Posted by Rich on November 03, 2001 at 06:49:19:
Hanging in our swing, or break, room at the PO is a national Union bulletin declaring us, the postal workers, front line warriors on this two front war. It declares the week of Veterans' Day to be a week where we are "deservedly" recognized as "heroes" as we mourn our fallen comrades. Management memos express similar sentiments. Postal workers are heroes, they say.
Now wait a minute. Those firemen & police officers who rushed into a flaming World Trade Center, with no regard to their own safety, in an effort to save the lives of others ... THEY are heroes. Those in our Armed Forces, currently undertaking the burden of defending our freedom and bringing States who sponsor massacre to justice ... THEY are heroes. But a guy processing the mail, not even knowing he was in danger, gets sick & dies, is a very regrettable incident ... but does that make him a hero? OK, so today, thousands of postal workers DO know that they are in danger, yet most of them still report for work and perform the valuable service of moving the Nation's mail. Does THAT make us heroes??
I had a customer the other day thank me at the window for the service. She said we were among the real heroes. To say I felt uncomfortable with that is an understatement. But, at least it came from the outside. Self-proclamation of heroism is, well, it's ridiculous & very embarrassing to me.
I do my job, as I have since 1987. Yes, now I know that my chances of contracting Anthrax are much better than those of the public at large, but really, let's face it, I have a better chance of dropping dead from a heart attack than of getting ill with Anthrax.
The Postal Service has always been at the forefront of Political Correctness, and quite frankly, I've been pleasantly surprised at their response to the September 11 terrorism. We're "allowed" to display flags & "freedom" placards, etc. But this ... this takes the cake.
We are taking precautions & performing a valuable service in the War on Terrorism ... as ALL Americans should be, in whatever way they can ... We, at the Postal Service, are wearing rubber gloves & masks if we so choose (I'm not), cleaning and mopping is now done with bleach, we've been ordered to wash our hands with disinfecting soap no less than once every 2 hours, we have procedures in place, and are ever-vigilant for, dealing with suspicious mail, any facility found contamininated will be closed until safe, all employees exposed will receive free antibiotics & testing, ALL employees can receive free flu shots (to help to avoid similar symptoms), and , most important of all, we received much more extensive Haz-Mat training and are religiously segregating the mail ... customers are questioned about each & every package, we are looking foe specific items and know what to do with them. We have contacts in the FAA, FBI, etc. We've also stopped selling stamped envelopes ... hmmmm. On a larger scale, only Express Mail & letter mail is transported by airplane, and the irridation machines, to sanitize mail, are being purchased.
Do you realize how much these terrorists are going to cost us over time? The impact is incredible. Most of it will be a waste of time, effort, and resources ... yet it is necessary anyway. No hole can be left unplugged.
So, we're doing our part, but spare us the hero tag ... let's reserve that for those who truly perform acts of heroism. Let's not dilute the meaning of the word!
On a related front ... a few weeks back I mentioned 2 incidents in Mohicanland's Hendersonville (home of the Skyland Cinema ... a Gathering staple) ... here's a follow-up:
The "explosion" in the collection box turned out to be an idiotic prank by a carrier's co-worker ... a balloon rigged up to pop when the box was opened!
The white substance in the Post Office building, that caused the office to be shut down, was construction site dust tracked in by a construction worker as he retrieved mail from his PO box!
Happy Trails!