I just went to a new job, first time in my life working for a union, I HATE IT
I have employees that REALLY work hard and carry the weight of most of the team yet EVERYONE is paid the same wage no way to get them any kind of a raise just shameful!!! Also ALL the union has claimed about wages in America EVERYONE make min. wage!!!!! Union is a HUGE farce!!!!
There's nothing like a job where you see almost immediate financial gain when you put in a little more effort. Such a job was coffee shop waitressing night shift in a busy place where the manager leaves it up to the waitresses to seat their own stations. The aggressive waitress will grab them first and if you don't like it -- beat her to it next time. The harder you work, the more money you make in tips. The waitress who taught me that was at first (I thought!) a real witch (replace the w with a b) but we ended up bosom buddies for years. I learned a lot from her and it paid well.
I loved waitressing! I made a lot of dough and worked with a lot of Mexicans and American teens.
Oh gosh ... I remember the one waitress job I had where the wait staff was unionized. All I knew was that I had to pay something like $7 every paycheck in union dues ... for zip, nada, nothing, just another fee for the privilege of working in the dinner house (in the same fancy old motel where my grandmother had once worked as a maid, I was told). THEN the wacky boss literally STOLE a large tip left by my customers on a credit card; she told me they stiffed me, but they told me they left me $$ -- the slip proved it, the boss refused to honor it for me, and I called the union in. They did exactly ZIP. I stayed there, though, because it was a fun job, great co-workers, and because the boss' husband was a great guy (flew some kind of fighter plane in WWII) and his wife wouldn't mess with me after that. Ah ... fond forays down memory lane! My ol' Union days!
I feel for you, kit cat. God bless your path.