Verbally Abused by Auspost Attendant - What Are My Options?

Dear bargainers,
Sorry for starting Friday with yet another rant post.
I,an Aussie of ethnicity A, was racially abused by Auspost attendant of ethnicity B while trying to collect my missed delivery from one of the post offices in inner West Sydney.It all started when I have complained about not knocking on the door before leaving a card for missed delivery. The attendant started taking names saying ' the delivery guy is from your country and all you guys are like this and that'. Despite me pleading him in all my politeness not to bring nationality or race into the picture, he kept abusing me.I kept my decency and did not shout back at this person of my Dad's age.
Dear brethren,
What should I do now? Please suggest.
Edit:I did try to complain to the lady next to him at the counter, who happens to be from the same ethnicity a that of the attendant. Unfortunately, she took his side and said' we have been here from so long time, we hear these complaints only from you '. For people who think that this is a one sided , heavily manicured story, please be assured I have nothing against that old person.I should have taken video of that rant, unfortunately it didn't occur to me.I have complained to auspost guys who registered my complaint and gave case number.
All I want is, that attendant regret for his words and treat people with respect.

Poll Options

  • 416
    Report to auspost
  • 7
    Report to the police
  • 112
    Gulp it down with a bottle of VB

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Comments

  • +4

    The drivers who bring the parcel to your home is nothing to do with those people in your local post office. They usually belong to Auspost hub. Either Alexandria hub or Kingsgrove hub?

    • +1

      Try to complain first to store manager then go to online Auspost customer service.

  • +27
    1. Go to town on a family feast of KFC.

    2. Get a box. Prefably waxed or water resistant. Leave some perforations for ventilation.

    3. Go to town on said box.

    4. Go to post office. Deliver said box to yourself. Signature required.

    5. Don't be there to accept delivery. Let it be held in post office.

    6. Don't collect. So really, there's no 6.

    I in no way encourage, endorse nor condone the collective actions above.

    • +1

      Genius!

    • Or non-collective actions, so to speak

    • +3

      That'll be sure to change their opinion of this person's tribe, rather than reinforce it…

      • Is changing the opinion the good or bad one?

        Change is implied as bad if the default/present sentiment is positive. Change could also mean it gets better. Change alone denotes direction, not vector.

        Reinforce, however, implies no change in direction, only magnitude. This can be good or bad, depending on the default/present sentiment.

    • +3

      Finally a reason to actually buy KFC

      • +4

        I am actually a vegetarian.Can you please suggest something that works as effectively as KFC? :)

        • something that works as effectively as KFC? :)

          Have you ever tried KFT? - Kentucky Fried Tofu!

    • sarcasm Great.

      Stick up everyone else's parcels just to get petty revenge.

      For a follow up will you go and put poop in all your neighbour's mailboxes too?

      Grow up.

  • +8

    Poll doesn't let me choose 2 options. Gulp down VB and call Aupost.

  • Surely their is more to your story.

    You walked in and made a complaint and after one sentence he started talking about nationalities?

    • +21

      I’ve seem randoms say “chin chan chow” to me out of the blue, like it means something…completely unsolicited.

    • +4

      That is what really baffles me.I did say not a single word more than "No one knocked my door before leaving card, my wife is at home".He detonated as if someone pulled the pin off the grenade.

      • +2

        I think it's not enough to pull the pin on a grenade.

      • +1

        Could have been your body language and tone of you voice. Tbh, if that is what you said exactly, it doesn't sound like very polite or friendly. The old man wasn't the one who delivered the card.

  • Who's brethren?

  • +6

    OP, ignore the naysayers here and do whatever makes you feeL is correct. Frankly, this guy should not be in the postion he is in; he is a poor representative for Australia Post and I'm sure the manager would've had a few words to say to him if you had highlighted this at the time. People do not get a "pass" for being cranky when this involves racially abusing a customer. It is frustrating when you have to deal with this sort of crap all too often; forward progress is achieved by pushing back.

    • +1

      Thanks mate. I am not so interested in snatching away an old person's livelihood. All I want him is to start treating fellow beings with respect.
      It was depressing to pay $10 for postage only to get abused by staff at Auspost.

  • +2

    Hope you got his name. Give a call to Auspost and lodge a formal complaint. I had an Auspost employee rejecting my passport photo without proper reason once, rang Auspost and they took swift action to resolve it.

    • +3

      Thanks Trex.I got his name.In fact,he was so cocky that he even gave his surname and asked me to complain where ever i can :)

      • +1

        do they own the LPO?

        • I am not sure,I have lodged a complaint with AUspost.I will update once I hear from them.Thanks.

  • +1

    I would like to know what Ethnicity A and B are please.

    • +4

      I see you have your prejudices and stereotype card in your hand ready to play.

      • -6

        I'll probably get negged, but the way I see it - if a stereotype is accurate, there's nothing wrong with criticizing it.

        • +2

          How exactly do you determine if that stereotype is accurate?
          So if I generalise you with your actions does that mean everyone from your ethnicity is the same as you?

        • i suggest you educate yourself on the definition of stereotype and go from there.

        • +1

          Damnit, negs are capped at 5

        • @xbai: the definition of stereotypes isn't "generalisations which are false"; the definition of stereotypes is "generalisations which may potentially, but not definitely, be indicative".

        • +1

          @wolfpack2016:
          The definition of accruate stereotype must first be broken down to identify the individual definitions. So we start off with a preface. What do we consider as stereotypes and how do we define the accuracy of the stereotype as they are two related but individual topics.

          We set up a methodology. A wide sample population should outline the characteristics of this stereotype of a particular cultural group as a survey

          We then get a sizeable sample group, say 1000, and simulate the conditions in which said stereotypical behaviour happens.

          We gather the data and we correlate the perceived stereotype from the simulated projected behaviour. At this point, it is imperative we acknowledge the limitations of the study - honesty of the survey participants, integrity of the simulated activity participants, the fact that the participants are aware it is a study therefore the bias effect of observation, and the actual simulation vs real world.

          Then we publish our preliminary study, refine the parameters and encourage peer review studies.

          I hope that's how we will assign merit for the accuracy of this stereotype.

        • Need more negs for stupid comments like this

    • It's Western Sydney. The post workers have been there a long time and have recently been pushed to the edge by this person's ethnic group. Did I mention it's Western Sydney?

      Take a guess.

      • Take a guess.

        It’s either Asians or middle easterners.

      • +1

        Negs capped at 5. Still, would you care to tell us what this person's "ethnic group" is, and how you ascertained such information. I ask mainly for naive users, you yourself have given me necessary and sufficient information to be confident in my assessment of the level of your cognitive abilities.

        • Wow you sound so smart! I bet you're not even a little bit racist. So enlightened. Such a good goy. Wow.

  • +14

    I'm guessing A is a Capulet and B is a Montague. Have we learnt nothing from the past.

    • I like your sense of humour mate!!

    • So is OP Claire Danes or Leonardo?

  • +7

    I get that it's not right to be racially abused or whatever you want to call it.

    But as an individual, you'll find that there's lots of idiots out there who'll say things that you don't like.

    What can you do? Or what do you want to do? Yes, you might be able to get them in "trouble". You might even be able to get them sacked. Personally, I'm not sure if any of those things would make me feel any better.

    In my early years of school, I was taught that "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me". To now, I still live by that. If someone says something I don't like, I just walk away.

    • +7

      Thanks bobbified for your wise words,
      This happened to me at 8:30 today and I was seething with the insults I have to cop and posted in anger.Now I think i should not let this abusive person to hijack my mood and move on with my beautiful weekend.

      • +1

        You're right on the money - why would you let some f-head ruin your day?

        In my job, I cop pretty flack all the time (although not racist stuff) and now it's like water off a duck's back.

    • Well said. Just ignore it. There are bigger problems in the world.

    • +1

      Words can end your career.

      • Unless you're Trump, of course.

    • Great motto to live by.

      Although I'm finding it harder and harder to overlook backhanded slaps.

      Are you sure? Oh really? Is that how it's meant to be done?

      People may not realise but that is actually patronizing/condescending/outright insulting.

  • +1

    This guy might be able to give you some tips. NineNews

  • Complain to Auspost and if that's not resolved to your satisfaction, complain to the anti discrimination board: http://www.antidiscrimination.justice.nsw.gov.au/Pages/adb1_…

  • +1

    I mean posties get paid crap wages, most of the time people aren't home and the they have to leave their bike unattended. I don't really blame them, I prefer to pick my parcel from the post office where it is safe. If you have a problem you should be complaining to Ahmed Fahour.

    • +1

      And they get fined for driving on the nature-strip !

    • +2

      He stepped down ages ago after the allegations about him being overpaid reached the point where even Malcom 'not actually a conservative' Turnbull had a go at him.

  • +1

    I think without an exact transcript of what was said it's hard to form an opinion.

    To play the devil's advocate;
    Did you push the complaint with being carded, or was it just a comment like "oh, these delivery guys, they're like road runner, impossible to catch"?
    Did they try to brush it off?
    Did you keep the complaint going?
    Did you mention race before they did?
    Could your words have been misinterpreted or the wrong choice?
    Would your body language come across as aggressive or hostile?

    There's most likely CCTV on the counter, so regardless the matter will probably be investigated.

  • +1

    "Dear brethren" ahahahaha

  • +1

    To determine whether this constitutes racism would require you to be a bit more specific.. what is "you guys are like this and that"?

    The first half "the delivery guy is from your country and all you" sounds more like stereotyping to me.

    I define racism as hating somebody based on their ethnicity so I'm not sure there is evidence of that based on the info you have provided.

    • Racism isn't just hating someone based on their race, it is the claim of superiority over a another race where you believe your race is the better race. Where there is prejudice based on race, that owuld be racism.

      To me it sounds like the aus post employee believes that if a person of not OP's race had done the job, there wouldn't be any issues with the delivery. It seems like he think that OP's race is inferior and that is racism.

      • +1

        It's not racist to believe you are superior to other races/religions/supporters of another football team.

        In fact it's a part of organised religion, hence why the terms 'pagan', 'infidel' and more even exists. You wouldn't go calling every Muslim racist because their religion commands them to call those who do not believe in Allah, infidels?

      • it is the claim of superiority over a another race where you believe your race is the better race.

        So a black person saying that black people are better basketball players is now racist? Ha, good one.

        To me it sounds like… It seems like…

        Maybe stop making so many assumptions. At this point people are just looking for excuses to be offended.

    • "I define racism as hating somebody based on their ethnicity"
      That unfairly narrows the definition to an extreme and ignores the more important nuances which affect more people and countries.

      Applying any negative stereotype or prejudice (looks like laziness in this case) to an entire nationality or ethnicity would be racism.

      If an employee says "I dont hate Australians. My best friend is Australian, but I wont hire any Aussies because <insert stereotype here>" wouldn't you consider that racist?

      • It depends on if the stereotype is true or not. If I'm running a Chinese tour company and my <insert stereotype here> is "not many Australians are fluent in both Mandarin and Cantonese" - now what? You're going to be offended at that? Do you speak both Mandarin and Cantonese? Because I don't and instead of being offended, I'd nod and go on my way.

  • +5

    Racism has no place in Australia. Report to Australia post and manager

  • I selected report to AusPost.

    HOWEVER, and this is a BIG however.

    I have lodged a complaint about an AusPost driver in my neighbourhood who failed to give way and almost caused an accident with myself.
    They closed the complaint with ZERO action. No comment, or anything (it was registered against my AusPost account).

    So don't expect much, and take a win if something happens.

    • +1

      what did you expect though? it's a traffic offence, auspost isnt the police, they are not there fine them for running a red light or not giving way. if you complained they left parcels on the road that's a different story

  • Report it to Auspost and keep escalating it as high up the chain as possible, there is absolutely no excuse this behaviour occurred. I am sorry you had to experience this OP.

  • +2

    Please post a re-enactment including accent used by all involved

  • +1

    It's obviously bothering you, you don't have to 'let it go' or 'get over it', etc.

    I'd put in a complaint to Australia Post, and mention it on any social media outlets they have as well.

    With some luck, you might prevent them doing this to other people in the future.

  • I have a 2 step plan.

    Step one, if abused just knock him out

    Step two, if not prepared to do step one eat a spoon of concrete and harden the flop up…

  • Some people just aren't suited in a customer service focused job…

  • +1

    This type of behaviour is against the Austpost corporate ethics policy which they take vey seriously. Do you have the name of the employee? Austpost has a whistleblower hotline 1800 799 353 to report unethical behaviour. You don't have to be an employee to be a whistleblower. Although I have not witnessed this type of disgusting racism I have noticed a type of very casual, blase almost rude culture amongst the Australia Post customer facing employees.

    • Hi ,
      Thanks for the reply. I have got the employees name and passed it on to the customer care. I will update once I hear from them.

      • In before it actual owners/manager of the store.

        If that is case, all I see he writing a apology letter and maybe some seminar/course.

  • Report to Auspost and sit back with a VB to calm down.

  • +1

    I,an Aussie of ethnicity A, was racially abused by Auspost attendant of ethnicity B

    one ethnic minority group allegedly abusing another ethnic minority group is unlikely to get any attention.

    • I wonder if that counts as being racially discriminatory in and of itself - since ethnic minorities attract less scrutiny than 'white' Auspost employees for these purposes.

    • -1

      He he he…

  • +2

    Jeez, i cant believe that you would even ask this.

    Smear poop all over the store front of course

  • +2

    'I,an Aussie of ethnicity A, was racially abused by Auspost attendant of ethnicity B'…..off to a bad start there!!

    • I wonder if OP would've been okay if it was someone of the same ethnicity. Would the people here who're up in arms about it have been? Isn't that racism - when your reaction depends on the race of the person?

  • +1

    'Despite me pleading him in all my politeness not to bring nationality or race into the picture' yet you brought it up into this one? methinks OP is stirring it up. Brethren (brothers) also seems inappropriate.

    • What should I have done, ask him to abuse me more ? How should asking a person to stop taking my nationality amount to stirring up? Do you expect me to say, yeah all we << insert nationality>> are useless as you say? From when calling a person brother became culpable??

      • +1

        a person to stop taking my nationality

        You’re an Australian. You should’ve said that you’re proud to be an Australian. Then asked for a complaints form to report your fellow Australian.

      • Whip out a phone, and ask very politely for him to repeat what he said, exactly the way he said it.

  • +4

    I feel bad for your experience dealing with the AusPost staff, but more so after reading some of the comments here.
    That's what you get from posting in a public forum as a minority.
    The majority of the people who commented here, which statistically-speaking are of ethnic majorities, they never had the chance to experience what you experienced, hence the inability relate to your situation.

    I voted "Report to AusPost", but to be honest I'm skeptical that AusPost will do something about it.
    I lodged a complaint to AusPost when the 'we missed you' card was left on my mailbox without knocking on the door, which was your initial issue. AustPost did send me a reply. In a nutshell, AusPost rep told me that the courier knocked and it was my fault for not hearing the knock.

    • they never had the chance to experience what you experienced, hence the inability relate to your situation.

      This sounds like you’re implying that race discrimination in Australia is a one way street?

      • I'm implying that minorities are being discriminated more than non-minorities.

        With any type of discrimination, there is always a side who experienced it worse (either now or in the past).
        Gender (female), Sexual Orientation (LGBT), Age (Older people), Race (non-Anglo).

        It's as if you are implying that a young straight white male who were born from a 1st world country, had it as bad as an old gay colored female who were born from a 3rd world country?

        Since the non-minorities; in most cases, don't experience the same level of discrimination on their lives, it isn't right to tell OP to just harden up or get over it.
        It's like if you were a victim of bullying and you are telling a rape victim to harden up.

  • +1

    Racism exists and it always will. If the old man gets reprimanded he will just offer an apology he doesn't truly mean if even that. Just accept it and move on. I've experienced racism on many occasions in the past and the more you let it bother you the more you seem to find it where it doesn't exist aswell.

    The old man doesn't know you from the next guy so don't let it bother you. Complaining about the racism issue does nothing for what you were in there to resolve. Sure he shouldn't of said that stuff but maybe something happened in his personal life to tip him over the edge and rant.

  • -1

    Add these options:
    1)Build a wall and make them pay for it;
    2)grab them by the (profanity);
    3)covfefe

    • -2

      What's profane about kittens?

      • +2

        Turns out I can click just under your name to hide all of your comments! Now I don't have to be disgusted by your comments and Ozb can be just a bit more enjoyable again.

  • "In the west of the Corangamite electorate, Australia Post is proposing that local mail will take two days to deliver except if it's lodged over a post office counter," she told Parliament.

    After briefing Liberal and Nationals politicians on November 18 that year, Mr Fahour and Ms Henderson had a discussion about her assertion that Australia Post could be in breach of the law if it went ahead with the plan, which he disputed, she said.

    "Ahmed said, in reference to my speech in Parliament, that I looked 'like a horse's arse'," Ms Henderson said in two interviews, one in person and a follow-up phone call. "I responded, 'Ahmed, I look like an effective member of Parliament standing up for my electorate'.

    "I was shocked. It doesn't happen very often. It is an example of why women in politics sometimes need to be very strong and hold their ground."

    An Australia Post spokeswoman denied Mr Fahour made the comment.

    https://www.afr.com/business/transport/liberal-mp-accused-au…

  • +1

    If you have a complaint, then I highly recommend calling Australia Post and lodging a formal complaint for them to investigate. If the counter person did say "the delivery guy is from your country and all you guys are like this and that'." then that is very clearly racist and unacceptable - even if there was more to this conversation or even if they may have been justified, that's not the way to push back on a customer. Here is their complaints and feedback page.

    https://auspost.com.au/about-us/corporate-information/compla…

  • +1

    old man?? That is ageism right there!

  • +1

    That is disgusting. Report it via their online complaint form. Their delivery drivers are notorious for leaving pickup cards without bothering to ring a bell. I hate aus post so much. My most recent issue is a lazy postie who keeps dropping my mail off at another apartment building. Did an online complaint and apparently they've told this postie to up his game.

  • +1

    I always complain about them not even trying to deliver. Always a card to go pick it up myself. I live in a single story house. We pay exorbitant postage fees only for them to make us pick it up. End of rant.

  • +1

    First world problems.

    I think the people in Australia post would hear this everyday. Every time I’m at the post office there is some person of varied race and age complaining about I was home and they didn’t knock.

    One would need to give thought to that they probably didn’t and couldn’t be bothered, or most other times they knock and no one is home. How late would your mail be if the postman waited for everyone to come downstairs out of the shower or finish their phone call.

    Let’s face it, they’re old and very grumpy, people are people - to be honest doesn’t sound like they meant it in a neo nazi way. Just complain to Australia Post, they will copy you the template reply as this would not be one of the first times something like this has occurred.

    Have a VB and get over it. Just train your kids up to not be like that. It’s a new world.

  • I,an Aussie of ethnicity A, was racially abused by Auspost attendant of ethnicity B

    Let's take a guess at the races. I think we can rule out "White/Caucasian" from "ethnicity A" as it's highly unlikely.

    Some debt collector turned up on my door.
    I have explained him that I was not the crook he was after and shown him my photo id.
    Simple rule:If you have not done any mistake-Don't give a shit

    Slightly off grammar indicates English as being not their first language. Due to "Engrish" sounding sentences and weird punctuation, leaning towards Asian (Chinese most likely to be specific, due to demographics).

    Age: Early 30s(32 To be precise)
    Title: Integration Consultant
    Industry: IT(Working for on of the Big4 banks credit card divison)
    Location:Sydney

    IT… Indian perhaps?

    My wife and I are travelling to New Zealand in August. I have booked tickets using Coles Mastercard which does not provide any travel insurance.

    Kiwi?

    Papua New Guinea

    Or a Pacific Islander?

    VOSS water bottle.In fact we buy them only for that bottle and not water.

    A… hipster? That may explain the first-world complaining.

    inner West Sydney

    According to the 2016 ABS, Inner West Sydney is 16.1% of British descent, 13.7% Australian, 12.6% Chinese, 7.5% Italian, 7.5% Irish. If going by place of birth, then 50.7% Australian, 8.9% Chinese which is more than twice of 2-3.5% Indian, British, Italian and South Korean each.

    http://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getp…

    The attendant started taking names saying ' the delivery guy is from your country and all you guys are like this and that'.

    Many (or most) delivery people are Indian contractors so the post office worker of "Ethnicity B" probably deals with Indians a lot.

    Finally, forgive me for stereotyping but Asians in general are less likely to voice their opinions about racial related matters than Indians, who prefer to take to the streets: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_Indians_in_Au…

    So OP, I think you're an Indian (Ethnicity A) and the Post Office Worker is either British or full Australian (unlikely for their to be 2 Chinese or other race in the same post office).

    Am I right?

    • Many of the lpo in Sydney are operated by sea, sa and wogs. It could just as well be sea vs sa, sea vs wog or sa vs wog.

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