Dockworkers strike

[SamSpade]

Curious about THIS -

Who does a strike HELP, politically, and who does it HURT, politically? In a presidential election year? (Because it ain't coincidence they chose to strike in October of an election year)

If it is resolved quickly and the unions get everything they want - the Dems.
If it ISN'T resolved and the economy suffers - the party in the White House loses - the Republicans gain.

Right?

 

[vraiblonde]

Federal government should break the strike, impose Taft-Hartley

If we had a real President that's what would happen. But our current Turnip in Chief "doesn't believe in" Taft-Hartley.

 

[vraiblonde]

If you really had any idea what the percentage of union employees that are basically worthless you would be appalled!

No I wouldn't - my ex-BIL worked for Metro in DC and told all kinds of stories about ne'er-do-wells and layabouts.

They pay what they need to pay to fill the position at their own discretion.

See, this is where my problem with capitalism comes in. I feel like we owe it to our nation to take care of each other and be part of the community. All these illegals coming in so corporations can have warm bodies who'll work for cheap while they get richer and richer - how does that help America as a whole? The answer is it doesn't. It only helps the wealthy obtain more wealth.

It's like local businesses that are all "Buy Local!" and then turn around and do all their advertising on FB and Google and Indeed instead of a local media; buy goods from Amazon instead of a local supplier. Honestly the only reason David and I keep Somd.com running is for the community aspect, and there's less and less incentive to giving a sh*t . I hate to see our country go that way.

I'm naive, I know. I just think there's a happy medium between the two extremes.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

My dad was a local president for many years and later a union national representative in the American Flint Glass Workers Union, they were mostly benign fighting for a few % more pay and more of their paid health care. Then they had to merge with the United Steel Workers Union, that's when politics entered the equation and politics was the only thing they cared about. Of course the workers want more pay, but often the union officials and the workers don't agree, at one of my dad's locals banquets he had to keep his coworkers from beating the crap out of the union officials they sent to make an appearance. Dad had to tell the national office to not send this guy again.

 

[TPD]

It's like local businesses that are all "Buy Local!" and then turn around and do all their advertising on FB and Google and Indeed instead of a local media; buy goods from Amazon instead of a local supplier. Honestly the only reason David and I keep Somd.com running is for the community aspect, and there's less and less incentive to giving a sh*t . I hate to see our country go that way.

Other than FB posts and our own website, the only digital advertising we do is right here on SOMD. So I do appreciate your community aspect of keeping this site alive.

Speaking of community, my YouTube video from a couple days ago talks a little about this.

 

[vraiblonde]

Other than FB posts and our own website, the only digital advertising we do is right here on SOMD. So I do appreciate your community aspect of keeping this site alive.

 

[SamSpade]

See, this is where my problem with capitalism comes in. I feel like we owe it to our nation to take care of each other and be part of the community.

Aaaaand - beginning to sound a little like a Democrat, who make their case that jobs do not exist to provide a service or make a product or satisfy a need by an employer - but to provide a livelihood in exchange for some task they're able to do. Hence, constant demand for more pay and benefits.

YOU know - because you've had employees - that you pay someone for a task they are willing to do, for an agreed upon price. You're under zero obligation to enrich their lives - only to pay them what they are worth - or what it would cost to replace them with someone else.

(As an aside - wife and I have been watching "Warrior" on Netflix, and the storylines revolve around a very real problem in San Francisco between the "native" Irish workers and the influx of extremely cheap Chinese labor, on which the city came to depend - and the crime that grew up around their Chinatown, there. So this kind of thing has been going on here a very long time.)

It's like local businesses that are all "Buy Local!" and then turn around and do all their advertising on FB and Google and Indeed instead of a local media; buy goods from Amazon instead of a local supplier. Honestly the only reason David and I keep Somd.com running is for the community aspect, and there's less and less incentive to giving a sh*t . I hate to see our country go that way.

You know that I love this site, and have been posting almost since it was started. But to be honest - I can't think of a time within the last twenty years I came HERE to look for local business. It takes too long, it's not exhaustive, sometimes links are broken. If I want to find a store or business, I can find their number, store hours and so on in seconds with my phone, on Google or even Facebook, if they are hosting an event.

I dread the day you ever find the need to shut the doors on this place.

 

[vraiblonde]

See, I'd rather watch your vids than some celebrity touting their diet or new makeup line.

I think we've lost a lot of what makes Americans special.

 

[phreddyp]

No I wouldn't - my ex-BIL worked for Metro in DC and told all kinds of stories about ne'er-do-wells and layabouts.



See, this is where my problem with capitalism comes in. I feel like we owe it to our nation to take care of each other and be part of the community. All these illegals coming in so corporations can have warm bodies who'll work for cheap while they get richer and richer - how does that help America as a whole? The answer is it doesn't. It only helps the wealthy obtain more wealth.

It's like local businesses that are all "Buy Local!" and then turn around and do all their advertising on FB and Google and Indeed instead of a local media; buy goods from Amazon instead of a local supplier. Honestly the only reason David and I keep Somd.com running is for the community aspect, and there's less and less incentive to giving a sh*t . I hate to see our country go that way.

I'm naive, I know. I just think there's a happy medium between the two extremes.

No! Someone telling you about does not do it justice, you have to see the waste to believe it. Guys making near $100 an hour with benefits literally running away and hiding until the next break or lunch, then you see them and then they disappear again, 45-minute smoke breaks 1 hour taking a dump 1/2 hr water break. It is amazing to say the least and that is only the beginning, and we haven't even talked about the foreman's flunkies and the s**t they get to pull.

 

[vraiblonde]

Aaaaand - beginning to sound a little like a Democrat

I've already said there is a happy medium between the extremes.

YOU know - because you've had employees - that you pay someone for a task they are willing to do, for an agreed upon price. You're under zero obligation to enrich their lives - only to pay them what they are worth - or what it would cost to replace them with someone else.

That's not true and you can ask Sharon. As we made more money, she got raises and bonuses. We had to let her go during covid because business tanked but prior to that we appreciated her financially.

But to be honest - I can't think of a time within the last twenty years I came HERE to look for local business.

That's only part of the deal. You still see banners and widgets and infomercials, and they make an impression even if you don't realize it. I'd give you a whole marketing and TOMA tutorial but I'll spare you....

Our classifieds were #1 in the area and if you were looking for a job or an apartment or a used couch, that's the first place you'd go. But FB marketplace and Craigslist and Indeed and whatever else took over. I've browsed those entities and I don't know how anyone stands digging through all that crap just to find (or not find) the nugget you're looking for, but that's what it is. It's free/cheap to post stuff, and people all over the world will see that you need a server in your restaurant, so that's where they advertise.

The forums have given way to FB and Reddit. David told me this would happen and I didn't believe it because who the hell wants to interact with a bunch of psychotic randos from all over the world when you can interact with psychotic randos right here in your own community??

It's just the way it is, but I wish it wasn't. Not only my personal deal, but for all small businesses and communities. We're losing ourselves.

Here in PCB you'd think they'd have a true local website similar to this one, considering the major tourism aspect of it, but they don't. They have FB groups, which are so frustrating and annoying I've stopped following them. There are zillions of jobs here but in order to find them you have to kick it old school and go door knocking. They don't have a central media where employers advertise, and that just seems crazy to me but that's what it is.

"Progress" isn't always better. Many times it's worse, but the elite have decreed that's the way it will be, so there you go.

 

[stgislander]

I admit seeing the (large) guy in the wheelchair with a picket sign in his hands threw me off at first. But I get it, the IBB offered to find my dad a job after recovery from a stroke 18 months short of full retirement.

 

[vraiblonde]

No! Someone telling you about does not do it justice, you have to see the waste to believe it. Guys making near $100 an hour with benefits literally running away and hiding until the next break or lunch, then you see them and then they disappear again, 45-minute smoke breaks 1 hour taking a dump 1/2 hr water break. It is amazing to say the least and that is only the beginning, and we haven't even talked about the foreman's flunkies and the s**t they get to pull.

So would you rather pay them or some Chinese kid working in a sweatshop? Or maybe you'd rather pay some billionaire so he can buy another yacht?

There's never going to be perfect right, there can only be righter.

 

[SamSpade]

That's not true and you can ask Sharon. As we made more money, she got raises and bonuses. We had to let her go during covid because business tanked but prior to that we appreciated her financially.

Well, I worded that as "cost to replace" because sometimes, what they bring to the job is at least as valuable as their professional credentials. A surly PITA employee with stellar creds isn't worth the money.

The forums have given way to FB and Reddit. David told me this would happen and I didn't believe it because who the hell wants to interact with a bunch of psychotic randos from all over the world when you can interact with psychotic randos right here in your own community??

And I do go to Reddit - or Facebook groups - and still even to Delphi Forums although they're becoming either ghost towns - or places for ONE PERSON to flood the group with their stuff, much like GURPS does here. (BTW, I don't mind that).

BUT - I also leave those from time to time, because when you widen the group to the WHOLE WORLD, you deal with extremely obnoxious and stupid people. And of course, there's little moderation. I just killed a thread where the subject was one of the early members of the special forces who - upon looking at him - looked inconspicuous and not terribly menacing. Sort of a physically fit Wally Cox or Radar O'Reilly, when in fact, he was extraordinarily deadly. I made the "mistake" of saying that Bruce Lee with glasses and a bad haircut totally disguised how deadly he was. I subsequently got TONS OF RESPONSES of how stupid I must be to compare a veteran to an actor - thus, missing the point - but it kept repeating for days.

THAT kind of stupid, I can't deal with.

 

[frequentflier]

I've already said there is a happy medium between the extremes.



That's not true and you can ask Sharon. As we made more money, she got raises and bonuses. We had to let her go during covid because business tanked but prior to that we appreciated her financially.



That's only part of the deal. You still see banners and widgets and infomercials, and they make an impression even if you don't realize it. I'd give you a whole marketing and TOMA tutorial but I'll spare you....

Our classifieds were #1 in the area and if you were looking for a job or an apartment or a used couch, that's the first place you'd go. But FB marketplace and Craigslist and Indeed and whatever else took over. I've browsed those entities and I don't know how anyone stands digging through all that crap just to find (or not find) the nugget you're looking for, but that's what it is. It's free/cheap to post stuff, and people all over the world will see that you need a server in your restaurant, so that's where they advertise.

The forums have given way to FB and Reddit. David told me this would happen and I didn't believe it because who the hell wants to interact with a bunch of psychotic randos from all over the world when you can interact with psychotic randos right here in your own community??

It's just the way it is, but I wish it wasn't. Not only my personal deal, but for all small businesses and communities. We're losing ourselves.

Here in PCB you'd think they'd have a true local website similar to this one, considering the major tourism aspect of it, but they don't. They have FB groups, which are so frustrating and annoying I've stopped following them. There are zillions of jobs here but in order to find them you have to kick it old school and go door knocking. They don't have a central media where employers advertise, and that just seems crazy to me but that's what it is.

"Progress" isn't always better. Many times it's worse, but the elite have decreed that's the way it will be, so there you go.

When hiring for my (now closed) store, I only posted ads on this site.
When people come to my yard sales/ resale shop, I ask how they found me and many times they say somd.com. I do feel a little guilty because they are free ads... Most re-sellers I know find yard sales on somd.com.
Thanks for what you do, Vrai and David

 

[vraiblonde]

When hiring for my (now closed) store, I only posted ads on this site.
When people come to my yard sales/ resale shop, I ask how they found me and many times they say somd.com. I do feel a little guilty because they are free ads... Most re-sellers I know find yard sales on somd.com.
Thanks for what you do, Vrai and David

I'm thrilled to hear that because even if we don't make any money off the deal, we're still providing a community service and that's important to me.



When I worked at the resort it used to piss me off every time I'd see a Chewy box come in the mail for one of the residents/guests. Its like, "Dumbass, you could have bought that local."

But more and more there are no local stores to buy from because Walmart and Amazon and Chewy have put them out of business. I told you about how I tried to buy from the locally owned pet store but she had pretty much nothing in stock that I needed, nor did she seem interested in getting it for me. So I buy from a small pet chain because that at least employs local people.

 

[Kyle]

I'm thrilled to hear that because even if we don't make any money off the deal, we're still providing a community service and that's important to me.



When I worked at the resort it used to piss me off every time I'd see a Chewy box come in the mail for one of the residents/guests. Its like, "Dumbass, you could have bought that local."

But more and more there are no local stores to buy from because Walmart and Amazon and Chewy have put them out of business. I told you about how I tried to buy from the locally owned pet store but she had pretty much nothing in stock that I needed, nor did she seem interested in getting it for me. So I buy from a small pet chain because that at least employs local people.

Had to do soething similar.

There weren't any local places, at least that I found, that had Lupine in stock.

I ended up ordering from the manufacturers website.

No discounts but at least I could pick what I wanted.

 

[SamSpade]

When I worked at the resort it used to piss me off every time I'd see a Chewy box come in the mail for one of the residents/guests. Its like, "Dumbass, you could have bought that local."

During the pandemic, I couldn't get ANY of the cat food my cats will eat. Unlike dogs - who will eat ANYTHING, edible or not - at least one of our cats would rather starve - and I am not kidding, he gets thin - if the food isn't to his liking.

So I order from Chewy - who HAD it. I have a subscription - AND they even beat the chain stores in cost. By about five bucks a box.

Sorry, local store - but if you never have it, I can't give you my business.

That said - I DO buy stuff from the local Asian markets and one of the reasons is - the owners provide recipes and cooking advice - plus recommendations. They are always helpful. Can't get that online. The regular grocery stores? They almost always cannot do that.

 

[vraiblonde]

That said - I DO buy stuff from the local Asian markets and one of the reasons is - the owners provide recipes and cooking advice - plus recommendations. They are always helpful. Can't get that online. The regular grocery stores? They almost always cannot do that.

Are you trying to say there are no Asian cooking sites with recipes on the internet, complete with links to buy product?

But this is what I'm talking about. Big Box and Big Online will always beat out the local retailer because they sell on volume. But that doesn't put money back into the community, nor does it keep your neighbors employed.

I think of buying local as an investment. Sure, it's a couple bucks more but you're putting it back into the community and not just lining some billionaire's pockets. But I'm aware that I'm somewhat unique in that aspect. Most people want to save $1 and don't care who it hurts or how it changes our country.

Here in Touristville the restaurants are toying with robot servers. You order from a PC tablet and literally a robot brings your food to you. When you want a drink refill you request it from the tablet and here comes Artoo. It's cute and it removes the tipping issue, but also there go thousands of jobs, so I'm against it and don't patronize places that have implemented it. I'm happy to tip a server so she can feed her child and pay her rent. Either that or I'll be kicking in for her welfare and SNAP, and I think that's what most people aren't forward thinking enough to understand.

 

[GURPS]

but also there go thousands of jobs, so I'm against it and don't patronize places that have implemented it. I'm happy to tip a server so she can feed her child and pay her rent.

Business would not be investing in Tech unless the cost / benefit fits

Are State Min Wages pricing people out the JOB Market ?
Yeah the robot might break down, but is that less then the waitress calling out sick because her child came home from school sick

 

[OccamsRazor]

It's cute and it removes the tipping issue, but also there go thousands of jobs, so I'm against it and don't patronize places that have implemented it. I'm happy to tip a server so she can feed her child and pay her rent.

I do not tip if I order my food standing up. PERIOD! I hate it when they shove the Ipad or tablet in my face asking if I want to tip or not. "Tip for what? Typing on a keyboard?? I am doing that and no one is giving me a tip!"
On the other hand, I tip very well at sit down dining establishments ONLY if the service warrants it. Tipping when it does not warrant it merely because of social pressure only reinforces the notion that it s "automatic."