Day 4 – It’s getting ripe
After the mad events of yesterday, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back for more today, but I slept well and got up early and got on my bike to join the brotherhood. I had definitely made the decision to keep things light today and not get involved in anything other than walking in circle, drink my coffee, take a break, drink my water and bike home. That was my planned scheduled. But people keep insisting on giving me excuses to get involved… Good lord!
When I arrived, I went to Starbucks and then joined the circle of strike. I like the early walking shift because most people are sleepy and quiet and they just want to get this over with so they can go home before lunch. My kind of crowd. But not today, unfortunately we had a bunch of “happy” people who went home yesterday and decided to write a song for the picket line… and they were so proud of it that they actually printed the lyrics for everyone… I wanted none of it but the little troopers that they were started distributing the papers with lyrics to everyone who would take one explaining that it was to the tune of Okie Polkie…. and they started… very loudly…:
We want a fair contract
We want a fair contract
We want a fair contract
And we want it right nooooooooOOOOOOoooow
We’re never gonna give up
So hear us loud and clear
That’s what it’s all about
YOOOOOoooooo
and again…
After hearing this twice, I turned to the guys behind me and said: “Good lord, shoot me now”. They started to laugh and I continued “I’m not joking, just do it while I’m not looking”. After hearing it again and again, I turned around once more and asked why this one singer was wanting a “fair contact“, are her eyes bothering her? It took a few seconds then one girl started to laugh and said I was a bad boy for making fun of people’s accent.
A few circles later, I see this Steward, not the same one as yesterday, plucking another bunch of bigger guys out of the circle of strike, it’s clear he’s asking them to go and block some entrance. My mind is telling me to not get involved, but my mouth and my legs are saying otherwise, so I marched directly to that little group and piped in:
Me: Where are you asking these guys to go?
Steward: The entrance on Queen St
Me: Not the one for the exit of the parking lot by the subway I hope
Steward: No, the car entrance to the parking lot
Me (turning to the guys): It’s up to you guys, but there was violence involved in that area yesterday. All I can tell you is that if this guy (pointing to the steward) takes a break, you take a break, if he walks away, you walk away. He can’t ask us to stand there and block the way if he’s not going to be there to answer people’s questions.
Steward: I’m not leaving anyone alone there
Me: Good because that’s exactly what one of you did yesterday and it took less than 2 minutes for problems to start.
All eyes on me, uncomfortable silence, time for me to turn around and walk away. I noticed a couple of guys told him they’d stay in the circle of strike.
Seriously though, while talking to the guy who was with me yesterday when all the scary stuff happened, he said he’d talked to a couple of cops before leaving and they confirmed that union members have absolutely no right to stop anyone to enter or exit anywhere. We can request, if they say no, that’s it, they must be let through. So that solidified my stance on that, never ever will I help with any entrances, my 5 minutes in hell yesterday will last me a lifetime.
After that, it was just mind numbing walking experience while texting with DR or surfing Disney trivia websites and me looking at these unmatching socks:
…until this guy came in:
Armed with a megaphone, he thought it would be a great idea to shout insults at the circle of strike… I hate loud noises, I hate loud noisemakers even more… As I walk passed him and he shouted the word “ASSHOLES” to us, I said: “Hey, there’s 400 of us and 1 of you, and I can tell there’s a couple of women PMSing in that corner, you better watch what you say” Which got some laughs from the peanut gallery but also attracted this security guy to come and talk to him quietly for a bit and the guy finally left… Far enough in the distance later on we all heard on a megaphone type voice: “Fuck You City Hall” and then there was silence again.
And then:
We want a fair contract
We want a….
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You don’t have to do anything to megaphone guy. it looks like Nature has more than taken care of any punishment for you.
Yeah, it was made clear as soon as he started yelling at us that he wasn’t all there. I had not noticed his legs until looking at the picture at home… what the hell kind of a sling was he trapped on???