Message from @Grumplebee

Discord ID: 407779616401653774


2018-01-30 06:02:28 UTC  

once again sparing a lot of details I get fired from my job because of my union involvement. Which is highly illegal.

2018-01-30 06:02:44 UTC  

union steps up, and gets me reinstated with back pay. Which is good.

2018-01-30 06:02:54 UTC  

Unfortunatly, that was all they did.

2018-01-30 06:03:43 UTC  

I continued working there for five years or so after this. And I can most liken it to being a zombie. Managment treatement as an essentially dead entity that was still shuffling around the property.

2018-01-30 06:04:04 UTC  

The HR person took to calling people into her office and telling people how terrible I was.

2018-01-30 06:04:30 UTC  

Managment also made it known that staying in my work area and talking to me was not acceptable.

2018-01-30 06:05:01 UTC  

Wow, I'm so sorry that happened to you.

2018-01-30 06:05:28 UTC  

When I called my union rep and asked if this was some kind of harassment they told me in no uncertian terms that because I was a white a straight male there were no laws protecting me about workplace harassment.

2018-01-30 06:06:49 UTC  

I should also clarify that over the years the entire staff of the union changed, this included a non english speaking latina (despite the stereotpye of the hispanic housekeeper, most of the houskeepers around her speak primarily Russian), and a genderqueer guy.

2018-01-30 06:07:01 UTC  

How long ago was this? I thought that excuse is a current thing.

2018-01-30 06:07:19 UTC  

No it isn't. This was around four years ago now.

2018-01-30 06:07:34 UTC  

Why did you stay?

2018-01-30 06:07:53 UTC  

Well at this point i'd been working there seven years. So habit mostly.

2018-01-30 06:08:03 UTC  

Also the economy was still recovering.

2018-01-30 06:08:27 UTC  

And your brother?

2018-01-30 06:08:36 UTC  

He had a hard burn out

2018-01-30 06:08:50 UTC  

The pay was garbage, but the benefits package was pretty great. Union didn't have a thing to do with that.

2018-01-30 06:08:57 UTC  

Yeah it was really bad.

2018-01-30 06:09:22 UTC  

I had one too it was more gradual than his. I quit there to try to become a school bus driver.

2018-01-30 06:09:48 UTC  

But I failed out of that program, then lost another job. Then worked seasonally at a gift basaket place for six months.

2018-01-30 06:10:36 UTC  

But I was moving left politically because of the union stuff. Until it became clear they weren't going to follow up, and just kind of left me swinging in the breeze.

2018-01-30 06:10:58 UTC  

Bosses were coming after me for any infraction. It was a mess.

2018-01-30 06:11:23 UTC  

That jammed me further right than I have ever been.

2018-01-30 06:13:30 UTC  

Has your brother recovered from that?

2018-01-30 06:14:05 UTC  

Not really. He hasn't worked in a couple years now. It was really, really bad.

2018-01-30 06:14:31 UTC  

What was his reason for staying?

2018-01-30 06:15:20 UTC  

Him. Well. I think it was a gradual thing. He thought he was doing everything right. Up until he got promoted and things started falling apart.

2018-01-30 06:16:12 UTC  

Sometimes I feel like walking out of my place too. You get all women working together, you get drama.

2018-01-30 06:17:00 UTC  

And I'm guessing the union also pushed him left but he's still stuck there.

2018-01-30 06:17:07 UTC  

Also, back to our dad. He was the first member of our family to graduate from college. Up until his generation nobody even finished high school. So he was very insistant that we be persistant. All throughout our childhoods he didn't like us giving up on things.

2018-01-30 06:17:16 UTC  

No, his place was not unionized.

2018-01-30 06:18:31 UTC  

What pushed him left was the company owners failing to deliver, making his job more difficult than it needed to be, and telling him to man up when he said he needed assistance.

2018-01-30 06:19:11 UTC  

He needs counseling

2018-01-30 06:19:32 UTC  

He's been in counseling non stop for the past three years.

2018-01-30 06:20:01 UTC  

Your stories are always so interesting.

2018-01-30 06:20:14 UTC  

Thank you.

2018-01-30 06:20:25 UTC  

3 years?! Something is not right then

2018-01-30 06:21:26 UTC  

Oh yeah. It's more personal than I am comfortable getting into in this format. Maybe someday I'll talk about it. But part of the problem is that bit really isn't my story to tell, and I don't think he's like me talking about it.

2018-01-30 06:23:08 UTC  

Understandable. Thank you for sharing. I learned a new quote and feel a bit depressed now based on his situation. Poor man.

2018-01-30 06:39:38 UTC  

Very nice

2018-01-30 06:40:01 UTC  

Great stories Bee