I guess it's time to dust off the old resume and get it updated.  I'm quite saddened that I have worked this hard to get this RCA job first of all.  I went through so much to get it, then I worked so hard to make it through probation.  Now that I've had my baby, it's caused too much of a problem at work. 

I have basically been unavailable to work on call in's the past couple of weeks.  My baby was sick and had to go to the emergency room and now my two kids have strep throat.  I have to take the oldest to the doctor tomorrow and I'm not sure when they'll be able to go back to school. 

Yesterday I was basically blessed out by both my supervisor and manager.  Apparently they changed my schedule last Saturday afternoon and I failed to check the schedule on my way out the door on Saturday (?)  I ALWAYS check my schedule.  I come in on my day off to check my schedule and I check it every day that I come in to work.  In fact I had checked it that Saturday before they CHANGED it.  Now because I did not come in for the two days that I didn't know about, all hell broke loose. 

The manager basically lectured us yesterday and said that EVERY RCA must be available to work 6 days a week and should wait for a call from the post office until 2:00pm.  (?)  I don't mean to be sassy here but being that I'm at the BOTTOM of the list of about 20 RCA's, seems to me that if all the other 19 had been available to work until 2:00pm 6 days a week, that there would have been no need to even get to me at the bottom of the call sheet.  In fact, I would probably NEVER work. 

Not to mention that since I had been on maternity leave for 2 months, it really put my husband and I into a financial situation.  I've had to sell my own stuff just so I could afford to pay a nanny $100 every Saturday so that I can go to work and keep my job.  Now that I'm being yelled at when I show up on Saturday, I'm failing to see the point of fighting so hard to keep my job. 

I guess I'll always be confused when it comes to the post office.

I haven't been on here in quite sometime.   While I was away, I had a baby about 8 weeks ago.  I'm an RCA, for those who don't know. 

When I came back to work a couple of weeks ago, I was only on the schedule on Saturdays.  Now, the post office is trying to contact me virtually every day due to inclement weather and regular carriers on FMLA leave, leaving them short handed.

The problem is childcare.  I cannot commit myself to paying a center $230/week in hopes that I will be working more than 2 days every week to cover the cost.  Mail count will be coming up soon, and I'm sure that I may not even be scheduled some weeks during that time.  They are getting irritated that I do not answer the telephone during the week when they call.  Now with the 5 day a week proposal, that adds even more uncertainty to my future at the post office. 

Can they take any action on me for not answering the phone when they try to call me in? 

What do you think about the 5 day a week delivery request from John Potter today?

I'm a little concerned that by going to a 5 day a week delivery, we could potentially be speeding up the demise of the postal service.  I believe our customers, both homes and businesses will start seeking out other means to do business besides with us.  I know that I'm new and all, but the more I work with the postal service, the more waste I see.  I worked a new route this past Saturday and noticed that this new route and another route I had worked were intermingled for lack of a better term.  Meaning, I delivered to a lock box in a business park and another route delivers to a lock box less than 100 yards away.  There has to be other instances where this is occuring.  Better management of routes and better handling of express mail delivery would be one place to start.  I know in our office, each RCA takes about 1 or 2 pieces of express mail each Saturday.  Lots of times we have to leave the office, deliver the one or two express mails and then return to finish our casing and tear down, etc.  This type of insanity paired with the high gas prices over the summer are a recipe for disaster in my opinion.  Just my thoughts.

Has anyone else heard this?  My husband sells cars and had a lady from the main post office in area spill the beans about the possibility of the postal service laying off employees with under 6 years in the service.  She apparently works as an analyst.  Then yesterday on the drudge report there was a story about the same thing.  Check it out for yourself http://www.ksla.com/global/story.asp?s=9247633

I know the mail volume has dropped but with recent news about DHL ceasing all their domestic deliveries and the falling gas prices, wouldn't that help relieve some of the pressure?  Seems that they wouldn't let news like this "leak out" unless they were going to actually go through with it.  In our office, the RCA's are very often covering a full route and then part of other routes as well.  How can they promise no change in service when they are already seemingly understaffed in areas like ours? 

If anyone has heard ANYTHING about this, please spill it here.  I only have a little over a year with the postal service and NEED this job!

I haven't blogged in awhile and for that matter haven't worked much in awhile.  Today was one of the rare occassions that I actually did work and it was the very first time that all those safety things they mentioned in training became a reality. 

I'm sure all you guys probably have stories to tell as well about scary situations that have poppped up on your route.  I'm taking the time to share my story today, because I'm hoping it will serve as a reminder to every single one of us.

I was about 3/4 of the way finished with my route.  I pulled into the second to the last neighborhood, a small, modest community filled with condos and small homes.  Some of them are very, very close together and the streets are filled with cars parked along the street.  The yards are small and there are kids throughout the neighborhood. 

I made a right hand turn into a very small court and as I approached about the third mailbox I stopped at the box to shuffle through a handful of mail before placing the bunch into the box.  It was VERY hot today and I had all the windows down and that noisy fan blowing on me full blast.  Somehow at that moment I heard the faint sound of a child's voice but I saw no children in the immediate area.  Any other time and I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought, especially in that neighborhood because I could have easily heard a child playing in their backyard.  For some reason, perhaps a memory of the stories told in training class, I refused to move until I looked with a little more determination.  It was hot and I really wanted to get back to the cool air conditioning in the office as quickly as possible.  Still, I sat there sweating and looking.  Still nothing.  Then in a second I saw it.  About 2 inches above the front of the truck (from my view) there was sandy blonde hair!  Oh my God.  My jaw dropped to the floor.  I could hardly see him, only a little bit of the top of his head.  I couldn't believe how close he was to the front of the truck.  I felt the inside of me go ice cold.  It was extremely scary to think how easily things could have played out differently. 

The kid will never know just how lucky he was that somebody told me a story in training that scared the life out of me.  The thought of running over an innocent child just sends shivers down my spine and I absolutely NEVER thought it could happen to me or as easily as it almost did.

I'm certainly not writing this blog as evidence of any heroic actions on my part, quite the contrary.  I believe that the only way that child was safe today was that a higher power intervened.  I had absolutely nothing to do with it.  I just hope that you guys will remember this story when you're out on your route and take EXTRA precautions at every single box, especially while the kids are out of school for the summer.

Stay Safe.