In hindsight this was really stupid on my part, but if we can’t laugh at ourselves, we don’t deserve to entertain others.
This was my 2nd “real” job in America, although having lived here for over half my life at this point, I really should have known better, especially because my dad was always going on about the American dream and how he had scored a great union job that would provide for all of us. I really didn’t know what he meant and his American dream had not yet moved us out of the projects, paid for 4 homes, cars, vacations etc etc. That all came later, so at this point I just thought dad was full of crap.
I had recently quit working at the Bronx zoo and taken a job that increased my wage from $3.45 an hour to a whopping $4.75. I was a cashier at a local grocery giant. This was in 1986 so I no longer recall the name, but it was one of the big ones, Shop Right I think. The work was boring but the pay was a nice increase and I would entertain myself by checking out without using the register to do the math. My register was never exact, but I was within $1 of where it should have been, over or under. So good enough.
I remember being excited at getting my first check, but since math was sort of my thing, I noticed right away that things did not add up. I already learned about taxes at my first job, so I expected that theft, but this check had a deduction labeled as Union. What kind of shenanigans are these I thought? I had seen shows about corrupt Unions on TV and I was not about to stand for any of this. Plus I was born in Ukraine and knew first hand about the mafia protection racket, which I convinced myself this was. My dad never mentioned his own union shaking him down for dues. Which obviously they did, he just never mentioned it.
I marched right up to the head store manager. Another thing later I realized was not acceptable and asked for a refund of the $4.78 that was missing from my check. Yup, I expected him to reach into his pocket and give me the money on the spot. I had not authorized this charge, no one asked me if I wanted to join, and even if they had, I wasn’t about to join any organization where promotions were based on seniority (and bribes according to the TV shows).
The manager explained the union protects the employees, they negotiate higher pay, vacations, safely ect. However, was fairly sure the manager was in on the scam and told him as much. He then informed me that they had a deal with the supermarket and if I wanted to remain an employee, I had to join the union. So this snot nosed kid squared up to the manager and said, I don’t and I won't. I took off the apron I was still wearing, handed it to him and marched out of the store.
It was only a year after that, that my dad's commitment finally paid off and due to his seniority he moved up the ranks enough to buy our first home, however it had been a decade watching him struggle at that point and I swore to never work a union job. Still, while I don’t regret my choices, looking back on that day, I can admit, I was probably not only a jerk but an idiot.