about listening to voicemails from HS
talking about how bad unionization was
how we should know
that
if
we unionized
we would have fewer benefits and
things would be so much worse for us
and that we should do anything in our power
to stop fellow "partners" from going that direction
now
in texas
they weren't trying to unionize us
but
seriously
how does that even make sense
also
there were lawsuits
because they expected managers and assistant managers
to work more than 40 hours
but our hours were classified as regular coverage hours
like
8 hours a week were "manager work"
the other 32 were working barista work
and then
you just work however much you need
to do all the rest of your manager work
managers couldn't take vacation
so it was building up
so they changed it
it was then "granted" instead of earned
and
if you couldn't take it
at the end of the year
you just lost it
when i left
i had 4 1/2 weeks of vacation a year
and i mostly used it to make my labor even out
or to work on p&l reviews
or to have an extra day off here and there
so i'd work closer to 40 hours a week
but in the leadership conferences
he'd have the whole place sobbing
he can manipulate people for sure
and
i mean
it's not like he's a "bad guy" as such
but he's not really a good guy either
he joined that company that was already established
he didn't found it
then he wanted to change it
and they didn't want to change
he convinced them to let him try his "third place" model
and they did
and
they didn't want to expand it
so
he went and got a bunch of backers
and bought em out
he's not a genius
he doesn't have a heart of gold
and
quite frankly
i might have fallen for that center-ist third party talk
i've been disenchanted with the democrats for a long time
but
shit man
now
now they are waking up
and finally starting to sound like democrats again
i would vote for aoc
i know that's crazy
she has very little experience yet
and she's too young
but she is saying the right stuff
and she is
amazing
i might start saying i'm a democrat again
maybe
because of her
she's not a fucking "socialist"
not like they are making it sound
they keep saying it, you notice, like as though
she's an aberrant third party straggler who wandered in looking for the pink-o lounge
but no
that is what a DEMOCRAT once looked like
before reagan came and fucked this nation up
ok
maybe that was overly histrionic
and, perhaps not completely historically accurate
but
that was my experience of it
i became politically aware (somewhat)
during the 70s
Vietnam and Watergate
Roe v Wade and Women's Liberation
Carter and Middle East Peace
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
before texas went red
remember tip o'neill
i'm not saying all of these things were uncategorically good
or good by today's standards
but
that trickle down shit was bullshit from the start
we've known it for at least 30 years
de-regulation
also very very bad
and
now
all the infrastructure is shot
we could really use a WPA
i can't take credit for this next idea
it was developed over long talks
but
what if:
we gave people FREE college
and
to earn the free college
they worked in a sort of civic service
for a year or two
there's all sorts of things
they could contribute to the greater society
where they could
meet people with differing views
learn some skills in a field that they might have an aptitude for
get some on the ground experience
before they committed themselves to the education
they could get a little older
a little more perspective
and
i'm not sayin don't pay em
i'm sayin
culturally invest in them
don't tell people that the way to get college is only
the military
or some crazy giant mortgage where they gotta live in a van
this
what we're doing now
this is some crazy
not working shit
and
the WPA was awesome
i mean
it's like 3 1/2 trillion dollars of debt now, right?
so
fuck it
rather than giving the rich people all their money back
let's double down on the hope for a future
we sent a man to the moon, right?
