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.

[HoardingSamphireSaurus]

@Geamhradh

Why the fuck didn't you answer it when he knocked?
MN is absolutely insane.

I always wonder why people don't read a thread, not even the OP!

[Chesneyhawkes1]

I've got a sign for when I'm working nights. Says please don't knock or ring the bell, night shift worker asleep.

Amazing how many delivery people cannot read and hammer on the door 🙄 especially since it's normally a parcel for next door as I don't order stuff for delivery when I know I will be asleep during the day.

[Lockdownbear]

I very quick excuse me to I get the door. People do actually understand presentation or not that it's rude not to answer the door.

He saw you, knew you were in, gave you a few minutes to do what you were doing and came back.
It wouldn't have been on his radar that you were on a very important job. So he's gone away thinking rude bitch!

[Thethreecs]

I understand that you could not leave your presentation. The post man should not have behaved like that. However, could this be a case that he did not know you were working from home, that the house is a house share and it's up to who ever is receiving parcels to be there for them or re arrange delivery. Could he have thought you were sitting there ignoring him and not bothering to answer the door? A sign is a good idea, even just a do not disturb one, that way anyone who calls will know not to knock and you you won't be disturbed.

[Yummymummy2020]

Some of the replies here are baffling. Of course you can’t just stop presenting and furthermore he can just leave it at the nearest depot or redeliver another day, I thought this was standard anyway. People miss packages all the time it’s not a big deal to him to just leave the calling card as per procedure I assume in your area!

[backformoreagain]

No need to be so literal about parcels on the mat. If your mat is not safe, think of something else, e.g. over the gate, in a big box with a lid that you leave out during work calls, etc. Or just write that you'll collect it from the depot. Main thing is to write a note, or else they knock, ring bell, knock, shout. It is their job to make sure the parcel is safe, so make everyone's life easier and write a note telling them what to do with the parcel if you can't get to the door. It won't just be you, so many people WFH now.

[acatcalledjohn]

@Viviennemary

Answer the door. What is wrong with people. So selfish and rude.

We could more easily argue the same on the postman's part.

[AnotherMansCause]

@HouseOfFire, @iwannabelikeyouhoohoo, @girlmom21 - I have a condition that causes vision & memory loss. I struggle to read. Usually I don't bother to reply to posts & this is why.

[LovelyLovelyWarmCoffee]

@outofservice

Weird not to answer the door to somebody who is busy trying to do their job. Am sure a quick excuse me to your very important colleagues would have been less distracting than listening to someone aggressively banging on your door for 5 whole minutes.

I’m guessing this is coming from someone that thinks WFH is not really working… maybe even a key worker who had to go to work during the lockdown and can’t imagine that others were working as well actually.

[WaltzingBetty]

@outofservice

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

@outofservice
Umm.. yes I expect the OP's job is more important to her than her housemate's parcel delivery.
Why on Earth do you think it wouldn't be?

Or that aggressive banging and shouting is an appropriate way to do a job?

[VickyEadieofThigh]

@outofservice

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

YES! If I have to make a decision about my job or someone else's, it's going to be mine every time.

[acatcalledjohn]

@Geamhradh

Why the fuck didn't you answer it when he knocked?
MN is absolutely insane.

Because she was actively presenting to senior management.

MN is indeed absolutely insane. Apparently only working from an office is considered work. WFH is dismissed as unimportant.

[Rainbowsew]

@LetHimHaveIt

I agree that an awful lot of people wouldn't have been in, and that's surely the expectation, so the repeated banging is extremely irritating. On the other hand, I think you could've said: 'Sorry; I've got a very persistent postie - you may even be able to hear him - so I'm just going to nip downstairs for thirty seconds.' I really don't think that's 'wildly unprofessional' and that you'd be 'jeopardising your job' 🙄

I don't think that's very professional at all!

An informal meeting with friendly colleagues, maybe. Consultation with doctor or lawyer, social services, police, parent/teacher meeting on a time limit - no way! Again people have no idea what jobs people do from home. There was no excuse for the postie to behave like that and I'd be complaining to the depot.

We had similar when my DS was home sick and I told him not to open door while I went to shop and he said postie was aggressive, saying I can see you and kicked the door as if anyone would open it after that!

[KatherineJaneway]

@outofservice

Weird not to answer the door to somebody who is busy trying to do their job. Am sure a quick excuse me to your very important colleagues would have been less distracting than listening to someone aggressively banging on your door for 5 whole minutes.

It isn't weird. I wouldn't have left a senior meeting for someone else's parcel.

[zafferana]

I'd complain to your local delivery office. Surely postmen/women must understand that just because someone is home they can't always answer the door? After 18 months of WFH, is this so hard to understand???

[LetHimHaveIt]

'I don't think that's very professional at all!

An informal meeting with friendly colleagues, maybe. Consultation with doctor or lawyer, social services, police, parent/teacher meeting on a time limit - no way! Again people have no idea what jobs people do from home. There was no excuse for the postie to behave like that and I'd be complaining to the depot.

We had similar when my DS was home sick and I told him not to open door while I went to shop and he said postie was aggressive, saying I can see you and kicked the door shock as if anyone would open it after that!'

Cool.

Don't quite understand why you had to tell your husband not to open the door when you went out. He's presumably not eight.

[ravenmum]

@iwannabelikeyouhoohoo Why won't it go down well? You think he does know why OP wasn't answering the door, and was deliberately disturbing her? I prefer to imagine that he was not trying to disturb her and just didn't realise - like many other people on this thread - why OP wasn't answering.

[WaltzingBetty]

@Viviennemary

I've supported the postman trying to do a job. Madd twice as hard by folk like OP.

So you think the OP is selfish and rude for literally just doing her job, but the postman is within his rights to refuse to do his job (return undelivered mail to depot) and that he's perfectly entitled to be aggressive and rude to boot?

Out of interest, why the different standards?

Fascinating what some people thing is appropriate social interaction!

[TravelLost]

@outofservice

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

Is the posties job automatically more important than the OP’s?

Why is that?
Because he is a man and she is a woman?
Because he is a postie and the OP is ‘only’ wfh?

I mean the OP was working, in the middle of a presentation so no she wasn’t able to go and answer the door.
On the other side, this person banging in the door and being aggressive was certainly unacceptable, regardless of whether there was someone in the house or not.

[galaxyx]

Gobsmacked at the number of people who don't understand what WFH is. The OP was not available, same as if she were at work. The postman wouldn't then keep banging on her door till she was home would he? There are procedures for undelivered items.

Occasionally it's fine to excuse yourself for a knock at the door, depending on the type of meeting. But I've had the odd occasion where I've presented to 1000 people across different sites. There is no way in hell I would leave that to accept a parcel.

[JudgeJ]

@OttilieStonelady

P.s. not a postie bashing thread. My usual postie is lovely!

I'll hear nothing bad about posties, mine helped me jump start my car yesterday!

[TravelLost]

[quote ravenmum]**@iwannabelikeyouhoohoo* Why won't it go down well? You think he does know why OP wasn't answering the door, and was deliberately disturbing her? I prefer to imagine that he was not* trying to disturb her and just didn't realise - like many other people on this thread - why OP wasn't answering.[/quote]
Well you would think that with the number of people wfh nowadays, he would have an inkling of what was going on.

Plus of he wasn’t trying to disturb her and dint realise, why on Earth did he bang in the door repeatedly? Why being aggressive? Why shouting?
Is it really that much harder to take the parcel away with him like he is supposed to do? Afetr all, the only person inconvenienced is the OP/other person who will have to go to the depot instead

[ShirleyPhallus]

@galaxyx

Gobsmacked at the number of people who don't understand what WFH is. The OP was not available, same as if she were at work. The postman wouldn't then keep banging on her door till she was home would he? There are procedures for undelivered items.

Occasionally it's fine to excuse yourself for a knock at the door, depending on the type of meeting. But I've had the odd occasion where I've presented to 1000 people across different sites. There is no way in hell I would leave that to accept a parcel.

I dunno, this is MN where there have been SO MANY “office workers have been slacking off WFH for the last 18 months now it’s time to get back to the office and get back to work” some people genuinely don’t seem to understand the concept of WFH

[JesusIsAnyNameFree]

@outofservice

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

They aren't comparable though. OP doesn't have a contract with the postie to get her house mates post. She does however have a contract with work where she needs to, you know, do her work.
If I walked away during a presentation I would get in shit. I may be in, but that doesn't mean I am able to come to the door for any random crap that may be arriving, for me or anyone else. Take it back to the sorting office.

God I love my postie though, especially reading about things like this. He is truly amazing.

[HouseOfFire]

[quote AnotherMansCause]**@HouseOfFire, @iwannabelikeyouhoohoo, @girlmom21 - I have a condition that causes vision & memory loss. I struggle to read. Usually I don't bother to reply to posts & this is why.[/quote]
I've missed points many many times - i wouldn't let it get you to