Postman smashing on door and shouting

[OttilieStonelady]

I live in a house with other people. Someone else had something sent to them by a family member so neither of us knew it was arriving. He's not in. Postman came to door to drop off. Saw me upstairs and I swear was banging on my door for 5 minutes so hard it sounded like he was going to break in. Rang the door over and over and over banging in-between. He disappeared, I guess delivered neighbours post then came back and banged on my door again, then next again, then back to me again. He even shouted 'i can see you'. I can't leave when I'm in the middle of presenting to people, especially not senior management, presenting extremely sensitive data. It's not a big house so he would've known I'd have heard him. WIBU not to open the door? Was he BU to keep banging aggressively on my door? All round a weird experience.

What do you mean by Rubbish through your door ?

Rubbish as in empty crisp packets and cigarette ends or rubbish as in junk mail that they have no choice but to deliver as it is their job and they don't get to decide what they will and will not put through the letterbox?

@RedHelenB

If you're in sight it's perfectly reasonable to expect a knock ro be answered. I feel like you are exaggerating somewhat but if it really put you off your presentation then you may as well have answered the door.

Another non worker I guess

@RJnomore1

And this is why I work at the back of the house.

Ffs no one is saying their job is more important but the royal mail has systems in place if there is no answer at a property they are delivering to. It’s not their job to vet whether the householders reason for not answering are acceptable or not.

And my husband used to be a postie so I know that behaviour would be strongly frowned upon if you complained op.

I got the impression from the OP (though could be wrong) that she is living in a shared house.

If you've ever lived in a shared house you'll know that you get your room and other people have their rooms and that is kind of that.

So it's entirely possible she couldn't just work at the back of the house.

OP please first try the delivery office but if that does not work don’t bother with the generic customer service number. Instead write a letter, not email, to the CEO, currently Simon Thompson at Royal Mail Headquarters 100 Victoria embankment EC4Y OHQ . That will make it a flag case and whoever supervises this oaf will be accountable for disciplining him for not providing an acceptable level of customer service and making sure he and his colleagues understand what that is.

It is one of Royal Mails sources of competitive advantage (you might say the only one ) that items are delivered by the trusted postman, so it really is an important element of corporate strategy.

@OhPatti

As soon as I saw this thread I wondered how long it would be before someone suggested it shouldn't have been a problem to 'pop' and answer the door. How often do people suggest to men that they should break off from doing their job and 'pop' to answer the door (or 'pop' to do anything), I wonder? I suspect not as many.

Women are constantly being told it should be no problem to 'pop' here and there, even if they are busy at the time. Men, not so much. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I can't see many men not answering a door.

Wrong. But I'm not precious about answering a door, it takes two seconds.

All those people defending the postman?! Businesses that fail to ensure they provide the level of customer service that meets the customers’ needs are on a hiding en to going bust. For every customer that complains about poor customer service there are twelve more who develop negative perceptions of a business but don’t complain.

Obviously there are another twelve Mumsnetters who quite happily accept that they cannot expect their needs to be met and are happy to be yelled at and inconvenienced but it definitely is not the way to run a successful business. Royal Mail isn’t doing too well in the success front at the moment, it really does not need this sort of sabotage!

@RedHelenB

Wrong. But I'm not precious about answering a door, it takes two seconds.

Does wanting to perform your job to a professional standard make you precious? Who knew?

@outofservice

So your job is more important than the postie trying to do theirs??

Yes it is and it wasn't even for her! Back off

@RedHelenB

Wrong. But I'm not precious about answering a door, it takes two seconds.

Is that acceptable in your work - to stop a presentation to senior managers midway and leave them to wait whilst you attend to the door?

Husbands is a postie. He thinks this bloke is batshit! You didn't do anything wrong, he should have tried a neighbour or taken it back to the depot. He was probably just being lazy and hoping to go straight home after his rounds if he could get all parcels/packages delivered. And I also would complain to your local depot too.

Agree on the point of it being poor customer service, it's ultimately a service role and doing it well should include good people skills.

I remember years ago being in the massive tesco near me. There was a big section of toys with "clearance" written over it but there wasn't a single price label near any of them. They used to do that frequently and it was irritating.

The store was really busy, there was no one to flag down and ask the price, I went to queue up at the till to ask (I wasn't buying anything else) but the queues were massive.

So I went to the self service till and scanned it. It was too expensive so I went to put it back then a member of the customer service team came over and berated me for not buying it because "it gives us bad feedback." The store deserved bad feedback for it's inadequate signage and long queues so I am really not sure why she felt it was my role as a customer to ensure that the store didn't get bad feedback when they had delivereed a poor customer experience.

Finally, my postman is absolutely amazing. So friendly, to everyone. More than once he has spotted me out and about on a walk and pulled over with a parcel for me because he can see I'm not home to open the door. Everyone in our neighbourhood loves him, beccause he is great at his job.

@RedHelenB

I can assure you many men would also ignore the door. Ridiculous of you to pretend otherwise.

How on earth do you think it's even remotely reasonable to expect anyone to stop a presentation at work to answer the door? You do get that ones entire career can go down the shitter after such a move? You aren't really at home when WFH. Your time still very much belongs to the company during that time.

Bet you're the sort that would also think it's fine for the inlaws to drop in and expect you to make them a cuppa and have a little chat. "It's only 10 minutes, you clearly don't like them very much and you're very rude". No, I just actually have a job that isn't standing around the aisles in The Range with your colleagues pretending to stack the shelves. I can't phone it in. If I fuck off from a meeting to open the door and that's the exact time the CEO asks me how the product is coming along, that's me quite fucking done for.

[quote JesusIsAnyNameFree]@RedHelenB

I can assure you many men would also ignore the door. Ridiculous of you to pretend otherwise.

How on earth do you think it's even remotely reasonable to expect anyone to stop a presentation at work to answer the door? You do get that ones entire career can go down the shitter after such a move? You aren't really at home when WFH. Your time still very much belongs to the company during that time.

Bet you're the sort that would also think it's fine for the inlaws to drop in and expect you to make them a cuppa and have a little chat. "It's only 10 minutes, you clearly don't like them very much and you're very rude". No, I just actually have a job that isn't standing around the aisles in The Range with your colleagues pretending to stack the shelves. I can't phone it in. If I fuck off from a meeting to open the door and that's the exact time the CEO asks me how the product is coming along, that's me quite fucking done for.[/quote]
Not sure the classism was necessary but the rest is a valid point.

I worked from home for years and years, well before it was common (so relieved I don't have to anymore, I hated it).

When I was pregnant with my first in 2008 my in laws assumed I wouldn't need childcare. They also 'assumed' I didn't have to take annual leave because I worked from home

[quote JesusIsAnyNameFree]@RedHelenB

I can assure you many men would also ignore the door. Ridiculous of you to pretend otherwise.

How on earth do you think it's even remotely reasonable to expect anyone to stop a presentation at work to answer the door? You do get that ones entire career can go down the shitter after such a move? You aren't really at home when WFH. Your time still very much belongs to the company during that time.

Bet you're the sort that would also think it's fine for the inlaws to drop in and expect you to make them a cuppa and have a little chat. "It's only 10 minutes, you clearly don't like them very much and you're very rude". No, I just actually have a job that isn't standing around the aisles in The Range with your colleagues pretending to stack the shelves. I can't phone it in. If I fuck off from a meeting to open the door and that's the exact time the CEO asks me how the product is coming along, that's me quite fucking done for.[/quote]
@JesusIsAnyNameFree I agreed with you up untill the range comment. No need for that whatsoever

@RedHelenB

Wrong. But I'm not precious about answering a door, it takes two seconds.

How can you possibly know it's only going to take two seconds before you answer?

@AllThingsServeTheBeam

It was simply a way to explain that there are jobs where you can take sneaky little breaks without anyone really noticing or giving a damn as long as the work gets done by the end of the day.

OK, let's not go with the range. Let's go with accounting. My best friend is an accountant. He watches Netflix during work hours at times because it doesn't matter if he fiddles with his numbers at 3 pm or 3 am, as long as it's done by the deadline.

Not sure the classism was necessary but the rest is a valid point.

The weird thing is that historically before t’internet the home shopping market was overwhelmingly working class, shopping from the big catalogues via local agents. It definitely was not a market characterised by tolerance for bad customer service, both customers and the companies were very quick to complain. The big companies went to great lengths to collate all the incidents and amass compensation claims.

So I really cannot see where all these people defending the postman are coming from. I can only assume they are more interested in having a go at the OP appropriating some sort of assumed, but not actual, class solidarity as their grounds….

Some people don’t need any excuse….,

@butterpuffed

As you were at the window why didn't you open it and call out 'On a Zoom meeting, please put a card through the door' Would've taken a couple of seconds.

Can you imagine it? Important conference call, lots of important people listening to your presentation, suddenly you stop, wrestle with the window catch and bellow out of the window whilst all those people listen in to the conversation. Certain death to your career.

@Emilyontmoor

Not sure the classism was necessary but the rest is a valid point.

The weird thing is that historically before t’internet the home shopping market was overwhelmingly working class, shopping from the big catalogues via local agents. It definitely was not a market characterised by tolerance for bad customer service, both customers and the companies were very quick to complain. The big companies went to great lengths to collate all the incidents and amass compensation claims.

So I really cannot see where all these people defending the postman are coming from. I can only assume they are more interested in having a go at the OP appropriating some sort of assumed, but not actual, class solidarity as their grounds….

Some people don’t need any excuse….,

Did you read my quote post properly?

I was responding to JesusIsAnyNameFree who made a derogatory comment insinuating that people who work at The Range stacking shelves (i.e. in a shop not for a catalogue store) are idle.

Some of you work for really high maintenance employers by the way if you'd be facing certain death/the chop for a small error of judgement.

It would be absolutely unprofessional to answer the door mid-presentation and I think the OP was correct.

But I can't help but think that those of you who would be fired for it can 't be worth a lot to the company anyway.

@tigerinyourtank

It wasn't derogatory, nor did I ever insinuate it's only shop jobs where people can make their own judgments as to when they do things and when they take a little break for a chat. It was an example, just like my friend the accountant that watches Netflix, takes 3 hour lunches and has tea with his dad in the middle of his official working hours. But you keep being offended.

And yes, they tend to be very high maintenance when your fuck ups can cost them millions. Being fired for an error of judgment happens all the time, from the very bottom of the food chain to the top. One day the head of a department is there and the next he has been let go after 20 years for an "error of judgment".

I totally understand that a postman/anyone delivering if they see someone in the house might have a couple of goes at banging to alert them in case they think they haven't been seen. They are trying to deliver so having a try to alert someone once or twice I get.

BUT I TOTALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND why someone would persist KEEP ON banging and come back in the circumstances described by @OttilieStonelady.

because it doesn't really take much imagination to work out there are many circumstances that might mean a person who you can hear can't or is unwilling to answer the door

giving a presentation
seriously injured and recupperating, unable to walk unaided
having a Zoom interview
in a meeting that they can't leave
a trainee/ on probation where leaving a Zoom meeting would impact their chances of a full time job
on a sensitive call where leaving would be perceived as extremely rude or would break the flow of what they were being told if there is no convenient break
violent diarrhoea where risking going even a metre from the toilet is a step too far
completely naked or just got out of the shower
history of domestic violence and fearing that ex is lurking round the corner ready to barge in through an open door
fearing it is a set up or a scam to get in the house. And yes people do impersonate policemen, postman all kinds of people. It's exactly how some scams work - trading on your trust.

and many more.

[quote JesusIsAnyNameFree]@tigerinyourtank

It wasn't derogatory, nor did I ever insinuate it's only shop jobs where people can make their own judgments as to when they do things and when they take a little break for a chat. It was an example, just like my friend the accountant that watches Netflix, takes 3 hour lunches and has tea with his dad in the middle of his official working hours. But you keep being offended.

And yes, they tend to be very high maintenance when your fuck ups can cost them millions. Being fired for an error of judgment happens all the time, from the very bottom of the food chain to the top. One day the head of a department is there and the next he has been let go after 20 years for an "error of judgment".[/quote]
I'm not offended.

You obnoxiously insinuated that people who stack shelves at The Range 'phone it in' i.e. don't work hard.

I don't work at The Range, nor do I do anything similar to working at The Range. I'm not remotely offended.

I just don't make snide class-based remarks about people chatting to their mates and phoning it in. That would be you, that would.