be helped by someone else (who), a guy who stands in front you and farts, someone who sneezes in your face, some one who has jaundice and who knows what disease they have, someone who is drunk, someone who is high, alot of people who speak no english, someone who brought in 20 - 50 pound boxes and wants you to treat them like they crystal but you know it's alot of books, a guy who just brought in 4 - 70 pound tires to send to Alaska. People who tell you I will go to the next clerk because you don't know anything, a customer who won't go to you because you don't have on a uniform, a customer who tells you to come from around the counter and read the zip code directory because they forgot their glasses and that's your job, people who pay for a single stamp with a 20 dollar bill at opening in the morning and you start with 50 dollars, a line out the door and someone wants to see every stamp you have in stock (this is lunch time and the customer comes every day) people who wait 2 minutes until closing to bring in 50 flats that have to be weighed each one cost a different amount (20 minute job) and you have been at it since 8:00 and it"s now 5:00 People who think it's okay to come in everyday at closing (door locked) but bang on the door to get whatever and they feel justified because I guess they are a return customer. People who steal, people who are rude because they are jealous because you have the job and they don't. People who are nasty to just be nasty. People who obviously don't have any respect for you. People who think you are their servant. PEOPLE WHO WALK UP DURING A TRANSACTION AND INTERUPT YOU COUNTING BACK 100'S OF DOLLARS TO ASK A STUPID QUESTION, THEY DON'T WANT TO WAIT IN LINE TO ASK A QUESTION. BUT THEY DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH BUTTING IN AND DISTURBING ANOTHER CUSTOMER BECAUSE THEY DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ANYBOY BUT THEMSELVES. Crying children, the endless lines of people, the people who shout for some help to come out. People who want to tell you your job. People who tell you I know your job better than you because you have never heard of a form they must constantly ask for and you never had any other customer ask you for it. Okay so now you know why you come across some nasty sick of it employees. We at the Post Office know how you are but you don't know how horrible as customers you are. You yell at us to get some help because you had to wait in line to long. That is why management puts up with our surliness because they how bad it is to work the window. It's the worst job in the post office and it has the highest turn over, people leave first chance they get. I guess sense the post office is the largest employer in the USA and alot of people across this country work there that doesn't say much for your claims you are a really nice customer. In my four years I don't remember very many nice customers. But the nasty ones stick in my mind enough to keep me from ever bidding on that job ever again.