Writings

ON STRIKE! The indentured employee uprisings 

The current number of employees going on strike does not surprise me one bit. In fact many people say "IT'S ABOUT TIME!"

We have been living in a dream-world where capitalism has been pushed down our throats as a "good-for-you pill" and we readily swallowed it. The thing that should have clued us in on the poison that was included in this pill was that it was being fed to us by the wealthy and politicians.

This "pill" was just a dressed up version of indentured servitude. If we look at what being an indentured servant meant in history we will understand that this is EXACTLY what we have been unknowing living. 

According to the History Detectives on the PBS channel, 'The idea of indentured servitude was born of a need for cheap labor... Servants typically worked four to seven years in exchange for passage, room, board, lodging and freedom dues.' Once indentured servants had repaid their debt, they were considered free and could then work anywhere, even for themselves. The idea was sold to the indentured servants as a way to become landowners and "rich" in the new land. 

Many of these people were treated badly and their years of indenture could be extended for any offenses they may have committed. Of course, the judicial system was rigged in the favor of the rich indentured servants' owners as the indentured servants had no money actually paid to them during their years of servitude and could not afford attorneys. So any little infraction brought before a judge by a rich owner would invariably come out in their favor. Women in servitude were also treated much worse and were sexually assaulted on the normal. Their punishment for becoming pregnant during their servitude was an additional two years added to their contract for each pregnancy, men did not have any of these sex-based punishments. 

This all sounds very familiar, even today workers are basically put in servitude by the costs of living. Pro-capitalist people will try to argue this point but taking an honest look at the way we live in the U.S. will prove the point.

Lets set the basic stage for a theoretic, everyday worker here in the U.S. and lets call him "Bob". 

So, Bob works for a company making minimum wage. All of the money he makes goes back into the economy and nothing is saved. He just barely makes it and lives in a crappy apartment with two roommates because this is the only way they can all afford a roof over their heads. He is offered a minimal line of credit by a major credit card company that he gets just in case he ever has an "emergency". 

First of all, giving a person who is barely making ends meet an introductory free line of credit is just a terrible idea for Bob, but NOT for the credit card company. The first idea of keeping Bob in servitude is to have that "loan", any loan will do, just anything to keep Bob working just to pay bills. 

So Bob gets fed up with working for minimum wage and believes that he can get ahead if he just goes back to school and gets his college degree. To do this he has two avenues to help him with this: his employer's tuition reimbursement program and a guaranteed student loan program run through major banks. 

He finds a program that he can do around his work schedule and signs up for his employer's tuition reimbursement program (which is capped) and a student loan to pay for the rest of the tuition costs. The employer's tuition reimbursement program has a stipulation that the employee has to remain with the company for 3 years after the last reimbursement payment to fulfill the contract the employee signed. Bob thinks to himself 'no problem, I was planning on staying here and getting a promotion with my new degree anyway and I'll be able to pay off my student loans with my wage increase that I'll be getting'. 

It takes Bob six years to complete his four-year degree. His company distributes tuition reimbursement checks once a year so he will have to wait nine months for his final reimbursement.  Bob doesn't worry about this, he'll just take this time to apply internally for jobs that he is now qualified for with his new degree. Mind you, he's already worked for minimum wage for the six years it took to get through school and now he has to wait almost an additional year before he can start ticking off the three years of service he's supposed to give his employer as reimbursement for the part of his tuition that they covered. That's 10 years of servitude to get a bachelor's degree, or as Bob sees it, his "freedom".

Bob applies, but never even gets an opportunity to go for an interview. After six months, he has to begin paying on his student loans. During this same time Bob has to pay his credit card for uses related to going back to school and it has crept up into a ridiculous amount as the credit card company always is more than willing to incrementally increase his limit. Before he knows it he's $10,000 in debt to the credit card company (about a third of this is interest and fees--pure profit for the card company). Bob is only able to make the minimum payment on this credit card and now has to additionally begin paying three times that amount each month to the bank who has his student loans. 

Still not getting that promotion at work, Bob has to begin working a second job to try and keep his head above water. Again, this is a minimum wage job because the hours he has available outside of his regular job only allow him to work these types of part-time jobs.

Bob never gets the promotion, but he does get his last reimbursement check after nine months and thus begins his countdown on how much time he has to repay his employer for this "loan". All this time Bob is used as cheap labor, and the only change he has seen in his job has been new duties that "would look good on a resume" (as his boss puts it to him when assigning more for Bob to get done every day). 

From the very beginning, Bob has been paying into this rigged capitalist system by purchasing food, gas, utilities, rent, etc. Each and every employee at each of the companies that provide these products of daily living are going through the exact same hoops that Bob is going through and ALL of them are having to pay for those things that the big companies produce: food, water, gas, medicine, clothing, paper products, cleaning supplies. Each one of these products make a profit for a big company--making the owner(s) richer, all while keeping employees like Bob in a secret indentureship that has made the wealth gap greater than anytime in history. 

And the very people that keep telling us that "capitalism is best" and that it allows "anyone to be a millionaire" are the very ones that are keeping the general public indebted in one way or another to the already rich. The rich profit off low pay for their employees and then they get their very own money back when those employees pay for things they need to survive. Win-win situation, but only for the rich.

And poor Bob is never really going to get anywhere. He will never be without some sort of debt to someone much richer than him. He will always be needing to work because he has to have a way to pay for those things that keep him alive. He will always be at the mercy of the rich to dictate how much he is "worth". He is beating his head against that glass ceiling that the rich look down at us through.

This is why we need to all rise up and break this capitalist cycle. The capitalist cycle only works for the rich. They need to be made accountable for their business practices and we need to ensure that they are only making ethical profits.

The only way we are going to see an improvement in our lives and how we are able to live is to hold them ethically accountable. It begins with oversight to reign in the profits of these big companies so that they are not able to gouge the American people. Some oversight on pay equality so that the workers that are actually making it possible for a company to make millions are paid a part of that profit that never would have happened without them. We need BOTH oversights so that the rich don't just increase prices of goods to cover increased wages, because if you increase wages and then just get it back by increasing the costs of living then everyone is still where they started out and the U.S. dollar just loses value. Oh...wait...that's already happening? Well lets stop it! 

How? Vote people into offices that don't have lots of money, who don't work for a million dollar company, who don't have any personal or family interest in a particular type of industry (i.e. oil, agriculture, etc). Pick your people carefully and keep raising your voices. Picket lines are a great start, but voting for reputable representatives are the only way to keep the momentum going. 

Oversight isn't one of those things we should leave up to an industry to do to their own, because honestly what do you think is going to happen? Write to your representatives at the state and federal level, they have a duty to conduct themselves in a way to represent their voters and it is a derelict of duty if they do not. Making decisions that help us instead of the people with the most money to spend is an important first step to get us out of this silently forced indenture-hood that we now find ourselves. 

Speak up where and to who it matters, you can be mad all you want on social media but it is not official like a letter to your representatives. Make noise in the right places. 

POEM: Making Man

So there's this soul

Pacing the floor

Between right and gone

Facing invisible fears

Only he can see, taste

Tracing memories

That take hold

Refusing to release him

From the here that consumes him


Times flit through his vision

Turning up the volume

On all the troubles

Overshadowing the sun

That threatens his soul

As he continues to pace


A journey of a few steps

Feels like a mission of mercy 

That's meant for others 

No one like him


Can he still be

Without all the pain

New dues paid

Worn tired with the pace

Faking his smile

Never reaching within

Scared of the ruin there

The kind that makes a man

How "woke" became a dirty word

It just amazes me how words can take on new meanings depending on the cultural times, current events, prevailing religious beliefs, and finally, political events--especially when there's an abundance of discord.

Using words that have historically been positive and something that the general public would "want" to be, or possess, and then have them used in a taunting or derogatory manner is disheartening to someone who loves the written word and wishes that these words weren't high-jacked. Why? Welllll...because we writers love to use them and we don't want to quit using them.

From using people's formal names to encompass certain unwanted personality traits (i.e. don't be a Karen or a Brandon), to taking over innocent words and putting a negative, or worse an illegal connotation to them (i.e. snowflake, catfish, ghost, bomb, comrade, left, right, etc.) it has basically just gotten completely out of hand. 

These words and many, many more are being used to dismiss someone who doesn't agree with someone else, and only the FIRST person to throw it out there is believed and it becomes their mantra when dealing with that person and basically shuts down any constructive discussion. In my opinion, they are all cop-outs and only those that are scared that they will be proven wrong, or those that don't have any real idea or justification of what they are spewing, use it as a protective agent to keep from having to honor the unwritten but historically accepted rules of verbal engagement. In other words, it allows them to repeat BS without actually having to provide the support and proof of what they are saying or to defend the viewpoint they are mindlessly proliferating. 

It's used by the ignorant general public who are never more aware of anything beyond their nose, and yet it is collaterally taking away important words from a writer's pen. Placing so many words into the "unwanted" category is more than just a semantic change in how we express ourselves, it is robbing people from being able to solve anything because these words have taken on not only a meaning but a way to shut down the other person's ability to defend themselves and be believed in any way. It's a death sentence to solving our problems and that is what the agenda is really all about, isn't it?

Religion and Warm Beer

Today I went to the store--my local super-center--but only because I had more than just a couple of things to get. You are probably the same as me and only go to these crowded places if you REALLY HAVE TO, otherwise you opt for the smaller local market or “mom & pop” store close to where you live. This particular super-center is actually just across the street from my local market, but I absolutely avoid it whenever possible even though the prices are better and there’s more selection. I have a totally different reason why I avoid this store than what you might think. It’s because of religion. Not mine, but the ones I encounter there that slow down my shopping and cause ridiculous backups at the checkout. You might wonder how religion has anything to do with grocery shopping, and that’s exactly my point, it SHOULDN’T be bothering my shopping, but it is and it’s a main reason many people in our area are going elsewhere to buy things.

And maybe it’s not the religions themselves, but our idea of what accommodation and inclusion has been warped into. From this super-center's website I couldn’t find that this is any type of company-wide policy and I've never had this issue at any of their other locations, but I sure know that I hate this particular store because management has let it become a big deal at the checkout. Let me give you a rundown of what happens every single time I go there, and yes, I mean EVERY SINGLE TIME.

There are always long, long lines at the self-checkout registers, but in this case, it doesn’t matter because I’m getting alcoholic beverages. So, I then begin perusing the three or four attended checkout lanes to see if I can see someone without a head covering. Now don’t go off on me, I am just trying to get out of here as fast as possible and I KNOW that without a doubt that if they have a head covering, I am in for a wait, and sometimes a long, long wait if people in front of me also have alcohol. No such luck today, so I got in line and put my items on the black belt, alcohol first since it’s the heaviest and should go on the bottom of my cart. I am curtly asked to put my alcohol at the end of my order. Oh, crap! How long is it going to take to get someone to take care of this? I offer to hold it up and they can scan it without touching it. Nope. Can’t do that. Mind you I’ve already hefted the heavy things up on the belt and now I have to take them off and try to squeeze them in between the end of my order and the person’s items that are behind mine. I opt to just put the booze back in the cart and wait.

While I’m waiting for someone who is actually able to come scan my devil water, my checkout lady proceeds to talk to another checkout lady in another language (rude in public, but even more so when working with the public), and I’m sure it’s about me. Now mind you, there are now TWO ladies with head coverings standing around waiting for someone else to do their cashier job—waste of money if you ask me. I’m probably being insensitive, but I’ve never seen the extent of this type of religious accommodations before in my life. Heck, I’ve never experienced any accommodations of this type in my own work experience! Finally, a man comes over and is all sweet and smiling with the two girls and then turns to me with a snarly attitude and I hold up each dang alcoholic item and he scans them without even touching them. Then all three of them are kind of just chitchatting, you know, just making my wait even longer because I DARED to let my face show how exacerbated I am with their behavior and the constant pushing of other religions into the activities of my everyday life, and everyone else's who comes into this particular store.

Look, I have no problem with anyone’s freedom to practice whatever religion they want, but do not do it at work or impede it on innocent people who you encounter through your job, ESPECIALLY not customers! Everyone should have freedom of religion, freedom to do whatever you want to your own body, freedom to say and write anything you want, as long as you are not threatening harm to anyone and not discriminating against someone because they do not believe the same things as you, then do whatever you want. BUT… I DO have a problem with letting people’s religion dictate work, school, education and healthcare.

It’s all about being reasonable and stop letting special interest groups, which includes religious groups, set the moral standards for everyone else. What we have today is not religious freedom, it's quickly becoming religious dictatorship. Here’s some examples of what being reasonable without letting religion factor into our daily lives might look like:

Even with everything in that list, I truly believe that people should be able to opt out of things without repercussions if it truly is something to do with their religious beliefs. In the same frame of mind, I also believe that they shouldn’t impose their religious beliefs on other people, which brings me back to my shopping trip today.

I have worked a lot of jobs over the years. In the interview process the employer always goes over the duties of a certain position and then asks, “Do you think you can handle/perform all those duties? If not, tell me now.” Is this not the case anymore? Why is it that we think that the job position needs to change for the applicant instead of the applicant either accommodating what they are being asked to do or they just don’t get that particular position or job? Inclusion does not mean that the employer, or the school, or the doctor’s office, must change what they are doing to meet the demands of an employee, a student or their family, a church, or a patient. Inclusion means that you treat them the same as you would anyone else. It’s very simple, and yet, we are terrible at this in the United States.

Here’s a logical example of how this should go if you are inclusive and trying to hire someone to work at your store:

“I have these three positions open at the store that you are qualified for by looking at your resume. This is a list of duties that go with each position. Are there any duties that you do not feel comfortable performing or would object to carrying out?” If the applicant states, “I do not want to sell alcohol, but I would like to be a cashier” then the employer would reply, “Well that particular position means that you would be handling and selling alcohol. If you want that position you would be expected to do that, but if that is something you really don’t want to do, then I have this other position that does not require selling or handling alcohol. Would you like that position?” If the applicant declines the alternative position and “really wants the cashier job” then the employer would just have to state that only can they have that position if they can perform all the duties, and if they can’t that’s okay, but it also means they are not qualified for that position.

Let’s look at it in a different way. What if a job requires an applicant to drive a forklift or to be able to lift 50 pounds or more? Do we change the forklift job for an applicant and give them a job as a forklift driver when they can’t drive a forklift and we then allow them to unwrap every pallet and move the inventory piece by piece? Do we hire an applicant that cannot lift 50 pounds and let them open a bag of dog food and allow them to transport it cup by cup to the shelf? No. Inclusion means that if they have the right qualifications then they are offered the jobs they are qualified for no matter their skin color, sex or religion, but it does NOT justify giving them a job that they refuse to perform all the duties included in that job.

So, I was absolutely stewing about this on the way home. I was mad at myself for trying to help accommodate them by moving my alcohol to the end of my order instead of at the beginning so that things that I bought didn’t get smashed by having the alcohol go in last. I was mad at myself for trying to come up with a solution so they didn’t have to touch the alcohol, which they refused for no reason. I, the customer, should not have to be making accommodations for YOUR workers to do the job that I expect from them. It should be the job you expect of them too. If you are letting them get by with dictating what they are and are not going to do while hiding behind religion, then I think that more people should get on this bandwagon and find a religion that only allows you to consume wine because that’s what Jesus drank. Will you be accommodating for that glass of wine at break and lunch? Will you let a person carry it around in their insulated mug as they work to "keep hydrated"? What about those that are vegan because of their religion? Are you going to make the same accommodations for them? Why should they have to touch meat if it’s acceptable for the worker to change their job duties to their liking, even if it puts more on their coworkers? 

Religious freedom means you are not persecuted, it doesn’t give you the right to push it on me the customer as I come through your line. It also means you can’t pick and choose what parts of your religion you want to make a statement with—what do I mean by that? Wellll…the cashier couldn’t process my alcohol, but that didn’t stop her from scanning all my pork and beef products, this is the hypocrisy that kept me riled all the way home. 

I don’t want you to think that I am picking on one religious group or that I haven’t done any general research. I have a lot of Christian friends that do not drink and think that others should refrain also. Those same Christian friends also have a smattering of differing beliefs regarding tobacco, women wearing pants, over the counter medications (including birth control and condoms), caffeine and other stimulants, idols (which some believe is part of many children’s toys), romantic books, and yes, even pork. But the difference that I find with these friends is that through the years they have all had several job opportunities and some they didn’t take because they found it was too much of a contradiction to what they believed OR they took the job realizing that their religion also taught that everyone is given free will and that they themselves have no right to decide for others. Either way, they NEVER asked for the job duties to change to “accommodate” their religion, they made personal choices on what they felt was the right thing to do and acted accordingly without putting an extra burden on anyone else.

We must stop believing that it is our right to push things on others. I see this today in other areas of our lives. Christian groups pushing public school districts to change everything they do to align with their PERSONAL religious beliefs. Radical groups (religious and not) push PERSONAL agendas through our elected officials and try to get laws passed based on THEIR religious and moral beliefs. It must come to a head soon, but not soon enough in many peoples’ opinion. We need to stop letting the few have such a big voice. We need to stand up for ourselves in ways that start at the local grocery store. We need to go to public meetings and remind everyone that there is a very valid reason our forefathers saw a need to separate religion from EVERYTHING ELSE. This country was founded on religious freedom—that’s what everyone was seeking when they migrated here—and the descendants from those freedom-seekers are trying to do exactly what their great-great-great grandparents were running away from. History repeating itself, but again, we will not know this if our history books are allowed to be rewritten and statues removed to make people comfortable and to not offend anyone.

So, for my part, I will be contacting the management of my local super-center and ask them to read over a copy of this blog post. I will be happy to talk to them about it and to hear what they have to say. Who knows, maybe what I find out will give me some heated inspiration for my next entry?? But for today, I am spent. I am going to put my keyboard down and sit here in the shade with my glass of warm beer and feel better about getting this off my chest in some manner that soothes me.

Poem: Stay With Me

Dusty fingers on white doors

Lingering smudges on clear panes

Savored as the sun shines through

I leave them there for ever

So sure you will be taken from me

So unlucky as I am

The fear devours me from within

Tainting any happiness that dares to blossom

Walking so quietly

As to not wake the soul-taker

I want you to live forever

Taking me with you there

Your little warm hands

Digging for hours in the dirt

Even after a good scrubbing

Pitch black crescent moons

Reside at every little pudgy fingertip

No matter--

It will be the same tomorrow

Please remember to be here then

So many tomorrows in forever, you know

Grab all that you can

With those little hands