Gone Postal

January 31, 2006 7:27 AM

Gone postal Another US postal worker shoots and kills work mates (ex workmates in this case.) As ever Wiki tells all. USPO works to eradicate the usage, but no chance. Now so much part of the culture you can game it
posted by A189Nut (34 comments total)

The original.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 7:35 AM on January 31, 2006

On the other hand, in 2000 the USPS released a study which refuted the belief that postal employees were particularly prone to this behaviour, concluding instead that workplace violence at USPS was around the average for comparable American workplaces.

The USPS (not O) has more employees than any other federal entity, including the military--about half a million. So that finding is not at all hard to believe.
posted by raysmj at 7:37 AM on January 31, 2006

How appropriate.
Uwe Boll's just making yet another videogame adaptation of Postal.

Wonder if he'll think twice about shying away from a topic that's so current. Considering his merits as a director, he'll probably just consider this free publicity.
posted by slimepuppy at 7:37 AM on January 31, 2006

This reminds me of the joke:

What does it mean when the Post Office flies its flags at half mast?

They're hiring.
posted by dios at 7:38 AM on January 31, 2006

The USPS apparently has a crack team of public relations professionals poised to issue stern reproaches to anyone who uses 'going postal' in a public venue, in a section entitled "Setting the Record Straight."

Hilarious examples include a dressing-down of the cast and crew of Alias, as well a scolding to the makers of a re-run of an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent. (Favorite line: To us, "going Postal" means the hard work of our more than 700,000 employees, in every city and town in America...)

Bonus content: A Response to a newspaper writer who referred to the postal service as "Blubbery and Lethargic."
posted by Eldritch at 7:50 AM on January 31, 2006

This is why my husband doesn't like telling people where he works. He just says "The airport" and lets them fill in the details for themselves.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:55 AM on January 31, 2006

The interesting thing to my mind about this shooting is that it was a WOMAN that did the shooting this time. Generally it is men that go ballistic and kill strangers/co-workers and men are generally serial killers (the mexican woman from the post earlier in the week being an obvious exception). Women, I think, usually kill husbands or their children.
posted by spicynuts at 8:17 AM on January 31, 2006

How many years has it been since the last postal shoot em up? About twenty. I'm more afraid of high school kids than I am of postal workers.
posted by faceonmars at 8:21 AM on January 31, 2006

.

(i used to live with a postal employee ... you guys have no idea what goes on there ... a poisonous, vicious work environment)
posted by pyramid termite at 8:27 AM on January 31, 2006

The interesting thing to my mind about this shooting is that it was a WOMAN that did the shooting this time.

Women have been statistically under-represented in many fields. It doesn't mean that they aren't capable of everything men are.
posted by three blind mice at 8:31 AM on January 31, 2006

The interesting thing to my mind about this shooting is that it was a WOMAN that did the shooting this time.

Well, it's nice to see a woman breaking into such a male dominated field.
posted by jonmc at 8:37 AM on January 31, 2006

Was it Publisher's Clearing House day?

Sorry.
posted by Pseudonumb at 8:39 AM on January 31, 2006

Sears Catalogs, pseudonumb.
posted by jonmc at 8:47 AM on January 31, 2006

Another argument for email.
posted by bardic at 8:51 AM on January 31, 2006

I used to work in the law department of the USPS, and I can tell you that some of the employees were completely crazy, but most were totally normal. As raysmj noted, the USPS is the second largest civilian employer in the US (after Wal-Mart, incidentally), so the number of incidents is probably proportional to the number of employees. Of course, we rarely (if ever) hear about Wal-Mart employees going on shooting rampages, but there are factors that make postal employees more prone to workplace anger issues (including the large number of ex-military employees and the nature of the work).
posted by elquien at 9:00 AM on January 31, 2006

Oh, I forgot...

.
posted by elquien at 9:00 AM on January 31, 2006

Here's a list, faceonmars. I don't think I would fear postal workers unless I was one.
posted by Eekacat at 9:12 AM on January 31, 2006

slimepuppy writes "Uwe Boll's just making yet another videogame adaptation of Postal."

And it's starring Gary Coleman.
posted by brundlefly at 9:14 AM on January 31, 2006

My understanding was that there are some fundamental management problems at USPS that lead to these type of events.

On a related note, as someone who works in shipping and transportation, I've never met employees who complain and seem to hate their jobs more than Postal workers do.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 9:20 AM on January 31, 2006

I would guess that a much greater percentage of Wal-Mart's "associates" are part-timers and temp employees, but I cannot find any hard data on this.
posted by raysmj at 9:20 AM on January 31, 2006

I just missed one of these by the luck of having an outside meeting go long. It wasn't at the post office, but in a similar environment. The book Going Postal compares these shootings to slave rebellions. (review)

Myself, I see the high school shootings and these workplace shootings as similar responses to similar stimuli. It just takes some longer to snap than others. It's the environment some are forced to be in 8-10 hours a day. The feeling you are stuck associating with hateful, mean-spirited people. Of course, that isn't the reason for every one of the workplace and school shootings, but is often the explanation. The key is to study why some snap and others don't.
posted by ?! at 9:35 AM on January 31, 2006

Whenever I go to our local post office, it feels like the employees are angry and intentionally moving as slowly as possible, while the line heads out the door.

I try to use the new electronic postal kiosk, but they won't meter media mail labels, so I have to spend a lot of time in line.
posted by craniac at 9:57 AM on January 31, 2006

Which has nothing to do with the post, I just wanted to complain publicly.
posted by craniac at 9:58 AM on January 31, 2006

This happened right near where I live (on my commute, I bike by the postal distribution center where this happened; it was a media circus this morning).

According to the radio news this morning, the shooter had mental health issues and was fired 2 years ago when she decided to stop taking medication. Perhaps, then, this isn't the standard disgruntled postal worker.
posted by JMOZ at 10:31 AM on January 31, 2006

I used to denigrate the American postal system, but then I moved to the Netherlands.

I'm now convince that the USPS is among the best postal services in the world.

And I'll have words for any Dutchie that says differently!

Americans, however, may continue to gripe.
posted by rocketpup at 10:47 AM on January 31, 2006

Newman!
*clenches teeth*
posted by Smedleyman at 11:08 AM on January 31, 2006

Has anybody read Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion: From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond? It's written by Mark Ames of exile.ru, so I imagine it's vitriolic, intelligent and funny...
posted by jcruelty at 11:36 AM on January 31, 2006

on preview: interrobang beat me to it
posted by jcruelty at 11:38 AM on January 31, 2006

And I'll have words for any Dutchie that says differently!

be sure to have them on the left hand side.
posted by flaterik at 11:46 AM on January 31, 2006

elquien : "Of course, we rarely (if ever) hear about Wal-Mart employees going on shooting rampages,"

They can't afford the guns on Wal-Mart wages.
posted by graventy at 1:13 PM on January 31, 2006

My mailman goes around with a phone headset on and he's always cursing into it and yelling to his friends about fights he wants to get in. Scary...
posted by baklavabaklava at 2:20 PM on January 31, 2006

Finally, my hometown of Goleta gets some recognition!
posted by kevspace at 4:21 PM on January 31, 2006

Thanks graventy, I was going to say the same thing.

I rented to a guy that worked in rural delivery. The USPS sucks as a place to work. This is something that unions should fix. Pity 'union' has been made into a swear word.

Rocketpup: Same comparison to the Deutschpost (Germany). It scared me horribly when I heard some senator was visiting Germany to learn from their postal service!

The USPS rocks! Usually fast delivery for a very good price.
posted by Goofyy at 2:47 AM on February 1, 2006

After reading Charles Bukowski's "Post Office" I can't say I'm surprised when someone loses it after working there.
posted by jzb at 8:57 AM on February 1, 2006