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When is
someone going to do something about bosses who intimidate, threaten, and use
other means to make people bend to their will? I work for the post office -- the
problem is, that they want to do it at any cost.
Recently, I was doing my rounds in very hot weather (92 degrees with about the same humidity). The load was heavy, and with the hot weather, it slowed me down. Needless to say I was late getting back in, more than was expected! My boss jumped me the next morning and asked, "Why were you so late?" I responded that "the heat really got to me - and it took longer!" He replied, "That's no excuse, I clocked you in a 100 degree weather last year, and you made it in good time." I responded that "I was sorry, but the heat really did get to me." He said " I'm sorry, but you had better get your act together, and I want you back in here today on time, not one iota, not one second later, than your scheduled time."
The weather that day was the same as before. Unfortunately for me I'm still here, able to write this letter, but that night was another story, with tremors, and other feelings I have not had before! His intimidation worked, but I paid, my wife and children paid, and for what? I am getting older and feel it, and this job just makes my arthritis, and other ailments worse. I am afraid to go to any doctor, as the management treats it like you were a car, or some other machine, telling you to "go fix it!"
I can not afford to give up the job, I am too far in debt, and there is no job around this place that even compares to the wages. Over a hundred years ago, our grandfathers, and their fathers did something that all of us should be grateful for. When something like this occurred in their lives, and the lives of their compatriots, THEY WENT ON STRIKE!!!!!
Think about this, where would WE be today, if they had not done this! What would you be making for wages today? Would you be living and doing the things you are doing now? But now today, sadly, for our children and grandchildren they will not be so lucky, because the government says, "YOU CANNOT STRIKE!!!"
Signed,
Run Down
Dear Run Down:
Bosses who rule by fear are not good bosses. The bossed who take bossing out of fear are bound to be stressed and self-hating. You are one of many who feel chained to a bad job situation by the handcuffs of debt. You like many of us have aches and pains that come from hard work. So what can you do?
My answer is to talk back. Make your voice work for you. No boss should get away with bullying. Just as no employee should get by with goofing off. If you are doing your job in what seems to you to be in reasonable time for the circumstances of weather and load, say so. If your boss wants to verbally abuse and threaten you, firmly tell him he is out of line--that you want to be spoken to with respect and that you are working as hard as is reasonable. Say it again and repeat that until he sees you mean it.
If he threatens again and again, tell him that you want to meet with his superior to discuss how he manages, and suggest that you want a clergyman and/or your lawyer be in on that meeting. Your assertiveness can set up a problem-solving meeting. Such a meeting should discuss how you and your co-workers can deliver high performance and deal with the stress of doing so. It should look for ways of doing the job more efficiently in a reasonable time with respectful management.
Might you be wrong in the belief that you can not strike? You should not have to fight a bad boss and intimidating management alone. Government workers are not forbidden from organizing. It is rare that a union can not find ways to deal with unreasonable situations. The traffic controllers who were fired for striking couple of decades ago most likely could have found creative and effective ways to make their case without striking. Others in government jobs, such as the police, have found ways to slow down and make their point without striking. If bosses are intimidating where you work, they should be good organizers of a union. There is nothing like a bad boss to motivate employees to organize.
Collaboration is superior to bossing. Getting to WEGO requires helping bosses realize that. Do examine the section in our Q&A Archive on bossing and team building before you throw in the towel.
Bill Gorden