... by me.
As the union gets more desperate, the strikers are getting more obnoxious. Last night when I went to the grocery store I had to almost push my way through a small crowd of chanting sign-wavers. I've generally got no problem with people who want to strike, but these guys were going way over the line and making life miserable for everyone around them in a public area.
That's not what really set me off, though.
When I was leaving, some of the strikers were yelling at me and calling me a traitor and so forth (what group do they assume I owe allegiance to?), and I stopped walking and calmly told them that I really do appreciate what they're doing. "I've never seen the lines inside so short before; you're really making my life easier."
That didn't make them happy, and one girl came forward to yell something else at me, but I couldn't hear what she was saying because her shirt spoke more loudly than any scream:
... the date the strike started. I almost socked her in the face. How utterly repulsive to equate their stupid strike over paying $5 a week for medical insurance with terrorist attacks that killed over 3,000 people.
What else can I say about it? I'll go back and try to get a picture of someone on the shirts, if I can find more.
Update:
Xrlq encounters a similar (or possibly the same) shirt in Rancho Santa Margarita. I just know if I can get a picture of the shirt I can get a mention on Instapundit... grrr... I've gotta beat him to it!
Yeah, before Christmas one of the strikers yelled at us it was our fault Santa wasn't coming for his son this year.
I figures that if someone does not like the work conditions or benefits under which they labor that they should go find another job instead of striking.
Unless companies are doing things such as abusing minors to work long hours, denying worker's their pay, cheating their employees, or otherwise acting in an illegal way they should be free to give their employees whatever they wish in benefits. Or pay. Or not.
As long as employees know about changes ahead of time and have the chance to make informed decisions about whether they want to continue working for said company.
To strike and absolutely demand your way from a company as a way of strong arming the company to give you what you want seems to be nothing less than the equivalent of a child throwing a temper trantrum to get their way. It's downright silly!
And to intimadate customers like you Michael for going to shop at a company being struck is nothing less than acting like big overgrown bullies. The kind who were that way as kids and never grew out of it.
Oh I know about the way unions once brought about much needed improvements in working conditions but those days are long gone. Nowadays unions strike over all kinds of silly things just to get an extra dollar or two in pay or else to squeeze companies for every penny they can get.
If I was in California I would purposely go out of my way to support the companies suffering the strike and buy their products.
I wish there were more people with your courage Michael to stand up to the strikers. As it is the strikers seem like such an unruly mob that I daresay most people stay away out of concern that they might be similarly bullied. Not from siding with the strikers in their ridiculously self-centered demands.
Carlos
Things are a lot different in Orange County - home of Nixon and all. Of the few strikers mulling around, they don't seem particularly interested in being confrontational. Most of them sit on a bench and drink coffee while reading the paper, their picket sign leaning against their shoulder.
But perhaps their strategy is different here. I could SWEAR that there are a large percentage of female strikers that are, um, "pleasing to the eye" in the "asset" department. I know OC is the silicone capital and all of that, but to use that strategy instead of confrontation seems kindler and gentler. Ofcourse it means they attract MORE customers to the store, but I am not complaining.
Mitch: see my entry. They're using the slogan in O.C., too.
if i can get a picture of a striker in my area (sierra Madre, Arcadia, Pasadena), i'll send a j-peg to ya
Be on the lookout for signs, too. I'm not positive since I didn't write it down immediately (shame on me) but I'm pretty sure that what I saw in RSM was a sign, not a shirt. The San Bernardino County Sun also reports the same signs as having been used in Garden Grove.
I've been pooh-poohed for being offended:
http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/000964.html
CNBC showed some strikers wearing the shirts this morning.