STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!
Yeah. You heard me, Strike.
See, I know that I've bitched about my job before - but I got injured. 2 stress fractures to the foot. So I'm confined to a boot and a cane for the next three weeks. Or rather, just a boot, because while I love the cane, it's hard to use.
I also lost my voice, but that has nothing to do with the strike.
First off, Han-hee, our boss, is a complete bitch. She walks into the barn yesterday, and there's about ten of us waiting around to see what horse we get, and what happens? She just starts fucking yelling at Sarah, who quit about a week and a half ago (throwing a brush at Han-hee's head as she left) and was begged to come back by Brashir. So those two are fucking yelling, and Han-hee actually takes a swing at Sarah. Sarah gets pissed, but doesn't do anything. She just goes back to getting her horse ready.
Next, Han-hee comes over to me and fucking starts yelling at me for not telling her that I got injured two weeks ago. I'm screaming back that I didn't know until Friday, so WE get into a shouting match and then she wants to stick me back with the horse that fucked up my foot? I might go back to him, but Omar's a strange horse and he takes a little bit of getting used to, and he doesn't mind stepping on feet. He was apologetic with me, but I'm not sure if he will be again.
So I finally scream, "FINE! I'LL TAKE OBI-WON!" and then hobble away. She gets into ANOTHER shouting match with someone else, while I'm taking out Obi-Won. Now, I'm hobbling with a cane and a horse and BO comes over with my coffee. So, since I trust Obi, I just allow the lead rope to hang over my shoulder, taking my coffee and my cane and walking over to where I need to tie him up in order to work with him. So BO decides it'll be a good idea to help. Then Han-hee yells at him, asking what he's doing away from his horse, I calmly tell her, "He's helping me hook up my horse because I don't have an extra hand. Is that all right?" It was more of a growl, but she still stopped and was like, "Fine!" and then went away.
Now at this time, BO and Sarah got to talking about boycotting. Just walking out and I went over to them and said, "I'm with you. I'll hobble after you as fast as I can, but I'm with you," before going back to my horse. They went through the barn and found out that everyone was with them, so we all just dropped our stuff and left.
I even got in contact with the drivers whose numbers I had that hadn't showed up yet and told them where to meet us that wasn't the barn. They agreed. It turned out that most of the drivers headed over to Franklin Park where they just fucked around for three hours. I would have gone, but we were going to take Old Man John's car, but it died, so we had to fix it first. By the time we fixed it, it was three hours later, and the carriage drivers (our fellow strikees)had finally convinced Brashir to talk with the GROUP together. The entire point of the strike, and we even said it at the beginning - It's all or none.
So we talked and we got him to realize a few things. Well, hopefully we got him to realize a few things. I wouldn't know. I didn't go to work this morning.
No voice means no touring and no touring means no money. If nothing else, we got the boss to realize that we are ALL in this together. Every last carriage driver.
I only made 230 yesterday by the time we got out. Even the high rollers only pulled in about 250-300. There were sixteen carriages out yesterday. Normally, the high rollers pull in 500-600 on a Saturday and I pull in 400-450. So by having the strike, we actually made them lose about 3k yesterday. And so I think we made our point.
If we didn't, there's always the threat that we can do it again.
That was the first time in carriage company history that there has ever been a strike. Or a walkout. You see, there used to be five companies, which went down to three. That's about thirty years of history that no one complained, or if they did, only complained.
Yesterday was the first time that anyone did anything. July 15, 2007. I'll remember that day because we made a difference. It might have been small, it might have just been us, but we have made a difference. And I was there.
*smiles*
See, I know that I've bitched about my job before - but I got injured. 2 stress fractures to the foot. So I'm confined to a boot and a cane for the next three weeks. Or rather, just a boot, because while I love the cane, it's hard to use.
I also lost my voice, but that has nothing to do with the strike.
First off, Han-hee, our boss, is a complete bitch. She walks into the barn yesterday, and there's about ten of us waiting around to see what horse we get, and what happens? She just starts fucking yelling at Sarah, who quit about a week and a half ago (throwing a brush at Han-hee's head as she left) and was begged to come back by Brashir. So those two are fucking yelling, and Han-hee actually takes a swing at Sarah. Sarah gets pissed, but doesn't do anything. She just goes back to getting her horse ready.
Next, Han-hee comes over to me and fucking starts yelling at me for not telling her that I got injured two weeks ago. I'm screaming back that I didn't know until Friday, so WE get into a shouting match and then she wants to stick me back with the horse that fucked up my foot? I might go back to him, but Omar's a strange horse and he takes a little bit of getting used to, and he doesn't mind stepping on feet. He was apologetic with me, but I'm not sure if he will be again.
So I finally scream, "FINE! I'LL TAKE OBI-WON!" and then hobble away. She gets into ANOTHER shouting match with someone else, while I'm taking out Obi-Won. Now, I'm hobbling with a cane and a horse and BO comes over with my coffee. So, since I trust Obi, I just allow the lead rope to hang over my shoulder, taking my coffee and my cane and walking over to where I need to tie him up in order to work with him. So BO decides it'll be a good idea to help. Then Han-hee yells at him, asking what he's doing away from his horse, I calmly tell her, "He's helping me hook up my horse because I don't have an extra hand. Is that all right?" It was more of a growl, but she still stopped and was like, "Fine!" and then went away.
Now at this time, BO and Sarah got to talking about boycotting. Just walking out and I went over to them and said, "I'm with you. I'll hobble after you as fast as I can, but I'm with you," before going back to my horse. They went through the barn and found out that everyone was with them, so we all just dropped our stuff and left.
I even got in contact with the drivers whose numbers I had that hadn't showed up yet and told them where to meet us that wasn't the barn. They agreed. It turned out that most of the drivers headed over to Franklin Park where they just fucked around for three hours. I would have gone, but we were going to take Old Man John's car, but it died, so we had to fix it first. By the time we fixed it, it was three hours later, and the carriage drivers (our fellow strikees)had finally convinced Brashir to talk with the GROUP together. The entire point of the strike, and we even said it at the beginning - It's all or none.
So we talked and we got him to realize a few things. Well, hopefully we got him to realize a few things. I wouldn't know. I didn't go to work this morning.
No voice means no touring and no touring means no money. If nothing else, we got the boss to realize that we are ALL in this together. Every last carriage driver.
I only made 230 yesterday by the time we got out. Even the high rollers only pulled in about 250-300. There were sixteen carriages out yesterday. Normally, the high rollers pull in 500-600 on a Saturday and I pull in 400-450. So by having the strike, we actually made them lose about 3k yesterday. And so I think we made our point.
If we didn't, there's always the threat that we can do it again.
That was the first time in carriage company history that there has ever been a strike. Or a walkout. You see, there used to be five companies, which went down to three. That's about thirty years of history that no one complained, or if they did, only complained.
Yesterday was the first time that anyone did anything. July 15, 2007. I'll remember that day because we made a difference. It might have been small, it might have just been us, but we have made a difference. And I was there.
*smiles*