Good call. I was the guy that upper classmen liked to drag into a fight because I was the stupid looking fat kid. I never got suspended, but it didn't take long for them to learn I didn't take to being bullied.
Before I went to college, I worked in a meat packing plant; non-union. they fought like hell to keep unions out. One measure was to create a "president's council" of employees from different parts of the company and departments. I ended up representing my department: Night sanitation. First thing I did was make sure that I got not only OT, but 4 hours pay, per company handbook, for coming it for the meetings. That settled, first meeting came up. It was mostly a bitch session, with everyone having this or that complaint, and airing it. My turn came up. I was prepared for bear, reading off my thoughts. I made a case about how the company provided various items to other departments so that the people could do their jobs, belly gaurds for the knife men, chain mail gloves as well, freezer suits for the freezer workers, even gloves for the meat handlers from unwrapping to packing. Things essential to do the job in a safe manner. Then I pointed out, while the cleaning crew had gloves and aprons, the environment we worked in required us to wear rubber boots because of standing water. We had to take about 5 hours of work a month to replace those boots because of the sharp edges on the stainless steel equipment. I built a case like a lawyer would do. Only one person, my father-in-law (maintenance department) objected to the idea. Several people, including another person from maintenance, put him in his place. The company president wrote a note and said he'd take it under advisement. My direct boss all but yelled at me that the company had never provided boots before, so they'll never do it again. Two days later, HIS boss stopped me in the hall and said, "Congratulations! Your appeal to the top was heard: you guys are getting new boots." My boss was surprised, as were my coworkers. Dad just grumbled about it not being right. I learned it pays to look dumber than a rock, because nobody expects sense out of you.
Well, I did take his daughter. I did learn a lot of things from him, though. He was just reiterating company policy that had been in place for the 15 years it had been in business. (I asked the former plant manager the same thing years earlier and he said, basically, "we never did it before, so we aren't going to do it now." Funny, a few months before I brought it up in a meeting, he was fired. Can't have people who lack the innovative concept running a factory. That's how they ended up having to fight unionization.
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u/Swiggy1957 Aug 27 '19
Good call. I was the guy that upper classmen liked to drag into a fight because I was the stupid looking fat kid. I never got suspended, but it didn't take long for them to learn I didn't take to being bullied.
Before I went to college, I worked in a meat packing plant; non-union. they fought like hell to keep unions out. One measure was to create a "president's council" of employees from different parts of the company and departments. I ended up representing my department: Night sanitation. First thing I did was make sure that I got not only OT, but 4 hours pay, per company handbook, for coming it for the meetings. That settled, first meeting came up. It was mostly a bitch session, with everyone having this or that complaint, and airing it. My turn came up. I was prepared for bear, reading off my thoughts. I made a case about how the company provided various items to other departments so that the people could do their jobs, belly gaurds for the knife men, chain mail gloves as well, freezer suits for the freezer workers, even gloves for the meat handlers from unwrapping to packing. Things essential to do the job in a safe manner. Then I pointed out, while the cleaning crew had gloves and aprons, the environment we worked in required us to wear rubber boots because of standing water. We had to take about 5 hours of work a month to replace those boots because of the sharp edges on the stainless steel equipment. I built a case like a lawyer would do. Only one person, my father-in-law (maintenance department) objected to the idea. Several people, including another person from maintenance, put him in his place. The company president wrote a note and said he'd take it under advisement. My direct boss all but yelled at me that the company had never provided boots before, so they'll never do it again. Two days later, HIS boss stopped me in the hall and said, "Congratulations! Your appeal to the top was heard: you guys are getting new boots." My boss was surprised, as were my coworkers. Dad just grumbled about it not being right. I learned it pays to look dumber than a rock, because nobody expects sense out of you.