An Open Letter To TWU 234 Leader Willie Brown

Dear Willie Brown,

Hey. How are you?

I don't know if you read blogs or not, or if you consider the opinions of others a waste of time. By your reaction over the past 2 weeks, I'm inclined to think its the later. In case you didn't know, I've been writing a lot about you and your leadership and the way you handled the current SEPTA negotiations.

You have taken out ads saying that you're looking out for the "working man", that what you want is a "civil rights issue". You know what? I actually agree with you. I don't want to pay anything for my health insurance cost, I want my company to give me more money for my pension, and holy hell, a 19% raise GUARANTEED over 4 years?! Throw in a no lay-off clause, and I think its safe to say I'm set for life! That's the type of deal anyone working for a company these days would kill for, the type of deal I know countless people would want.

Sadly, I live in the world where you can't always get what you want. I live in a world where health care costs are rising so much that in order to keep health care services, not only did they need to raise our contribution, but they also raised our co-pays. The pension is the same, which is fine by me, but raises? Well, I can't say much about myself, but I know a lot of people who didn't get one this year because everyone is hurting this year. I even know people who got laid-off and outright fired by sneaky means by their companies.

Willie, you want the best for your members, and that's admirable and understandable. The fact that you are willing to risk not only your wages and money, but those of all your members to get what you want, the fact that you may actually be risking your jobs because they could simply fire you all (or at least quite a few) for not working... wow.

But I can't agree with your methods at all.

You've been working without a contract for 7 months, since March in fact. You talked with management until your contract expired, but I can only assume that you decided not to authorize a call for a strike because there is no way your workers could survive without a paycheck. So you waited and waited. You didn't talk to management at all, you just kept working. Over time, you spent money, union money, on newspaper ads and television ads, where you talked about how SEPTA wasn't willing to give you everything you wanted. You said that because they saw an increase in ridership, they should be able to give you more. Since March, they've been losing ridership and money.

So you waited and waited until the last week of October, conveniently enough, the weekend before the World Series, a Eagles vs Giants game, a sold-out concert, and more. You waited until you had the city by the balls and could squeeze as hard as possible to get what you wanted for your union. Then you threatened to walk out right as the games started. Then you agreed to talk past the deadline and not strike.

Now you, Willie Brown, the man who wants to look out for the "common man", the man who wants to make sure "civil rights" are respected... Now YOU have shown you don't care about any of that.

You went on strike at 12:01 AM without any warning of it, stranding thousands of commuters and leaving us to scramble at the last minute! You left the table when you were offered a 11% raise over 5 years, an 11% pension increase, and NO RISE in your health care benefits! YOU! YOU JERK! YOU GREEDY LITTLE PIG! YOU walked away from a compromise. YOU have decided it would no be in the interest of "the working man" to take the deal and STRIKE.

Willie Brown, you don't care about the working man. You don't care about us. All you care about is getting what you want and you don't care how. If union dues rise in turn, I wouldn't be surprised by that, either.

You've taken any chance, ANY CHANCE, of the common working man supporting your union and your cause away with your dirty tactics and the fact that you STRANDED THOUSANDS OF WORKERS AND PEOPLE!!!! You want our support? You lost it!

Right now, I hope YOU get fired. Not the members, but the ENTIRE TWU Local 234 leadership!

Willie, that's how I feel, and trust me, I'm one of the nicer ones.

SEPTA ON STRIKE!

In a shocking turn of even, TWU Local 234 is now ON STRIKE.

Despite a call not to strike at all, especially not during the World Series, Willie Brown WALKED OUT OF THE TALKS! In turn, workers walked off the job and took to the picket lines. The walkout happened at 12:01AM this morning, and will effect all Bus, Subway, and Trolly service in Philadelphia. Regional Rail is not effected. The strike will be effective as of 3AM.

The talks fell apart over the pension and pay.

The silver lining? The walk out waited until AFTER the World Series, so everyone at the game should be able to get home safely. On top of that, while the loss of SEPTA will be a problem, it will not be the horrible doomsday scenario we would have seen this weekend.

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It is worth noting that TWU 234 has also purchased more air time to support their cause as they complain about SEPTA not giving them more money.

Deceptive Sales Techquies and How They Hurt Business

I went to FYE Saturday for something simple: A pair of headphones.

The FYE I went to is the one I used to work at, and I ran into someone I used to work with. He had found out that the old store manager was ringing up those "free magazines" without telling customers, which in turn boosted the stores numbers and hurt a LOT of customers. I congratulated him in person and went to the counter with my headphones.

The guy who rang me up asked me if I wanted to reserve anything. I said, "No thanks, just this." He then said, with a bit of a smile and a joky tone, "Well, we have a new policy that you need to make a reservation in order to make a purchase." I started chuckling a little and I said, "Sorry, no thanks, just the headphones." "Well, my manager is right next to me and he says the same thing," he said motioning to the tall blond man next to him. "No thanks, I just want the headphones."

This went on for nearly 5 minutes.

I finally reached my breaking point, which I'm sure was obvious on my face. I was angry, I was going to miss my train, and I was not in the mood for this crap. So, calming myself down, I finally said, "Look, I know all the tricks, and I'm just not in the mood for this right now. Either I can pay for my headphones or, I'm sorry, I'll have to leave." He paused for a moment and finally said, "$15 dollars." "Thanks, " and I handed him my credit card. He said there was something wrong with it and ran it through again.

He took the time to ask me about when I worked there and how I did. "So, how many reservations a day did you get a day when you worked here?" I worked at 30th Street Station back in 2004 and was the top salesman there. I took a guess at how I did. "About 6 a day..." he took out a piece of paper. "BAM! 16 today alone! And that's my average!" He handed me my reciept and I looked it over before I signed to make sure there was nothing wrong with it. He handed me my headphones and said, "Well, I guess you don't know all the tricks." I left the store angrier than when I entered.

I wouldn't post about something like this about this location if there didn't seem to be something wrong with this picture. The last part, where he felt the need to brag about how many he got a day and "not knowing all the tricks"... I know his, and frankly, it's distasteful.

Telling ANY customer you need a reservation for a purchase is wrong. Not only that, it is a lie, it is distateful, and it doesn't help the store in any way, shape, or form. Having the manager supposedly back up your claim doesn't help either. I thought he was kidding, I kinda knew he was, but because of how he kept pressuring me about it, because he felt the need to point out how many sales he had, and because he said I didn't know "all the tricks"... I'm pretty sure he's done this to other people.

And that's just wrong.

This post is a warning to all that you need to be careful of salesmen and that you need to be assertive. I'm thinking about returning the headphones now and getting my money back because this entire thing has really just pissed me off, and I think he has done it to others.

It's also a warning to salesmen as well; You never know when what you say or do will be repeated to others and friends... and the internet.

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto.

BIGGEST DOUCHE OF THE DAY: Guy Gets Wii for Christmas, beats Up Girlfriend

How can you be the biggest douche possible during Christmas? By dressing as Santa, killing people, and burning down a house? By shooting some asshole who wouldn't shut up during a movie? No. To be the biggest douche possible takes being a 26-year-old man who gets angry when your grandparents give you a Nintendo Wii for Christmas and beat your girlfriend over it.

A Portsmouth, N.H., couple yesterday blamed each other for their black and blue Christmas when they got into a violent fight - and arrested - after an argument over a gift of the popular Nintendo video game.

“This was the worst Christmas ever,” Randi Young, 24, said a day after she and her boyfriend, Heath Blom, 26, were both cuffed and carted off by cops on misdemeanor charges of “domestic-related” simple assault.

Police were called to South Street home where the couple lived with Blom’s grandparents at 1:55 p.m. Christmas day. Officers arrested the pair upon observing bruises on each of them.

Portsmouth police said tempers flared because the boyfriend was smarting over not getting the present he wished for. “Heath Blom wanted a remote-controlled airplane for Christmas, and not the Wii,” said Sgt. Kuffer Kaltenborn.

Blom, a flooring contractor, said the cops got it wrong, and that he had asked his grandparents to get him the $1,000 airplane for his birthday next April. “You can’t fly an RC plane in the snow,” he said.

Source: Boston Herald

The guy couldn't wait 4 fucking months for a RC plane? God damn... if he didn't want the Wii, he could have sold it on eBay and made a killing (no pun intended)!

Why Do Most Top 10 Albums of the Year Lists Suck?

I hate Top 10 Albums of the Year Lists.

Whenever I see these lists, it seems to be done by people in a musical black hole. Self-important music critics who think the world ends and begins in the world of lo-fi indie music and whatever their small group of friends enjoy. They seem to be done by people who have been forced to listen to music as a career that sucks and, because of that, they pick the best of the worst. Pitchfork Media, this is going straight after your pampas asses!

On their "news" page, The Arcade Fire warrants a headline and the mention of a noise rock concert is headline worthy as well. For the love of god, who is Microsastle and why is their CD GOOD? Because it replicates 50s and 60s pop? If you wanted regurgitated music, why not just pick up some 50's and 60's pop, take a gun, and simply do the world a favor?

But I digress... I digress in hatred.

So, who's their Top 10? I'll list the band name and albums:

10: DJ/rupture
Uproot

09: Hercules and Love Affair
Hercules and Love Affair

08: M83
Saturdays=Youth

07: Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend

06: TV on the Radio
Dear Science

05: Deerhunter
Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.

04: Cut Copy
In Ghost Colours

03: No Age
Nouns

02: Portishead
Third

01: Fleet Foxes
Sun Giant EP/Fleet Foxes

The overall trend? It seems to be of indie/pop/shitty bands that garner little or no respect in the mainstream community and caters to indie socialites and music-holes who think iPod's are the embodiment of all that is "hip". This list fails for more reasons than one, and yes, I know that music is subjective and one mans love is another's scorn.

But who are these bands? Seriously, who? I've never heard of ANY of them! Not a whisper, not a hint, not a trace! I don't heard them on TV, on the radio, burning up charts, anything. I don't see them on end-caps at FYE, articles in Rolling Stone, indie-rock mags with them on the cover, news articles, or people at work talking about them. Then again, more than fair enough to say, I never see bands such as Amon Amarth, Wednesday 13, or Meshuggah making headlines, but save Wednesday 13, they all made it to the Top 100 on Billboard despite no airplay or real mainstream coverage. That's largely beause the metal world is it's own little community, it's own little close-nit area of the world where people go to forums and discuss the music they know and love.

Then again, I did state that the metal world has had albums by seemingly no-name bands to 90% of America crack Billboard this year. Is the indie rock/pop world that much larger? Is it that they can name the best albums, but aren't buying them as much? What's the deal here? What the hell am I missing?!

Is the problem that I am simply out of the loop here? Is it that I just have my own personal head in my own collective bubble of music that is exclusively metal and punk, and only listen to what I think is good and what my friends think? Honestly... yes and no. My friends taste in music is pretty different (I think DevilDriver's last album was shit, my friend loves it), and I do listen almost entirely to metal and punk, save Johnn Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Garbage, and a few others. At the same time, I am easily able to scoff at a lot of music without taking much in (The Fray? Why, why, why do people like them?).

I think there is a massive disconnect with music critics, self-important or otherwise, and the people they cater too. Chuck Klosterman, a man I both respect and scorn at the same time for his love of metal and calling Slayer "Black Metal" (say that to a die-hard fan and watch us squirm in pain), wrote that he has to listen to anything and everything for his job, and in turn his love for hair metal and 70's-early 80's metal (like I said... he thinks Slayer is "black metal") is mixed with bands you and I may never have heard off. To quote Ron Jeremy, "After a while, it takes a while to get me excited." So with a lot of music critics, to hear something "different" even if it isn't "good", qualifies it as being "good" on that alone.

Not only that, but I also hate it when they say it's the "Top 10 Albums of the Year", as if it's the be-all, end-all list of music that year. Why not be honest? "Top 10 Albums of Indie Rock/Pop", "Top 10 Albums of Bands 99% of the Human Population has never heard of, but we think are incredible", or even the more honest, "Top 10 Albums We Think Are Superior to Everything Ever Made Because it's on iTunes and, thus, HIP".

So, look for my "Top 10 Metal and Punk Albums of 2008".... if I can find 10 albums.

With Councilman Goode, Let's Tackle the REAL Issue Here!

Has anyone out there realize that the problem with Corrupt Councilman Goode ISN'T racism?

It's irritating seeing everyone who paid a little attention to this focus on the race factor. It's great that the entire "reverse racism" argument is being thrown out the window, awesome even, but it's only a SMALL part of the larger problem.

As was reported days ago, the guy fucked a staffer while having beer with her on City Time! COME ON! HE FUCKED HIS STAFFER! Isn't that more interesting than the stupid hand-scrawled signs? Isn't that the BIGGER issue? Or the fact that he's basically used $13,000 in raises for Latrice Bryant to keep his, ahem, "policies in line"? The guy is drinking on tax payer time, has a corrupt office, and instead of cries to fire him, what do we get?

"Well, he shouldn't use the race card and should fire her."

No. Not quite. Fire HIM at the same time. He needs to go!