This mailman must have a picture of Newman from “Seinfeld” hanging in his bedroom.
Long Island postman Richard A. Schaaf Jr. stashed bags of mail around his home instead of delivering it because he was stressed out by his “very difficult job,’’ his lawyer said Monday.
“It’s not easy working for the federal government,’’ said Schaaf’s lawyer Joseph Mure, the lawyer representing mailman
The taskmasters at the US Postal Service put Schaaf and other probationary letter-carriers “in different routes every day,’’ Mure said after his client’s brief court appearance in Eastern District court in Central Islip on federal charges.
“Sometimes there are no mailboxes, no names, no addresses, dogs, unfamiliar places,’’ Mure said.
“You show up 10 minutes late to a job, you get in trouble. If you can’t find an address, you get reprimanded.
“Every day it changes,’’ Mure said, sounding himself like the Wayne Knight character from the ‘90s sitcom. “They put you on the worst route, and then they switch it up. There’s a load of pressure.”
Prosecutors say Schaaf began stashing customers’ mail at his Bellmore home in March 2017, about a year after taking a job at a post office in Bethpage, and continued his shenanigans until the feds got a tip last week.
They soon found more than 1,000 pieces of mail from residents and businesses in Nassau County in dozens of jumbo black plastic trash bags in and around his home, including stuffed into his backyard shed, authorities said.
The postal worker appeared in court wearing a gray Under Armour hoodie and navy-blue pants and looked sheepish standing before Judge Steven Locke.
“Do you understand that you’re being charged with the destruction of mail?” the judge asked him.
Schaaf meekly responded, “Yes, your Honor.”
He pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance on the condition he stay on Long Island or in New York City.
Schaaf was handed back his driver’s license and “various medications” before leaving and hugging his sobbing mother.
The pressure on Schaaf “was crazy,” Mure said, adding that his client is going through a divorce.
“It was just very difficult for him — not just him but anyone.”
