Sharkboy

Day 2 – Did they really think the City wouldn’t find out who put this illegal garbage in front of their place? Let’s see how it looks tomorrow.

And so it continues…

Today was my first official day as a picketer walking the lines. I have been through 2 other strikes before this one, the first as a contract employee, so I still had to cross to go to work, the second as management, and again, had to cross to go to work. Both times were not pleasant. This time around, I’m actually wearing the union logo on my shirt, carrying a sign on my back, and walking in circle aimlessly. I’m scheduled 4 days per week from 7am to 11am. Luckily for me, the crowd of strikers this early in the morning are pretty tired and subdued and don’t really want to be chanting or playing any kind of noise-makers, so it’s a nice quiet time. People walk with co-workers and chat, and then every once in awhile, someone will ask to change direction, so like mindless zombies, we all turn and start circling the other way.

It’s simple.

It’s fucking tiring too…

Man, you just walk and walk and walk for 4 hours. And if you need to go to the bathroom, good luck. They’re not letting us use the ones inside City Hall (with good reasons of course) and you have to find one in a coffee shop, or a mall, or a hotel. Good excuse for a break, but goddammit, you have to WALK all the way there too…

To my big surprise, I saw and heard a lot of thing I never expected to see and hear today:

- There was this homeless who came inside the circle and started yelling at us… just randomly calling us motherfuckers and then he was escorted away until he reappeared barefoot in the fountain yelling some more;
- There was this guy who apparently bikes through Nathan Phillips Square daily to get to work and saw all the strikers walking around in circle. He put his bicycle down and joined in, telling us he agrees with the union and understands what the fight is about and that there are a lot of people that thinks like he does. He mentioned he also works for a union in the hotel business;
- There were buses of tourists dropping by to see City Hall but couldn’t really get in as the line-up was way too long for the time they had, so like good tourists do, they snapped pictures after pictures of us walking with our signs;
- I finally found an open bathroom at Sheraton Hotel across the street and as I’m going about my business, I notice this girl come in with her union t-shirt on, and by girl I mean Alpha Bull Dyke, and she smirks and said in a very manly voice: “Too many dolls in the girls lew”. I wasn’t sure what to say to that so I went: “Help yourself.” I might have felt a shiver too, can’t be sure;
- After 4 hours of walking in a circle, please do not stand in the way of a striker wanting to sign out and go home. Mind you if it was more organized, it might be better, but still, there’s no reason to push people out of your way or grab a pen out of someone’s hand just so you can be on the first subway out of there. What happened to all the “brotherhood” we just lived?;
- Walking home with my union t-shirt on, I realized quickly it was a mistake as one guy in a business suit on Bay St said loudly: “Better hurry, you’re not a very popular person around here”. I scratched my forehead with my middle finger in his direction.

Me trying to get some shade. A few minutes after this picture was taken, I was “asked” to wear a union logo shirt and to bring it every day

One other thing that baffled me today is how the media is trying to get an edge on each other by coming up with an angle that is their own only… On CP24 this morning, they were going on about how this was Day 2 of the strike, but it was really Day 1 of garbage not being picked up… HUH??? Did they fail math en mass over there? If it’s Day 2 of the strike, it’s the same for any service not being, well, serviced. Oh CP24, how you amuse me.

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