I Was Just Doing My Job...

As you can see, my mail situation has not improved. I think there are a lot of people that take their job descriptions too literally. For example, "Put mail in box." Obviously, there are no more detailed instructions, like "...and try not to mangle it too badly."

Below is one of the most famous examples:

The entire job description for this must have been, "Paint double yellow lines on road." The person who was chosen to complete this job did just that...and only that. "Remove any obstructions" was not part of the description. I'm sure if most of us, (having fully functioning brains) were put in this position, would have slid or kicked the carcass off to the curb and continued to paint. Not this guy. Just painted right over it and wasn't concerned about the blank spots that would be left when the carcass was finally removed. This might be more annoying than when the manhole covers that have lines on them are put back on without the lines lining up. That drives me crazy.


This reminds me of one particular day at Wegmans. (Greatest grocery store ever) There was a young female cashier who was relatively new. Her job: Scan all the customer's items, put them in a bag, collect payment. Sounds pretty easy right? Well, here's what happened one day. A customer ordered a birthday cake. When a cake is ordered, a full page form is filled out with information like: type of cake, frosting color, what should be written on it and so on. Then, a sticker is printed out with the barcode and the price of the cake. The sticker is usually stuck half on the form and half on the box's clear plastic window. (See diagram below)

So, this cashier was chugging along, scanning and bagging all of the items. The cake was next on the conveyor belt. As you may know, the scanner is under a glass window in front of the cashier. So, the barcode has to be held over it. (Fancy side scanners and scanning guns weren't around yet.)

I saw the whole thing happen. Without even the slightest bit of hesitation, the cashier grabbed the cake box, flipped it over, scanned it and put it on the counter behind her. This of course resulted in the cake being completely ruined...as shown below.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get there in time to stop it. It was like one of those slow motion scenes in a movie. Picture me racing towards the register, the cashier lifting and then slowly flipping the box over, me flailing my arms yelling a long drawn out "Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!". I was too late. I got to the cashier and said, "What was that!?!? You ruined the cake!" Her response, "I had to scan the barcode." I said, "You're supposed to peel the sticker off and scan just that part. That's why they attach it to the plastic part." Her response..."Well, no one told me that."

It's scary to think that you'd have to tell someone not to flip a cake upside down. But, {sigh}, then again, she was just doing her job. Painted roadkill and ruined cakes are pretty minor compared what could happen from such complete stupidity and lack of thinking.

It's just like the famous line in Seinfeld..."I can think of another group of people that were just doing their jobs....that's right, the Nazis."