I was trying to reserve comment on the current workers’ strike going on at Ralph’s, VONS, and Albertson’s, but after this past weekend, I feel I must share a different point of view...mine.
Let me first offer the disclaimer that this is my personal opinion and it is not meant to offend anyone, etc. We all know someone who works at a grocery store, and in fact, my first job at 15 was bagging people’s groceries. 95% of my first paycheck went to pay my union dues and I had no health insurance for the entire eight months that I worked there. I have no problem with workers using their right to picket a company when they feel they have a grievance with that company. I do, however, have a problem when those picketers put people in danger, inconvenience their lives, and try to push their position on other people, sometimes with force.
When you watch the news reports about the strike, you are not hearing what is really going on in some places. As most of my readers know, I often relay Teresa’s experiences because I so seldom leave the office anymore that she is the one taking care of our household needs right now. On Friday, Teresa came home with a story that a friend of hers from work had told her. Teresa’s friend’s mother shops at the Ralph’s on La Paz and Aliso Creek in Laguna Niguel, the second closest Ralph’s to my home, and when this Laguna Hills woman went to walk into the store, she was physically stopped and pushed by a worker from that store who did not want her to shop there.
The OC Sheriff was called and the Ralph’s picketer was rightly arrested. That very well could have been one of my loved ones that was being assaulted for going into a store in the United States of America to spend hard-earned dollars on food! That, folks, really pisses me off!
Now on to a Ralph’s in Mission Viejo for Friday night fun. Picketers at this Ralph’s dumped the garbage dumpsters and some shopping carts into the store’s loading dock so that when the non-union driver showed up to make his delivery, the non-union workers at the Ralph’s had to double as garbage men and remove the mess. Once the mess was removed, the driver was attempting to back into the loading dock, but one set of picketers was standing behind the truck to try to stop it and another set of picketers was covering up the truck’s rear view mirrors with their signs. Luckily, no one was run over. The crowd got so unruly that the OC Sheriff was called in to help the truck driver.
Store managers are walking female non-union workers out to their cars at the end of shifts because of threats. And lastly, let me give you my personal experience, which is actually Teresa’s personal experience.
My sweetheart worked six days this week, about 46 hours, paid for her own health insurance because she is a business owner and was not able to shop at the store she normally shops at, the store she feels comfortable at, out of fear of having to deal with one of these people, and on top of it, had to undertake a two-hour ordeal just to shop at the Stater Brothers this Sunday, her one partial day off.
Picketers are affecting the lives of my loved ones then have the nerve to demand my sympathy? Sorry picketers, but you can go to hell! We are business owners who pay for our own health insurance, pay our own state employment taxes, and pay our local taxes, which unfortunately, are currently paying the OC Sheriff to go out on picketer-related calls. Picketers are exercising their American right to picket while at the same time, bullying other Americans into not being able to exercise their rights of not living in fear and being able to spend their hard-earned dollars where they want to, and are also attempting to force American-owned corporations to operate their businesses in a manner they see fit as opposed to how the corporations see fit.
Not only are these picketers not getting my sympathy right now, they are quickly gaining my anger and disgust. I’m supposed to boycott Ralph’s because they’re evil corporate villains while workers are picketing, but then once the workers are back at work, drawing a salary from that company’s profits once more, I am supposed to go back to shopping there and support the store like I have been all along? If they are so freakin’ evil, why are these folks going back to work for them when the strike is over?
I watched a teamster on the local news talk about how concerned he was for the public’s safety because replacement drivers didn’t know how to drive as well as he did, but if this guy was actually concerned about anyone else besides himself, and actually really concerned about the public’s safety, I think he’d be behind the wheel of his truck despite all things as opposed to standing by, holding a sign while unsafe drivers are out on the streets with us.
Though I know all picketers are not being violent and unruly out there, each and every one is still affecting all of our lives to get their point across. We’ve shopped at the stores they work at and have paid their salaries all this time and when it comes time to get their point across, time to ensure their lives are not affected, we’re the ones that have to endure our lives being affected? I don’t think so.
When it comes time for me to go to the store, I’ll shop at any of these three stores during the strike and once the strike is over, I plan to not step foot in any of those three stores again if I can avoid it. They work hard and have problems...well, so do we, but you don’t see us attacking them over it, do you?
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Friday, October 3, 2003
Some Horrid Hiring Stories...
Let’s face it...good people are hard to find. It is important for us to make sure that our hiring processes are not costing us extremely talented and dedicated personnel.
Whether we conduct the interviews ourselves, or delegate that responsibility to one of our managers, I think it is important for all of us to continually monitor our hiring practices to ensure quality. Let me share with you some of the situations that I have recently heard of prospective employees enduring.
First, be sure that the person doing the hiring knows the ins and outs of the company’s policies and procedures. Imagine that you go on an interview, let the person doing the hiring know that your main focus for taking the job is not necessarily the pay rate, but the hours and the health benefits offered by the company. Later, after accepting the job, you come to find out that your training is during hours you said you would be unavailable and the health insurance benefits that you were told started in two months, actually do not start for six months.
How many times have we all been on job interviews where we were told that a decision would be made by the end of the day and that if we did not hear from the person doing the hiring by the end of that day, we could assume that we did not get the job? I had my share of interviews back in the day and folks back then got back to you right away, but what I am hearing is that now-a-days, prospective employers are telling prospective employees this, not getting back to them at the end of the day, taking a few days to consider applicants without contacting them, then calling to offer jobs two to three days later.
Naturally, a prospective employee has other interviews and in each case, the prospective employee had taken another job by the time the person who told them to assume they did not get the job without a call by the end of the day called them back. In each case, the prospective employer lost the candidate that they felt was most qualified, simply because they did not follow through.
Keep in mind that even if you have not made a decision, if you have told prospective employees to assume they did not get the job if they do not hear from you by the end of the day, you should call and let them know you are still considering the candidates. Why would they do anything other than assume they did not get the job if they have not heard from you? All we are talking about here is professional courtesy. Make the calls in your last hour at the office, or on the way home, but do not leave people hanging...that’s just rude and translates into bad business.
Lastly, though it is important to take the time necessary to consider candidates for a position, we must also consider and understand that in many cases, the candidates are interviewing with other companies so though decisions should be thorough, we must take care not to drag out the interview process too long.
For example, one prospective employee went on a job interview on August 12th and was told that the employer was interested in hiring her, but that a second interview was required. Then, there is no word from the prospective employer until two weeks later, when on August 26th, the prospective employee is asked to come in for a second interview on August 28th, a full 16 days after the first interview. Naturally, the prospective employee had already been hired by someone else, again, a loss to the employer.
Whether we conduct the interviews ourselves, or delegate that responsibility to one of our managers, I think it is important for all of us to continually monitor our hiring practices to ensure quality. Let me share with you some of the situations that I have recently heard of prospective employees enduring.
First, be sure that the person doing the hiring knows the ins and outs of the company’s policies and procedures. Imagine that you go on an interview, let the person doing the hiring know that your main focus for taking the job is not necessarily the pay rate, but the hours and the health benefits offered by the company. Later, after accepting the job, you come to find out that your training is during hours you said you would be unavailable and the health insurance benefits that you were told started in two months, actually do not start for six months.
How many times have we all been on job interviews where we were told that a decision would be made by the end of the day and that if we did not hear from the person doing the hiring by the end of that day, we could assume that we did not get the job? I had my share of interviews back in the day and folks back then got back to you right away, but what I am hearing is that now-a-days, prospective employers are telling prospective employees this, not getting back to them at the end of the day, taking a few days to consider applicants without contacting them, then calling to offer jobs two to three days later.
Naturally, a prospective employee has other interviews and in each case, the prospective employee had taken another job by the time the person who told them to assume they did not get the job without a call by the end of the day called them back. In each case, the prospective employer lost the candidate that they felt was most qualified, simply because they did not follow through.
Keep in mind that even if you have not made a decision, if you have told prospective employees to assume they did not get the job if they do not hear from you by the end of the day, you should call and let them know you are still considering the candidates. Why would they do anything other than assume they did not get the job if they have not heard from you? All we are talking about here is professional courtesy. Make the calls in your last hour at the office, or on the way home, but do not leave people hanging...that’s just rude and translates into bad business.
Lastly, though it is important to take the time necessary to consider candidates for a position, we must also consider and understand that in many cases, the candidates are interviewing with other companies so though decisions should be thorough, we must take care not to drag out the interview process too long.
For example, one prospective employee went on a job interview on August 12th and was told that the employer was interested in hiring her, but that a second interview was required. Then, there is no word from the prospective employer until two weeks later, when on August 26th, the prospective employee is asked to come in for a second interview on August 28th, a full 16 days after the first interview. Naturally, the prospective employee had already been hired by someone else, again, a loss to the employer.
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