Open Letter: Delivery Workers are the Unsung Heroes of the Holidays
How many of you have been in a line to post or pickup your parcels when you overhear a patron complaining loudly and rudely to a delivery worker? More importantly, does it gross you out or mirror your true feelings? Asking for a friend…
Please hear me when I say this: people show their rawest, most truthful selves in stressful situations. I’ve had my share of ugly moments reeking of a lack of character. Being a human can be hard. Being human is also reflecting, apologizing when you’re wrong, and proving that you’ve actually learned from your mistake by not doing the same foolish thing over and over.
There is something especially triggering about the holidays that gets folx whipped up and sometimes they can take that fury out on others. Not cool. We’ve all heard about Bridezilla – a term so loaded with gender nonsense that we can put a pin in that for another time – but what about Holidayzilla? This is the person that gets furious over the slightest non-issue. They honk in mall parking lots when they don’t get their way (and I’m like, buddy, use your signal); they grumble under their breath in the coffee line; they fight for the last toy like it’s going to make or break their child’s love come Christmas morning; they complain about having no time even though Christmas is the same day every year, further, 2020 was a leap year giving us all a bonus day; and they take their spending frustration out on the shipping fellow who tells the in-a-tizzy lady that their options include rush shipping for $55 or standard shipping for $23. It’s a wine case sized box full of goodies, Karen, what did you expect?
Really, what do we expect shipping should cost in Canada? Breaking down the operational logistics, the service includes: intake of box; identifying and labelling for delivery workers; sorting it into the correct piles; giving it to delivery person; who then gets it to the warehouse sorter; the warehouse gets it on the correct vehicle to the selected destination; it travels to said destination; it hits the receiving warehouse; it gets sorted on that other end; cutie box gets into another vehicle for final delivery by a walking human; and if you don’t have a porch or front desk person, the system gives you a post card that you take to the store, to exchange for your package that was paid for by the sender.
I ask again, are we really upset that it costs $23?
I understand that frustration can leak out of unexpected places. But like, grow up, maybe? It’s certainly not the delivery person in front of you setting the prices anyway. Why ruin the spirit of the holidays with misguided vitriol and tantrums, Holidayzilla?
I’ll wrap up my latest rant with some good vibes. At times a song can say more in mere minutes than any blog post ever could. Here we go…
Cue Kayne’s “Runaway” piano strikes (without his expressed permission). Delivery workers have been, “Putting up with our shit for too long.” I’m about to flip it and make some positive toasts this 2020 season. Let’s have a toast, shall we?
Let’s have a toast for Canada Post.
Let’s have a toast for the UPS.
Let’s have a toast for boxing the most.
Shout out to hardworking FedEx.
Insta Cart is the boss.
They’ll never take Christmas off.
Baby, we’ve got a plan.
Be kind to delivery workers, man.
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The rants, aka: opinions or pet peeves, not so gently expressed in the above are the sole opinions of Sarah G. Schmidt. They are not meant to target or harm. They are to spark conversation and really I may just need to vent.
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