Two big stories, they're long so buckle up yolx:
Firstly, the first job I(29NB) had was working for a large company doing grocery/retail work. I had this job from when I was 16 to maybe 24. It was unionized, very well established and had been there for decades. There were customers who'd come in on the regular saying stuff like, “I remember when my grandma would bring me here!” and they'd be, like, straight up 70yo.
Even when I was a kid, I remembered them striking for $20/hr; this was during a time when minimum wage was around $7-$8. So, I figured this would be a solid company to be working for.
And, for about 8 years, 'twas! There were folx who'd been working there for years, even decades, and who had never, ever worked elsewhere.
We never expected….
Our company went through a large transitionary period quickly, and we suddenly found our store sold to some unknown, outtastate company. They made tons of cool promises, guarenteed our seniorities, lifted a lot of unnecessary rules like no beards, no ethnic hair, (you know, the r@cist shit) and no eating on the job stuff, so, for a little while after everything seemed cool.
Then, the company began to tank. They started selling and shutting down all the other stores they'd bought (like, just bought), laying off thousands of employees in the process.
Our store was one of the very last t'go.
We were scared. All of us. And I remember at the time I had been wanting to quit for around'uh month so I could pursue another career.
They were letting People go department by department, and I was something called a comboclerk, basically a cashier who also bagged and ran CS inlew of supervisors. My department was one of the last to go (I wonder whyyy), and I think only backroom/inventory stayed longer than us.
The call came, and all the People who bagged the groceries? Gone.
We had heard from other stores. We knew th'drill.
But, still tho…
everyone was shook.
Mostly for “Ethan”. A Gentleman Bagger.
Ethan was disabled, he'd been working for that store since he was Fifteen. Years. Old. He was 40something, happy-go-lucky, and fulla pride in his work. Dude was honestly super friggin' radical. He would never belittle or downtalk anyone, loved wrangling carts and was adored by regular customers. You need help? Ethan's got it.
This dude was beloved. Beyond measure. I still cry thinking about this and I was first to know……
I was cleaning the restrooms when the manager comes outt'a the office (they were side-by-side, fitting in retrospect:)
He looked pale. Like, stone white, fax-in-hand and I knew. We'd all been expecting this for literal weeks now, and he looked as if he'd rather be dead.
'Rick' saw me and started stammering, “It's…..they're letting the baggers go.”
I gestured at myself, asking, speechless.
“No, not yet. But, yeah, soon.”
“Rick, dude, please: if my job isn't up yet, can't Ethan have…”
He almost cried. Like, I saw: he almost broke right then'n there. We loved Ethan. I would have gone at a gorilla with a mother ducking toothpick to save th'guy…
” n o p e . . .” I'll remember that nope forever. He walked past, and I heard Ethan start crying a minute later…
I did nothing, and felt shitty.
Second Story Time:
This was 2020. Fresh into PanDemic. It was late in March and they came for our motherfucking busdrivers.
For 2 years at this point I had been working for a Californian National Park. This place is iconic, t'say th'least.
It was large enough to warrent a shuttle service. We had only been shut down for maybe a week, maybe less. During one of the daily companywide phone call updates (it was weird), they casually mention, “And we'll be cutting off the shuttle service effective immediatly. Please notify the drivers that they are laid off as of now, and they have three days to relocate or be evicted.”
Uhh….
the fuck tho?
Now, it was true that they had put in a 3day notice in our contracts (the park provides on-site-housing), but these drivers had been here for years, and, again, decades in some cases y'all, WAY before the current company or contracts took hold.
Our drivers were there for life, they'd been employeed for 30+ years in one case I knew of, and they were told over a gODSBEDAMNED CONFERENCE CALL
that they were out of work…
that they would soon be evicted…
and we were so fucking pissed.
Pretty sure it made national headlines, and fucking GOOD. After it made news nation wide, the company quickly started backtracking hardcore saying shit like, “Oh of COURSE we aren't just gonna evict them with 3days notice!……we're giving them 2 whole weeks!”
So, yeah, gotta just say tho: not really a big fan of when people tell me to find a job with, “Possibilities through seinority!”
'Cause I've watched the kindest people give decades of their fucking lives dedicated to careers that threw'em out like expensive garbage.