Tuesday, March 21, 2023

The ice Storm of Ice Storms

Another ice/snow memory that bubbles to the surface of my brain from time to time that I would prefer it didn't, is one time when I was a timekeeper/Date Collection clerk at the Atlanta Postal Office in the Federal Annex on Spring and Forsyth Streets, right next door to old Rich's. A big snow storm came in essentially paralyzing Atlanta. But the mail must get through. The time keepers had to be there to see that those that came in get paid. I put a blanket in the car in case I got stuck or something and dodged stranded cars all the way to Atlanta. My reporting time was midnight. Then, it took about 10 clerks per shift to run the time timekeepers office, but more in the daytime, so there were 35 timekeeper positions. We were time timekeepers for about 5000 postal employees. When I reported to work there was only one guy , his name is Salmen, was there on the evening tour, doing the work of 10 men. I jumped in and started helping. I was the only one that showed up for my shift. Salmen stayed and helped me. We worked all night long hard, without breaks, lunch, or anything. The morning shift only one person could make it in. So, Salmen and I stayed and helped him. No other clerks showed up for two days. Three of us worked doing our jobs at a high paced level for over two days without sleep or breaks, so that people would be paid right. Did anybody get any kind of recognition or monetarily awards for our dedication? Of course they did. REM, the Department Head of Finance got public recognition from the District Manager and also because of people under him saved the day he got a quality step increase, which would be a bonus when his retirement was figured. Not bad, for a person, who said he couldn't get out of his driveway to come to work. By the way, almost 20 years later when I was a window clerk in Marietta a lady I was waiting on proudly told me her father was retired from the Postal Service. When she told me her dad was REM I told her what I thought of us doing all the hard work and he got the monetarily award for our work. She looked stunned and probably avoid coming to my window on her next visits.

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