I just received a message in my inbox. Apparently, my blogs are too long!! I will work on that! :)

If you are fortunate enough to leave your job with the Postal Service to go off on your venture - you will see or hear something that reminds you of your former employer. Yesterday morning, when I was checking my business e-mails for online orders, I noticed a spam e-mail from a company called Synovate. The e-mail begins:

"Dear Business Owner:

How would you like to enhance the environment and culture of your business where customers are valued and employees feel appreciated. Synovate is a global market reserach company that provides research solutions and services to clients in more than 60 countries."

I recently hired my first employee at my bakery and I know if she agrees or disagrees with me. But, delving further on the website, there is a page that states, "Don't just measure - diagnose! Our Synovate business consultants have helped many top businesses get the most out of their investments by improving employee relations. Some key clients include General Motors, Wal-Mart and the United States Postal Service."

Liar, liar! Pants on fire!! Shame on you, Synovate!

I don't fault Synovate. They are just another business trying to make a buck. Synovate is the market research company that writes those "Voice of the Employee" surveys that we all roll our eyes at. I never believed the rumor that managements gets a bonus for how many employees fill out the survey with a straight face. I had two other problems with those VOE Surveys.

1.) The questions are designed to elicit a certain response. For example, if you had to honestly answer the question: "Are all of your co-workers held to the same standard as you are?" Most people would think of the lazy slugs and answer "No." When the supervisor enters the workroom floor cracking the whip he will say, "but you said on the VOE survey you want more discipline."

2.) More wasteful spending by the Postal Service. Has your supervisor ever asked you for your advice on making improvements at your station? In my 13 years with the P.O., I never experienced that. The Postal Nazis feel more comfortable by letting Synovate ask you these slanted questions on a survey. Apparently GM, Wal-Mart and the Postal Circus have big bucks to throw away for something that could be obtained for FREE by simply asking the employee themselves. I can't picture the folks at Synovate losing sleep because certain clerks and carriers have excessive workloads or altered tour schedules.

Since I have been away from here, I noticed that we have a PhD on this site! I was reading Dr. Steve Musacco's blogs on here and I was simply going to leave comments on his blogs along with Beth's blogs and leave. My comment on one of Dr. Steve's articles turned out to be a long blog, so I deleted my comments and will write the abridged version on here.

By the way, I don't mean to brag but I have a college degree myself. I have a Bachelors in Fine Arts - you know what this means? I threw away a lot of money!! My diploma is prominently displayed above my toilet in my upstairs bathroom. Sorry folks, it's a guy thing.....mine is bigger than yours....blah, blah, blah.....

The abridged versions of my comments to Dr. Steve's blogs:

1.) Concerning the Workplace Environment Analyst Position - Being a former clerk and union president from a suburb south of Denver, I had never heard of or met a Workplace Environment Analyst. As you can tell by my geographics, I know about and have personally met Sylvester Black - the man who laughingly talks about executing supervisors over the telecon. At first, I shared the opinion of Helen's comments to your blog. After reading your blog a second time I have to disagree with her. (I still love you, Helen!) I catch myself thinking like that former skeptical APWU official on certain jobs in the Postal Service. It is a very uncommon occurence to see NAPS, NAPUS and the League agreeing on an issue that shows management in a bad light. There needs to be some kind of intervention. In your case, Dr. Steve, you truly seem to be the right man for the WEA position. But, in my opinion, there may be others in that job that do not share your qualifications and honesty.

2.) Reform of the Postal Culture - In my opinion, the entire Postal Service has been operating under the old and outdated autocratic process for too long. Most Fortune 500 company have long abandoned the autocratic management style for a more democratic process. The autocratic style is as old as this pic:

Under the current USPS autocratic management - upper management makes decisions in their own limited view of the organization. Supervisors and even postmasters are totally ignored in the decision making process. The majority of the orders are decided at the District level or by the USPS Board of Governors. In that type of environment, line supervisors and MDOs are carrying out orders in which they may not agree with. Craft workers are viewed as the enemy. No one likes being talked down to and eventually the employees feel like their abilities and opinions don't matter. Eventually, the USPS' goals and aspirations are of no consequence to the employee. In the mentally disturbed mind of someone like Jennifer San Marcos who went a massacre spree in Goleta, CA. - the thoughts are much more darker. On the upper management sector, it is actually possible that PMG JackPot is sheepishly implementing ideas from the Board of Governors that he totally disagrees with. The sole motivation is based on fear.

In the private sector, many Fortune 500 businesses operate under a democratic management style.  Good managers realize that their employees know their jobs. Management delegates and entrusts the workers with the task at hand. Managers becoming connecting links to the workroom floor. Craft workers are no longer the enemy. A good manager utilizes the special abilties of each worker and the reward motivator replaces fear.

I agree with you, Dr. Steve - the Board of Governors has got to go!! Although I am envious of a group that meets shmaybe 2 or 3 times a year and gets paid $36,000 a year! This is one of best scams since those ExtenZe commercials.

Once again, I have rambled on too long. But just to let Dr. Steve know - although I am an ex-postal worker I actually placed an order on Amazon.com for his book. www.amazon.com/exec/obido... (Free plug - no charge.) But I have to ask Dr. Steve if he has ever read a book by Dr. Norman Dixon entitled "Psychology of Military Incompetence." I received this book from a former supervisor ten years ago. There are similarities in the book on the current management style of the P.O.

I must end this blog by letting you know that a couple of my former co-workers told me that the station manager "Morgan Mindy" is leaving and asked me if I could bake her a going away cake. There are good supervisors and bad supervisors and I believe that "Morgan Mindy" was the latter. I told my friends to save their money. All they have to do is spend $10 (plus shipping and handling) on this handy dandy gadget.

For only $10, according to the ad on TV, you too can have soft sexy feet. The ad features a gorgeous woman sitting on the sofa using this cheese grater on her piddies. She smiles at the camera and opens up the Ped-Egg. She dumps out these dead skin shavings that look exactly like finely grated parmesan cheese. Bon appetit!!

Have you eaten breakfast yet? Are you eating it now? Oops, my bad.......