Well if anyone looses an xbox 360 from that store, you know who might have swiped it :)

Michael Rapaport

I had a weird discrepancy in some package tracking that contradicted itself regarding whether my package was still at the local post office once.

They DID go look for it. (To be fair, it was a 4 foot tall box of CV axles and driveshafts, kind of hard to miss.)

Eh...unfortunately this is way too typical of teenagers at any job - I don't think it necessarily reflects poorly on UPS.

At least he spoke English, though. Sad, but true in my area...

Brooklyn?

You expect customer service in Brooklyn?

@StevieD: I do not! I gave up that dream when I left Texas.

Kids these days. I swear it would help fix a lot of our problems if they started putting abortion clinics in Wal-Marts. The cheeseburgers and fries are simply taking too long to effectively filter the gene pool.

DOnt stores have policies regarding employees using cellphones & text messaging devices? FIre this little turd.... maybe he will learn next time (but I doubt it).

@StevieD:

First thing I thought of when I read brooklyn in the title. LOL!

When i was a kid just staring out... I was absolutely amazed at how many of my fellow teens would get fired or quit so often. And that they'd have a new job every month. I kept my first job for nearly two years.

I know exactly which store this is - 7th Ave & 8th St, right? Typical - they once would not allow me to drop a small package that was already packed and labeled with a UPS bar code from my account! They said they were too busy -- no room for any more packages.

If you're in Park Slope, it's worth walking the extra blocks over to the UPS Store on Flatbush below 7th Ave - I've gotten excellent service there every time!

@forgottenpassword: I started at my first job when I was 14, working 30 hrs/week. Shift manager by 16. Finally quit at 18 to go to college, with them trying to talk me out of it and have me stay there full-time. And no, this wasn't the 50s - it was the 90s...But I was definitely a rare example of a teen who thought "Hey, they're paying me - I should actually work..."

@racheltvgirl: I just saw that one on Flatbush this weekend and made a mental note to check it out the next time I needed their services--thanks!

@Chris Walters: Why'd you leave Texas, then? Oh. Right.

Back a couple months I was in my local convenience store slash gas station. I am a regular at the store and am well known by the bro and sis that own and run the store.

Any way there was a young 20ish girl asking about a job. She knew the clerk behind the counter. The applicant had been through 5 jobs in 6 months or 6 jobs in 5 months.... you get the idea.

The applicant departed and the clerk behind the counter was telling the owner ..... "she (the applicant) quit her last job because she wanted to go to a party and the boss wouldn't let her skip work...... but she is a real hard worker".

@StevieD:

So she's like the employee equivalent of a Volkswagen or an Italian sportscar...great, when they're working.

i took my first job at 16 and it took me at least a month to figure out how one was properly supposed to conduct oneself at a 'job'.
though this was before text messaging and there's no excuse for being a whiny little shit.

@acasto: Replace part of the EITC with federally-subsidized free abortion coupons...

Just an FYI, If they charged you for packaging you cannot be refunded for the service of packaging a box, only the shipping of it.

At least that's how FedEx works I'd imagine any Shipping company that offers Packaging services works the same way.

But yea, unfortunately, this is more to do with people 23 and under. I have to pull teeth to get my employee's to work ever (who are in this age group.) It's like they want some prize every time they do something they're paid to do.

@Skankingmike:

I give them a prize. It is called a pay check.

I am also real good at giving brats their last pay check.

Maybe that is why the average age of my entry level employees is over 25 years of age. The mature person that has to put food on the table are so much more appreciative of a decent job.

And these are the so-called "Millenials" we're supposed to be worried about losing our jobs to? HA HA HA HA HA
[www.cbsnews.com]

@ahwannabe:

OMG

They were raised by doting parents who told them they are special.

Oh, yea, "Special".

I will give them a nice special. A special kick in the arse.

You want to speak to the manager? I am your manager!

@acasto:
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

yep. kids usually don't like working.

next.

Just go to FedEx Kinko's instead.

See I know the Post Office is normally the most annoying place to go but I have to defend my local post office. I think that they are great to go to. I have yet to have any problems and really they seem willing to help you out. This is obviously not all the time but there is always one guy that seems to be happy and is actually quite helpful, he even has learned spanish to help the growing (quite big actually) latin american community that visits this post office. So while not all post offices are great at least, I like to think, that mine is actually nice.

So as a small favor lets not always blame the post office or point to them as being the worst of the worst. This at least proves that UPS can have its share of idiots working for them.

I hate that kid! This summer I asked him to get off the phone while he was entering my package information into the computer, and he said (into the phone) "Hang on, I have a customer yelling at me." Then to me, he said "I can do both at once." I hope his dad or whoever fires him.

@ecwis:

Why? Do the brats at FedEx Kinko's work better than the brats at the UPS Store?

@StevieD: The brats are the same, but the uniforms at FedEx Kinkos are much easier on the eyes.

I've worked at three different UPS Stores in three fairly different communities (in the same general area). I can say with some certainty that this is not uncommon.

Unfortunately, UPS treats their franchisees like crap, and it tends to trickle down.

"You know me. You know I don't care. I'll go to Ryker's for two to three months just to prove my point!"

@ahwannabe: I would like to lobby for those born in 1980 to be taken out of the Millenials classifications. I agree entirely that we deserve it, but at least SOME of us have the understanding that you can't work on your own terms unless you sign the checks.

"My" generation and I have not always got along well together. I picked up the Tech savvy part. Thankfully, that's about where it ends for me. I played T-Ball, and lost. I entered a TON of competitions and very seldom came to even 2nd place.

@StevieD: I also knew I'd have a special "kick" of my own if I acted anything like this kid at my job. Maybe that's why my first job lasted 6 LONG years. I'm 27 now and still understand this much.

This is why I do my best to teach "real life" to those around me. If you can't provide your employer with people skills, get lost or get fired. Those always seemed like the best options for people like this.

@KogeLiz: Word. I had a similar Sidekick incident at Wendy's: "You can have your fries when I finish this message," the cashier seemed to be saying.

To be fair, I didn't like helping customers when I was a kid at Best Buy. But mostly that was because we were told to "help"* the customers who didn't want to be helped.

* i.e. "Have you heard about the Performance Service Plan?"

@ahwannabe: Yes, that would be us. Don't worry, we'll still change your bedpan despite this slight.

I work around some really delightful kids. They aren't all hard working saints (like the readers here were in their teens apparently), but they aren't sullen jerks. We're painting in some pretty broad strokes here. What did the columnist do as follow up or what does the Consumerist advise?

At my post office they are just stupid, rude, and old as opposed to the UPS Store where they are stupid, rude, and young.

There was a kid at our local grocery chain location that had a texting addiction. He was sort of running the express checkout. He checked out my order while spending most of his time texting. He doesn't seem to work there any longer as I have not seen him on any shift since that I have been in to buy things. At least some employers don't tolerate that kind of thing.

Most bigger stores have security camera on the tills. So mentioning something to a manager about text addicted employees might actually get them fired since there might be a video record of it.

Lame, but I'd like to think this was an isolated example. It honestly makes me mad that so many people in this thread say "so what? that's what kids are like."

No, kids are not like that. Some are really lazy. And some are great, industrious workers. The key is that bosses need to fire the asses of lazy workers, and make sure the workers know *why* they're getting fired.

(obligatory personal anecdote: I started working at 15 at the Kingdome. I worked at my first job for 10 years -- all through HS, in college summers when I was home, and for my gap year before I went to grad school. I still work 1-2 days a year when I'm home and there is a sports game.)

What is the deal with all the chain store type service people in Brooklyn? Every time i go outside the city to suburban areas the people that work at say CVS or the UPS store or say a movie theater are at least competent... You don't have to be a crackerjack to master this stuff.

here in BK it's like the these places are manned by the living dead. Slow, shuffling, eyes rolled into the back of their heads and moaning...grunting.

If there is any 'glitch' whatsoever..say they ring something twice by accident they look like they've been tasked with finding the square root of infinity.

I can't tell you how many times I've been in one of these places and there are more people behind the register then in line and we are standing there....waiting...growing mold...while they all stand around one person trying to separate a plastic bag or ever elusive and full team effort of: "put a new roll of paper in the register". otherwise known at rite aid as: splitting an atom.

@ITDEFX: LOSES, goddammit, not "looses".

@pastabatman: :-) :-) :-) Splitting an atom? You just made my day!!! :-)

@Michael Belisle: For some reason this response popped into my head:

Customer: Hey, that looks pretty cool -- can I have a look?

[Customer examines Sidekick, then deftly tosses same into fry-o-lator]

Customer: You know what, I think I'll take a side salad instead -- gotta watch my calories. Thanks.

USPS Customer Service in Brooklyn: [consumerist.com]

@Antediluvian: God I like that idea :-D

This is UPS we're talking about. I don't know what it's like down in the US, but in Montreal, they're negligent at best, fraudulent at worst. I avoid shipping (or being shipped to) via UPS if I can possibly avoid it, and would MUCH rather ship via Canada Post (or receive via USPS) than anybody else.

Canada Post gives timely updates, delivers my packages on time, has a post office near my place rather than a single central depot in the middle of nowhere, doesn't rip me off, etc. I honestly don't understand why anybody would ship via UPS instead of Canada Post.

Last time somebody shipped me something via UPS, I opened my front door at 11AM to find my laptop sitting on my front porch. Driver never rang the doorbell, never asked for a signature, just left the expensive laptop on the porch and left.

@v2h5a81: The employees at the post office near my house have always treated me well. They are friendly, offer actual customer service and don't look like they dread life. They don't move to fast, but they are pleasant.

The USPS employees near where I interned as a midwife were very nice too. Especially after I grin ear to ear with their question of anything liquid, perishable, hazardous... Old timers, "Don't ask her what's in the box!" New guy looks for a ten foot pole to apply the biohazard sticker. Even still, very nice friendly people.

A sullen teenager isn't giving 110% at his retail job? Holy shit! Has The New York Times heard about this?!

Man... having Rapaport on there makes me think of the most classic line in that Chappelle skit:

"Excuse me lady, I gotta take a shit."

Now that's some honest customer service right there.

@Skiffer:

I would tend to agree that most teenage employees are sullen and lazy but there is one shining example of the opposite...

In N Out burger in CA, NV and AZ has a mostly teen workforce like most other fast food locations. The difference is that In N Out employees are uniformly pleasant, helpful and seemingly happy to be there.

I don't know how they do it. Maybe all the kids are Mormon, maybe they are brainwashed, maybe they are paid something above slave wages, whatever it is, it works great.

I have probably been to fifty different In N Out Burgers across the country and have never had a customer service experience anything less than fantastic.

I'm the supervisor for three people that are in their 40s and 50s and I'm in my twenties. Don't lump the before-college and after-college group, please. It's rude to assume that the person you're talking to is 18 and doesn't know anything about their job.

It's definitely not UPS. I have a box at the UPS store near my house, and the employees are all in their teens or twenties, and they know us by name and are very helpful usually. This is in ghetto downtown Miami, where service isn't always to be had if you don't speak Spanish. I think so many retail jobs are crap if the managers suck, and it rubs off on the employees.