1. To lash out violently and at random, often in a blind rage.
2. To exact calculated revenge on co-workers or schoolmates, usually with a firearm, after being fired or expelled or just feeling extremely hard-done-by.
3. To succumb to fatigue and tension, to become violently angry (from a series of incidents from the mid 80s to the 90s where various postal workers went on shooting rampages).
Between 1986 and 1997, more than forty people were gunned down by postal workers (or former postal workers) in at least twenty incidents of workplace rage. Considering that during the same time span, more than 1,000 acts of workplace violence had occurred across the U.S., it seems wholly unfair to me that we use the term "going postal" so indiscriminately to define the phenomenon.
Are there others out there who, instead of poking fun, feel sorry for these poor, beleaguered souls? According to a USPS Symposium report from 1993, compared to average U.S. employees, these folks are "more likely to be verbally abused by coworkers, much more likely to believe their coworkers held grudges against them, almost twice as likely to say their coworkers had serious mental problems, and four times more likely to agree that 'the use of threats or violence is an effective way to get things done in the workplace' and that 'many managers and supervisors try to provoke employees to violence.'"
I seriously doubt that in the 19 years since, things have improved much.
A friend and I were talking (face to face) the other day when she said, "I'm still trying to figure out your infatuation with the USPS." She'd recently been into a Post Office to get herself a P.O. Box and experienced that high degree of infamous inefficiency. No one was especially friendly, either. She waited in a long line just to get the form. Upon filling it out, she had to wait in another long line to turn it in. "Why couldn't they just have the form available so that you could fill it out and wait in the line only once?"
I nodded empathetically.
In fact, since buying 100 postcard stamps in January, I myself have not set foot in a Post Office. Mainly, I'm not fond of lines. Perhaps subconsciously, I'm avoiding being there when the next unhappy government employee is provoked.
A few days after my friend's unanswerable question, I braved a visit to my local P.O. I chose my time wisely (11:00 a.m. on a weekday). No line! I projected loving kindness as I greeted the postal worker, who greeted me back with a warm smile. I asked if there were 3-cent stamps. He went out of his way to find me just the few I needed. I asked if they had a new 32-cent postcard stamp yet. He eagerly went "in back" to find out and returned with 22 of them for me. Transaction complete, he said, "Have a great day now." And I did!
Considering all of that, I prefer (and, in fact, am determined to start using) the fourth and final definition given by the Urban Dictionary:
4. To loose [sic] touch with someone for a long time. Not talk to someone in a while.
I hope it's a comfort that I promise not to go postal anytime soon.
1 comment:
I've been a supporter of your attempt to save the USPS & wanted to share with you something that might give you some encouragement to continue. Pat Curtis', my sis-in-law, father passed away last week & she sent us a copy of his obituary. We found out that his parents delivered mail in Constable, NY with a horse & buggy. He took over the route from them when he returned from the war & work for the PO for 32 years. Today, his daughter Peggy is the postmaster at the same PO in Constable. What a family tradition!! thought you might enjoy knowing this.
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