l i f e
pissed at flint
contributions
christopher@30seconds.org
I'll tell you what's pissing me off today. No insight. No story. This might as well be a poorly written article from Suck, buy hey, what the hell do I care.
Can I give back my college degree now?
It seems I wasted a lot of time there learning English and Religious Studies when all I really needed to make those six figures I've yet to attain was twelve years of public education and a house in Flint.
You got it. It's almost unforgivable that a high school education can actually earn you six figures in this country today, but then to go on strike because it isn't enough...two words.
Fuck you.
Or maybe...piss off.
I'm sick of hearing about this damn strike everyday and I really hope GM breaks the UAW's damn balls (along with their strike fund) and they all end up with no jobs. Those factories in question were costing GM $106 a car...they made NO money. They lost it. They lost it due to high wages that the UAW wants to make higher. Already absurd wages, like twice what the rest of American autoworkers make and WAY more than workers over-seas. So what got me? Why now?
Because I drive a Saturn. You know, the "different kind of car company". Whatever. Same UAW bastards that work for GM. Hell they are GM. But now they walk off the line in Tennessee because some critical parts are made elsewhere in the world a little cheaper. So what? Maybe it took someone with more than a twelfth grade education to put them together. (Okay, cheap shot.) But, they're still making their $44 and hour, and that's average. Without college. So this whole dessert I was sold on about a different corporate culture doesn't wash down that well and makes me a lot less proud to drive that burgundy UAW manufactured piece of shit.
Big deal you say?
Maybe, but cars have always been an important piece of my life. I love them. I grew up around them. I own two. One of which you couldn't force me to get rid of. In fact, let's look at that car. The 1962 MGA MkII roadster. Last of the line. MG was around until '81 making cars, the MGB mostly. They began in the late '20's entering production in the '30's. In all those years they never had a strike and every car was hand built. My "A" runs better than the Saturn and is 36 years old. Look at Jaguar (before Ford bought them). They had a fire in the 50's that leveled their factory and almost put them out of business, but you know what saved them? The quick thinking of a few of their workers and the dedication of all of them to go from making hand built cars to constructing new factories and salvaging parts from the burned out factory floor. The famed XKE was conceived as a result.
Think Flint would rush to the cause? Think the UAW would raise a finger? Not if it wasn't in their contract.
Times have changed for more than cars, I know. And that's probably another reason I'm pissed. You see, like I said, I grew up around cars and that means the people that work on them too. But, and this is a big but, they've been honest, hard-working, shade tree mechanics. Farmers. Folks who've been in the business long enough they could cheat you a thousand times over, but would just as soon give you a part you need than charge you too much for it. Everybody tells me these guys don't make any sense. How do they turn a profit?
Easy. Give and take. When was the last time you tipped your mechanic? Yeah, go ahead laugh. I wouldn't do it either. Not a damn dealership mechanic. But you find a shade tree mechanic with one or two bays in an old building somewhere, working with his Daddy's tools and I'll by him lunch. I'll talk awhile. I'll become a customer and I'll learn something too. Down here in the South, a long way from Flint, but not far enough from the UAW, you can judge a man by how he plows his fields. If his rows are nice and straight then he's probably worth your time. If he doesn't care enough to control what little he can and has crooked rows, then he isn't much of a man in the eyes of those around him. That practice started a long time ago, but as a metaphor it still works and is still used in the South today. I see it all the time.
So step back and look at the standard we hold ourselves up to. Take a long look at who you are. Who we are. This is our fault you know. We let the UAW do this. We let GM do it. We empower these people and sit back like fat cats after a few mice and watch the handy work.
I generally avoid politics and all issues related as a waste of my time. As a rule I hold fast to the individual and the small moments in life and damn the rest, but in this case, I don't know, it rubbed me the wrong way.
Besides, Saturn wanted to know what I thought of their company in a little survey I just got in the mail. I think this ought to do just fine.
goodnight 7.27.98
