Targeted

Honestly, I'm tired of being a target. I'm tired of people trying to figure out how to extract my income with whatever stupid trick they currently think is clever. I'm tired of people trying to play on my sympathies in order to own fancier cars and larger houses. I'm tired of people assuming that I'm just too stupid or lazy to notice that they are ripping me off. I'm tired of turning a blind eye to their deception, just because realistically there are no other choices; no alternatives. I'm tired of them thinking, in any way, form or shape, that I've somehow been hoodwinked by their entirely obviously, facile, pathetic attempts to propel themselves forward at my expense. I'm tired of people playing games; stupid ones that they think they are getting away with. I'm tired of people hiding their knowledge, because somehow, they think that it is their only shot at getting their little slice of the pie. I'm tired of people thinking that whatever pathetically incorrect jumble that they know even has value; that they even deserve a slice of the pie. I'm tired of any of their last ditch attempts to come from behind; to redeem themselves for all their selfish, mean, cruel deeds done while they were under that spell that youth might be eternal. I'm tired of the bad designs, the ugly colors, the lack of patience and the total lack of believing that anything not understood is far far simpler than it actually turns out to be. I'm tired of watching people on TV that seem to self-inflict the types of stupidities that only lessor animals should be obvious of. I'm tired of interference. I'm tired of people thinking they know what's good for me; for their holier than thou attitudes; for their false sense of superiority, as if I never bothered to or was entirely incapable of being able to come to an appropriate conclusion myself. I'm tired of people standing on street corners, completely unaware that the world is revolving. I'm tired of people huddling in masses, terrified that something, somewhere is watching them in total disapproval; that it even cares. I'm tired of mean people, and bitter ones. I'm tired of people venting their problems, their issues or just their lack of contentment with the world at large in my direction. I'm tired of thinking that my species is entirely oblivious to its fate, that it is going to crash, then curl up into a ball, whimpering right to the very end that "it didn't know, it wasn't told". I'm tired of watching the same stupid mistakes, come one after another, again and again, over and over again; ignored, displaced or just bypassed by a mass of people who are obviously too busy trying to make it through another day of dreariness in our overly complex, under rewarding, crazy-ass modern life style to still care. I'm tired of bad writing, and rants, and long rambling posts. I'm tired of people thinking that I care, or should care, or want to care, or may even possibly change my mind someday and start caring. I'm tired of writing this again. I've tired of being targeted.

The Douchebag Lane

Sitting patiently on the left, you can't help wondering about the endless stream of cars passing on the right. Passing because they are trying to slip in somewhere farther up there in the line. Passing because they no longer have the patience to sit and wait. Passing because they think they have some divine right to be allowed to avoid this particular lineup. Passing because they think that the rules do not apply to them. That the rest of us "common folk" are just saps to be avoided wherever possible. When ever possible.

And we know, as we see this endless stream of BMWs, Mercedes and Hummers, that these are truly important people. Important enough that they shouldn't have to sit and wait with the rest of us. Important enough that we should forgive them for their callous rudeness, their disrespect, their "oh-so-clever, I've figured out how to leap to the head of the line, and no one else has" attitude. Important enough that their lives just can't afford the extra minute it might have required to have politely waited with the rest us, until the traffic starts moving again.

Of course, if it were only one or two cars, or it really was of great importance, or it wasn't just because the occupants are such total douchebags, then one could easily understand their haste and the need to bud in front. I mean sometimes we do have to work our way to the front, in whatever fashion is necessary. Sometimes.

Sometimes it is even an accident. Just poor planning, that's all.

It is just that deep in the heart of Toronto, this daily practice for these emphatically-challenged, selfish, self-centered, total wankers is to recklessly weave their cars through traffic at the highest possible speeds cutting off other drivers and causing more delays; further creating new wankers to foolishly follow in their exhaust. If they can squeeze their cars into the worse of all possible places just to save themselves a mere 30 secs, then it really doesn't matter to them if that somehow causes everyone else to be delayed in their wake. Why should that matter to them?

After all, they have important things to do, unlike the rest of us. Stuff like demoralize employees, or paying bigger bribes or cheating the system or even critical things like moving and shaking or perhaps vibrating stuff. You know, all that important negative stuff that keeps the rest of us in line. Stuff like that stuff. Stuff that matters.Unlike manners.

It is clear that cars absolutely bring out the worst in people, and the worst people. It is as if they somehow think they are anonymous, invisible perhaps, that somehow people won't know who they are, or detest them, or judge them for being the horrible, greedy, loathsome creatures that they really are. That somehow by wasting way too much of their money on their fuel-burning, planet-choking, leather-coated, fancy-rolling smoke-mobile, that they are somehow absolved from all of those horrible acts that make up their sorted history. All of the people they treated badly, and all of the times they simply made things worse.

And so they pass, car after car, filling up the douchebag lane with a never ending stream of expensive vehicles, like a river of mucus running from a itchy red nose. Like pus flowing from a nasty wound. The joke on them being that we wait patiently in line not because we too can't figure out how to jump pass everyone else, but precisely because we choose not to.

This Strike Stinks!

Recently some of Toronto's city workers, including our garbage-men have gone on strike. Ceased work. They hope that this action will help them negotiate a better deal with the city.

A key issue in the negotiations seems to be that they are currently getting 18 bankable sick days per year; they can cash these in to retire early. The city wants to take this away.

Meanwhile the trash that is no longer being collected is piling up in people's houses, and some massive dump sites. A smelly problem, quickly growing worse.

There are a couple of things I find interesting about this situation.

The first is that I find it hard to get around the idea of a person actually retiring from a career as a garbageman. People have to do something I guess, but does it make real sense in our modern world for every job to be a "career" oriented job? Is "garbageman" really an answer for kids on career day? Should this be something that you plan to do for the next twenty years?

It's madness to think that each and every menial, crappy transitory job is any thing other than menial and transitory. Somethings you do on your way to somewhere else. We don't expect people to retire from working as McDonald's cashiers, or to make a career out of washing dishes, so why would being a garbageman be any different? Can't we admit that not all jobs are long-term?

In fact, we are treading on very dangerous ground as more and more of what really should be short-term jobs are rapidly become lifetime career positions. In the above paragraph, I was even having trouble finding examples of "joe" or "grunt" jobs. So many have moved onto career status. It's a bad trend.

It is really bad because it limits our opportunities to change jobs, or find a lessor job during an economic meltdown. If everything is a career, then it is nearly impossible to just take some stupid job for a while. It becomes hard to hire, hard to fire and the whole economy becomes so much more fragile as the cost of even the trivial-est bit of labor gets out of control. In a sense we all lose, since falling from our current position means there is nothing out there to tide us over. Nothing but rock-bottom. If you're taking a hiatus from your long-term goals, and everything else is a career, then there is nothing left to do.

There should always be a layer of lower jobs that are easy to get, don't pay well and are easy to leave. It's a good thing.

Garbageman should clearly be an interim job. A fleet of garbage trucks run by 55 year-olds on their way to retiring is neither efficient, nor cost effective. It is simply unsustainable. It's a position for younger people to fill for a while. Somewhere to start out perhaps.

The other thing I find interesting, is how some unions have become the very thing that they were originally fighting against. They have become their own worst enemies.

Back in the day, unions formed to save helpless workers from evil executives that were clearly abusing their roles and taking advantage of the situation. A noble and necessary cause.

However, since then, many of these same unions have stayed around and have gradually solidified into the point where they are run by the very same types of evil executives. Their management is indistinguishable from the company's management (and the two talk about working together).

The company executives get their fancy stuff by exploiting employees for all they are worth in order to get more for themselves. The union executives now also get their fancy stuff by exploiting their employees for all they are worth, in order to get more for themselves. See the difference? No? Perhaps because it's not there. The "terms" are different, but it's the same type of people abusing the masses, for nearly the same reason.

Many unions have outlived their usefulness and their original goals. What may have started out for a good cause, has turned dubious with age.

A union that hangs around too long is one that has to gradually eat away at the company year after year just to justify its own existence; to keep its customers, err, members happy.

Once the real big issues are gone, the continued presence of the union burrows away at the foundations. Each year, more union executives have to earn their higher pay by getting more and more for their people. If they don't push it, they'll be replaced by another wave of younger more aggressive players that will.

More and more concessions eventually becomes "too much", and like the now struggling car companies, all of the sudden the employee costs are outrageous, impossible and dangerous. Good bye company.

A good union executive will gradually kill off the company, a bad one will do nothing for their pay. Is this really a good situation?

These days, the circumstances have changed so much that many employees really need to form a union to protect themselves from their own stupid union, not the original company. It's a sad state, as these once necessary and good organizations have turned evil and destructive.

The solution of course is simple. Unions should be free to form, but they should also be free to disband when appropriate. A union cannot and should not be for ever. A permanent union is just another body out to exploit the workers, and unlike the original executives, they don't even give back anything valuable. Unions are good, but permanent unions are evil.

Unfortunately, in our haste to protect unions, we've often made it nearly impossible for them to fade away. So many unions now have become worse than the original management, in both their demands and their exploitation. They only exist now to protect themselves.

This whole strike leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth, and a stink in my nose. I've sick and tired of people having the expectation that the world owes them something more than they deserve. It's nice to have a good stable job, but not every job can or should be good and stable. Somethings just suck, but still need to be accomplished.

I'm a strong liberal, I really think we need to take care of all of our people, it is a huge key to being a civilized society. But I also think that we can't let that go too far. We can't allow people to abuse us, just because we want or need to help. We can't build an unsustainable society and expect it too survive.

Being a garbageman is about one of the lowest positions we have. It's not something that someone should aspire too, it's not something that they want to be doing for a long time. They are simply doing it now on their way to some where else. There is nothing wrong with that, it should just not be considered a permanent position. It is not a career.

As for this strike, I find it to be a cross between bad egos and stupid people. If it were up to me, I legislatively sever the union in half, since I realize they represent more than just the garbage-men. For those jobs that are menial and temporary, I would order them back to work immediately. For those other jobs, I'd allow them to continue their strike, but the 18 day bankable sick leave option is gone (it was just wrong to begin with).

If the garbage-men refused to go back to work, I'd fire them immediately and hire replacements. I'm sure we can find some people willing to work at these positions.

As a longer term fix, I'd also split their salary into two categories, one for unionized employees and a slightly higher one for non-unioned employees. Yes, if they leave the union, they can have more money.

As a society, we have to protect the worker's right to unionize, but clearly we also have to provide some mechanism for the unions to eventually dissolve. Unions should be easy to organize, and we should allow the members themselves to leave easily so that they can be disbanded. Workers should always be allowed to opt out of the unions, particularly when they have reached the stage where they are just another crowd of evil executives out for their own means. Easy come, easy go.

We need unions to help protect against evil executives exploiting people, but the unions themselves also clearly need help in protecting against evil executives exploiting them.