Going postal
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Going postal is an American English slang term, used as a verb meaning to commit murder, mass murder or a killing spree in the workplace, generally by a current or former employee. The term derives from a series of incidents from 1986 onwards in which United States Postal Service (USPS) workers shot and killed managers, fellow workers, and members of the police or general public.
In 1986, 14 employees were killed at the Edmond, Oklahoma, Post Office by postman Patrick Sherrill, who then committed suicide, bringing the total to 15 dead. Between 1986 and 1997, more than 40 people were killed in more than 20 incidents.
Following this series of events, the idiom has entered into common usage, and is applied to murders committed by employees in the workplace, irrespective of the employer; and occasionally more loosely to describe killings in the workplace other than by employees in situations in which the motive is not commonplace.
There is no consensus as to whether the incidence of workplace murder in the US Postal Service is atypical. Some defense counsels for perpetrators have suggested that a culture of poor or oppressive management leads to mental breakdown and loss of control on the part of employees. On the other hand, in 2000 the USPS released a study which refuted the belief that postal employees were particularly prone to this behaviour, concluding instead that workplace violence at USPS was around the average for comparable American workplaces.
External link
- Private & partisan website listing 1986-1997 incidents (http://hematite.com/dragon/usps.html)
Going Postal is also the title of a book by Don Lasseter, which examines the issue of workplace shootings inside the USPS (ISBN 0786004398).
Going Postal is also the 33rd book in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett (ISBN 0385603428).
Postal is also a controversial computer game based on the expression, developed by Running With Scissors.