"Going Postal for the Soul" Sample Stories

In Memory of Jim

Sylvia V. of New York City
Jim, 24 years old, a 6 ft 4 inch tall thin letter carrier with the smile of an angel, and the looks of a bookworm was bullied by my five foot manager who publicly humiliated him on the workfloor before all of us. She was a "holy" terror as she screamed, ranted and raved.

She was such a nut that daily she would post our names up on large cardboards listing the type of letter carriers we were. Everyone could see the cardboards as they were placed directly in front of the entrance to the workfloor where it looked obvious that she probably hoped we would all be publicly humiliated. There was the A List (with no names of course), the B list, C letter carrier, D, and "F" list. One of the letter carriers remarked, "Maybe if we all do "F" work it will lower her numbers, and they'll get rid of her."

Miss Janet would just scream pitifully at everyone on the workfloor, but she targeted Jim because as tall as he was he couldn't harm a fly. His face said so. We weren't sure why she did this, but humiliation seemed to be her tactic for teaching the rest of us. Daily she stood by his work area for hours tapping her foot, staring him down with this wretched angry look on her face as she would glance her watch. He never said a word and silently continued to work.

Suddenly, he died. He developed meningitis and died within a couple of days. And then her mistreatment backfired. Quickly the rumor spread through the workfloor that "she killed him." Top management and union arrived to see what the discord was about. I was asked if I thought she killed him. I said, "No, but she made his life hell. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't want to live."

On the day of Jim's memorial the workfloor in tears and sobs gathered together to say a prayer. Miss Janet Manager remained in her glass office locked up with her head resting on her desk. We wondered if it was guilt or just her mean spirited ways that kept her away from saying a kind word.

We posted our tributes to Jim by the exit of the building, and Miss Janet came over to me with my tribute in her hand and removed from the others. "You are not to speak of God in this job." she ordered.

She threatened to write me up with discipline. I had written, "Don't worry, Jim... now you're with the REAL BOSS."

She was transferred out to a new station where those employees all joined together to submit transfer bid slips to vacate the entire station and escape from Miss Janet's management style.

Miss Janet was then relocated and promoted to Acting Area Manager in charge of districts of stations. One could conclude that cruelty to workers is rewarded.