Labor Day.
Sep. 6th, 2010 12:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
duccioThe primary industries in Vallejo are the charismatic storefront churches found on almost every block. Lots of churches : lots of drugs, burglaries, and shootings.
Once I worked for this small start-up company. I was one of the primary lead men. It was growing fast due to the ability of Bruce, the owner, to get us new customers, and our professionalism in satisfying these clients. We traveled all over the west coast to our jobs here and there. We were promised everything. A share of the company, a retirement plan and profit sharing, and a say in how the company worked. We also got to decide where a small percentage of the profits could be donated - good environmental and/or social justice causes. We were promised a good thing. We believed.
Bruce started to become wealthy and rarely showed up at the job sites anymore. Things started to drift, and still no pension plan, profit sharing, etc. Finally, he hired this guy Murphy that none of us liked too much: our new foreman. We each had worked for him occasionally in another company before committing to an exclusive with "our" company. He told us after starting his job that whatever deals we thought we had with Bruce, they were off, and we would deal with him now. (John 14:6)
We were in Bruce's office downtown before you knew it and he put a stop to Murphy's bullshit, or said he would. I kept the faith for a few years until my girlfriend died and Murphy, when I called to say I wouldn't be coming in that day, asked me if it was AIDS. ( ??? No.) That was Murphy. About 8 months later Bruce called me. He asked if I was feeling better since her death, because he had just lost a colt from one of his three horses, and feeling sad about that, he had thoughtfully decided to call me to inquire. Soon after that, he asked me to come to his wedding with my work partner. I went. It was on the anniversary of her death, which I kept to myself - this happy occasion, and all that. It was difficult after I left and stopped in at the Tadich Grill for a few and sort of lost it. I'm dwelling on all this because the anniversary is approaching again, and I always remember.
I didn't work for this company anymore after that. I'd kind of lost interest. I had been about twelve years with them and it was now another big national company with nothing there for me anymore. I wanted out. My seniority number and reputation in the union was good, so I struck out as a free lancer, worked when, and for who, and on what jobs I wanted, or took off for months at a time when I didn't want to work. Free lance in a union is a good thing too. Even with the great recession, this freedom is still working OK for me. Why people dis unions, I will never know. Nothing is perfect, but there is strength in numbers, and none in misplaced faith; only false security when you are at the mercy of the company - as unwanted millions of falling down, out of breath workers have discovered, though they probably still believe.
Storefront church.
Seen from the gas station. Give Jee-sus a call.
Once I worked for this small start-up company. I was one of the primary lead men. It was growing fast due to the ability of Bruce, the owner, to get us new customers, and our professionalism in satisfying these clients. We traveled all over the west coast to our jobs here and there. We were promised everything. A share of the company, a retirement plan and profit sharing, and a say in how the company worked. We also got to decide where a small percentage of the profits could be donated - good environmental and/or social justice causes. We were promised a good thing. We believed.
Bruce started to become wealthy and rarely showed up at the job sites anymore. Things started to drift, and still no pension plan, profit sharing, etc. Finally, he hired this guy Murphy that none of us liked too much: our new foreman. We each had worked for him occasionally in another company before committing to an exclusive with "our" company. He told us after starting his job that whatever deals we thought we had with Bruce, they were off, and we would deal with him now. (John 14:6)
We were in Bruce's office downtown before you knew it and he put a stop to Murphy's bullshit, or said he would. I kept the faith for a few years until my girlfriend died and Murphy, when I called to say I wouldn't be coming in that day, asked me if it was AIDS. ( ??? No.) That was Murphy. About 8 months later Bruce called me. He asked if I was feeling better since her death, because he had just lost a colt from one of his three horses, and feeling sad about that, he had thoughtfully decided to call me to inquire. Soon after that, he asked me to come to his wedding with my work partner. I went. It was on the anniversary of her death, which I kept to myself - this happy occasion, and all that. It was difficult after I left and stopped in at the Tadich Grill for a few and sort of lost it. I'm dwelling on all this because the anniversary is approaching again, and I always remember.
I didn't work for this company anymore after that. I'd kind of lost interest. I had been about twelve years with them and it was now another big national company with nothing there for me anymore. I wanted out. My seniority number and reputation in the union was good, so I struck out as a free lancer, worked when, and for who, and on what jobs I wanted, or took off for months at a time when I didn't want to work. Free lance in a union is a good thing too. Even with the great recession, this freedom is still working OK for me. Why people dis unions, I will never know. Nothing is perfect, but there is strength in numbers, and none in misplaced faith; only false security when you are at the mercy of the company - as unwanted millions of falling down, out of breath workers have discovered, though they probably still believe.
Storefront church.
Seen from the gas station. Give Jee-sus a call.